The Stolen Generation of Aboriginal Decent Essay

At the turn of the twentieth century the systematic forced removal of Aboriginal children from their mothers, families and cultural heritage was commonplace. There were several reasons that the government and white society used to justify the separation but the prevailing ideology of nationalism and maintaining Australia for the ‘whites’ was the over-riding motivation and justification for their actions[1]. Progressive sciences such as anthropology espoused such theories as eugenics, miscegenation, biological absorption and assimilation which legitimated governmental policies relating to Aboriginal affairs[2]. It was

‘The Sapphires’ by Wayne Blair was the trigger that led my research into the effects of the Stolen Generation on Aboriginals in Australia. This film is about an Aboriginal singing group who want to make a name for themselves, but find it difficult because of the racism against them. This film also tells the stories of their cousin Kay, who was a half-caste and was stolen from her Aboriginal family at a young age to be taught the ways of white people, and forget her culture. This film made me realise that I am lucky to live in a country where racism of such an extent in which children are stolen from their indigenous families, isn’t part of our history, and has not affected me personally. From my research, I have found six main sources that have helped me to understand how large this problem was and continues to be. My sources: ‘The Sapphires’ by Wayne Blair; a film about a group of Aboriginal singers who are affected by racism which is based on a real life singing group; ‘The Sorry Speech’, by Kevin Rudd who was the Prime Minister of Australia in 2008 who explains the damage and apologises for the way that the actions of past governments tore apart the lives of their indigenous people. Then there is ‘Blind Eye,’ the documentary in which people who were stolen are interviewed and tell their stories. The film, ‘Rabbit Proof Fence’ this tells the story of two girls who were stolen and gives us insight into how brutally that they were treated after being ripped apart from

The Stolen Generation has had a great effect on Aboriginal rights and freedoms as Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders didn’t even have the rights to raise and look after their children and as a result 100,000 Aboriginal Australian’s were displaced and placed into white families. The lack of understanding and respect for Aboriginal culture also meant that many people who supported the removal of these children really thought they were doing “the right thing”. The impact on Australian life today is still being felt as the Stolen Generation is seen as a recent event has it only ended in the early 1970s. Children that where taken away back then now cannot trace back their roots and therefore have no record of their family history or where

Throughout this semester my learning experiences have been very significant towards my awareness of the Indigenous population. My personal perspectives have been impacted throughout this semester drastically also. This unit has helped increase my awareness toward the Indigenous people of Australia and the immoral battles they where put through in the past. My response to this unit of study was completely different to what I thought it would have been. My emotions have been triggered considerably throughout this semester. What really touched me was hearing about the horrific measures Indigenous children were put through. Getting taken away from their families purely because of their Aboriginal background, being mistreated, and having their

The stolen generation is a term to describe aboriginal children who were forcibly removed from families by federal and state governments and by church missions. The aim of this was to bring aboriginal children up in white families and teach them to reject their original culture, therefore if they continued successfully there would eventually be no indigenous people remaining.

The “Stolen Generation” was caused by the Assimilation policy. Children under fourteen years old were taken away from their parents and placed in “training homes” such as the “Cootamundra Domestic Training Home for Aboriginal Girls”. It was easy for the governments to defend their decision to remove Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children due to the destitute conditions of the reserves. In 1939 the “Exemption Certificate” was introduced.

Throughout the early 20th century, the Australian public was led to believe that Aboriginal children were disadvantaged in their communities, and that there was a high risk of physical and sexual abuse. Aboriginal children were being removed in order to be exposed to ‘Anglo values’ and ‘work habits’ with a view to them being employed by colonial settlers, and to stop their parents, families and communities from passing on their culture, language and identity

Government policies authorising the removal of Aboriginal children have caused extensive and unrepairable damage to every aspect of Indigenous culture. It could be argued that the emotional turmoil which occurred as a result of this policy, is greater than any physical abused ever faced by the Australian Aboriginal people. The act of child removal would be a scarring experience for parents and children of any race or culture. This policy had a particularly damaging impact on the Indigenous people as their identity is based within a set of strong traditional guides and teachings. These lessons are not recorded, but can only be taught through speaking with elders and learning through a connection to others within the mob, connection to art forms

Most of the crimes Indigenous children were being arrested are unreasonable; for example Girls falling pregnant young were taken away from their families where the Boards ‘advertise children for fostering: 150 on public offer and 90 for non- Indigenous parents’ (Haebich and Mellor, 2002, p. 259). As a result to the Aboriginal Affair Act 1958, over 200 children were being adopted into white families; to the government was a way of keeping them out of poverty or other negative circumstance. However, in my opinion stripping a child away from their parents will negatively impact the child; they are more likely to misbehave and come in contact with the police. Also the children will feel vulnerable as they could be exposed to sexual, physical and emotional abuse from their adopted families. This form of force assimilation can be considered as the process of cultural genocide, as Aboriginal children are taught to conduct themselves similarly to Europeans and reject their people and culture leaving them detached from their

Contentious debate continues to rage in present society opening a floodgate of ethical issues which can have detrimental effects on all parties involved. Ethics vary from each individual and tend to stem from their own belief systems external to that person (Dosen, Harris, Brock, Imariso and Smith 2007:336). These ethics give rise to conflicting arguments in present society. 50 years ago, Indigenous Australians were not entitled to enter a bar, cafe, swimming pool, or a cinema, if that deprivation of basic rights wasn’t enough; they then took children from their mothers later on known as the ‘stolen generation’ (www.creativespirits.2008). The stolen generation, estimated at over 100,000 children were taken from their homes and placed in missions, reserves or dormitories (www.creativespirits.2008). “I feel our childhood has been taken away from us and it has left a big hole in our lives” an Indigenous Australian part of the stolen generation (www.creativespirtis.2008). The loss of ones culture and identity was deemed worse then being poor and living in sub standard living with their families.

The inequalities in today’s indigenous communities are still strongly evident. Heard, Khoo & Birrell (2009), argued that while there has been an attempt in narrowing the gap between Indigenous and non Indigenous Australians, a barrier still exists in appropriate health care reaching indigenous people. The Indigenous people believe, health is more than the individual, it is

The stolen children were brainwashed over a duration of time. They were exposed to a different culture and customs that they had to adapt to as they were raised in a different world. This threatened the Indigenous people, due to the fact once they die no other generation will keep their culture and beliefs alive for the future. Even though, the children were separated from the families some of them did not forget their foot step and continued to follow their cultural traditions privately. Due to the separation from their families and land, many aboriginal children started getting involved in gang activity and exposure to alcohol and

In conclusion the stolen generation was a traumatizing time for young indigenous children, as being a children were torn from families and forced to live with white people and forget their heritage and culture which lead to the aboriginal culture which would lead to the culture being forgotten. The policy assimilation was introduced by the government, individuals were traumatized by assiliamation. The stolen generation affected the whole indigenous

Throughout the 19th and 20th century Australian government were removing Aboriginal children. Many removals were very brutal. During this time period many children died young because of the abuse and neglect. Most people compare the taking to the Holocaust. Although it is not on as big of scale as the Holocaust, it was still a devastating event in Australian history.

Between the year of 1910 and 1970, over 100.000 children were forcibly taken from their Aboriginal parents. They were either raised in