They placed children under the care of Europeans because they thought this would mean “advancing” the aboriginal children. However, many Aborigines are still searching for their children, mothers and other family members. Through this forced separation many aboriginal people have struggled in life, experienced low-self esteem, feeling of worthlessness, social dysfunction, high rates of unemployment and ongoing health issues. This loss if identity can result in depression and other mental illness (Creative Spirit…
The dispossession of Aboriginal land had a damaging impact on the indigenous peoples in post 1945 Australia. Throughout Aboriginal history, land, spirituality and kinship have been inextricably linked. The dispossession from land and kinship has had a devastating impact on the stolen generation in that it took away their culture and spirituality.…
The stolen generation was a shameful period in Australia’s history. They, the stolen generation, were a large amount of aborigines called half-castes that were taken away from their family if they were part non-indigenous. These half-castes would have been taken away without any notice, then brought to an orphanage like place, where the girls would have been trained to become a domestic servant and the boys would be trained to become stockmen. The plan for the stolen generation was to breed aboriginal blood out, which was why it was mostly girls that were taken away.…
Indigenous Australians are a prominently disadvantaged group that are subject to extreme discrimination impacting on their life’s. The Stolen generation had severe negative impacts on the victims of the stolen generation and has continued to negatively affect future generations. Further negative implications have stemmed from this extreme action. And it is the cause of many issues of inequality today among Indigenous Australians. This essay will define the stolen generation, outline and discuss the negative impacts that have stemmed from it and then link the impacts of assimilation to theories such as functionalist theory, structural, etc.…
however the overarching determinant on a structural level that continues to oppress Aboriginal children is racism. Racism is correlated and entrenched within the history of Australia, starting from the time of colonisation (Priest, Mackean, Davis, Waters, & Briggs, 2012). Griffiths, Coleman, Lee, & Madden (2016) describes that social injustice occurs in the context of colonisation which is to forcibly takeover Indigenous people’s land without any respect to their laws and rights. Furthermore, for the Indigenous community, health isn’t just about being physically immune from diseases, but rather health is seen as a holistic notion that is achieved through the wellbeing of the land, the community and spirit. The colonisation process however separated them from this holistic wellbeing and its implications are manifested through various health related issues in children and youth (Griffiths, Coleman, Lee, & Madden, 2016). In a study done with parents perspective on their children’s experiences with racism, one parent named Bob emphasised that Aboriginal people cope with day to day survival dude to colonisation that has resulted in the diminishing of majority of the Aboriginal community in South East Australia. Other parent’s responded that colonisation has negatively influenced the self-esteem on their children in regards to how they saw themselves in respect to others…
The 'Stolen Generations' are the generations of Aboriginal children taken away from their families by governments, churches and welfare bodies to be brought up in institutions or fostered out to white families. The Governments, churches and welfare bodies controlled the aboriginal people from where they could live, where they could work, and what kinds of jobs they could do, who they could associate with and who they could marry. The indigenous children were often forced from their parents and adopted into white families or taken to missions. Children as young as babies were stolen from their families to be placed in girls and boys homes, foster families or missions. At the age of 18 they were ‘released’ into white society, most scarred for life by their experiences.…
To Aboriginal people, ill-health is more than physical illness; it is a manifestation of other factors, including spiritual and emotional alienation from land, family and culture. Aboriginal people have a spiritual link with the land which provides a sense of identity, and which lies at the centre of their spiritual beliefs (Jackson et al, 2000).…
The consequences of dispossession for aboriginal spirituality have been enormously and overwhelming detrimental. Two centuries of dispossession impacted greatly on Aboriginal Spirituality most significantly the separation from land led to a loss of identity and thus the dreaming and it’s rituals that follow. The dreaming is inextricably connected to the land and thus the forceful removal from their land means that Aboriginals lost much more than a place to call home. For Aboriginals the land is their mother their sole purpose in life is to love and protect the land and one day return home to the grasp of their mother country. The dispossession from the land resulted in a continuing burden for aboriginal as they were no longer able to fulfil…
The immediate impacts of the Stolen Generation left many children feeling incomplete, lost and alone. The Stolen Generation continues to impact upon contemporary Indigenous spiritualties as the removal of a complete generation of children from their families has had a negative effect on the ability of these children to maintain their cultural identities, spirituality and their own sense of belonging to the world. The implications left for Australians in recognizing the need for national healing are extensive, Australians can be seen as the ones who need to continually fix the wrongs of the past, and although the nation strive towards coherence between Indigenous people and contemporary society it will never change what has already happened.…
Indigenous Australians suffer disparity within Australian society, ranging from systemic abuse to institutionalised racism, this may or may not be a direct result of the effects of colonisation and subsequent fracturing of Aboriginal society. Furthermore Australia’s first people endure a disadvantaged sociocultural existence, low literacy levels, higher infant mortality rates and low life expectancy “ For example, in 2004-05, the incidence of kidney disease for Indigenous people was 10 times higher, and diabetes three times higher, than for other Australians “ (Banks 2007). Historic and contemporary legislative control practices such as forced removal of Aboriginal children and intervention has further compounded the issues of distrust and…
A difficult issue that is facing society is whether or not Australians should apologize to the Stolen Generation. The Stolen Generation is the Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children who were forcibly taken away from their families. This took place in 1909 until 1969. Governments, churches, and welfare bodies all took part in the event (Reconciliaction, 2012). They were then placed into institutional care with non-Indigenous families and were expected to work as labourers and servants. While many records have been lost, it has been that 100,000 children were taken during this period (Reconciliaction, 2012). Although some people think Aboriginal people are better off because they were removed from dysfunctional families, I believe Australians should apologize for three main reasons.…
The poor health position of Indigenous Australians is a contemporary reflection of their historical treatment as Australia’s traditional owners. This treatment has led to Indigenous Australians experiencing social disadvantages, significantly low socio-economic status, dispossession, poverty and powerlessness as a direct result of the institutionalised racism inherent in contemporary Australian society.…
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 innocents corrupted really upset me. Another aspect of history that really got to me was the story Rebecca told the class. The history on ‘closed adoptions’ that Rebecca was personally apart of.…
The forced removal of Aboriginal and Torres Islander children was forcefully taken away from their families between the 1890’s and the 1969.The children were given to churches, missionary institutes and some children were given to white families. Most of the children never saw their families again; more than 100,000 children were removed from their families…
Beginning in 1910 and ending in the 1970s, Australians Federal and State government agencies and church missions made a policy to forcibly take many aboriginal and Torres Strait children away from their families in an attempt to destroy the Aboriginal race and culture. There was an impact on the aboriginals with a particular policy the Australian Government had introduced, which was the policy of ‘Assimilation’. This policy was to encourage many Aboriginal people to give up their culture, language, tradition, knowledge and spirituality to basically become white Australians. Unfortunately this policy didn’t give the Aboriginals the same rights as white Australians, as a result of discrimination, aboriginals were moved to live in special housing…