"The stolen generations" is a term used to describe the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders who, while children, Australian state and federal governments forcibly removed from their parents from around the 1910's to the 1970's under acts of their respective parliaments. This occurred due to the governmental policy of Assimilation which was implemented from 1937 to 1965. It is a policy which enforces aboriginals to conform to the attitudes, customs and beliefs of the white society. The government believed that such integration would improve their way of life and shape them into more civilized individuals, as well as to improve integration of Aboriginal people into modern society. However, it did not improve the conditions for the Aborigines, and they were denied the most basic of rights - that of being accepted as Australian citizens unless they applied for a "certificate". Applying for a certificate meant denying one's aboriginal heritage and severing all ties with one's own indigenous community. Some of the other…
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…
* Expressing the anguish and pain endured in victims of the policy and injustice imposed upon the Stolen Generation…
“This report is a tribute to the strength and struggles of many thousands of ATSI people affected by forcible removal. We acknowledge the hardships they endured and the sacrifices they made. We remember and lament all the children who will never come home.” This quote clearly describes the reasoning of The Bringing Them Home Report, which acknowledges the hardships that the children from the Stolen Generation and their families went through. The document lead to a national understanding of the physical and mental trauma that many from the Stolen Generation went through, many of the effects being life-long. “Why me, why was I taken? Its like a hole in you heart that can never heal.” (Page 177 in The Bringing Them Home Report). Using quotes like these further deepened the impact of the document. This also resulted in a national ‘Sorry Day’, a day on the 26th of May held “to commemorate the history of forcible removals and its effects.” In addition to this, the Stolen Generation got reconnected with their families and later received written apologies from each state and territory and apology in the form…
The Australian Government's assimilation policy was a policy of absorbing Aboriginal people into white society through the process of removing children from their families. The idea of this policy was to breed out and abolish the aboriginal society and to assimilate them into the white community. The impact that this policy had on the indigenous Australians was very negative as many children were forcibly taken from their families. One way the assimilation policy impacted the aboriginals was by ‘stealing’ the aboriginal children. These children were named ‘the stolen generation’.…
Stolen addresses the Stolen Generation and the social concerns surrounding the impact of individuals and the Indigenous community. Harrison splits up the action between five diverse characters, tracing their independent stories from childhood to adulthood. We have the sexually and physically abused (Ruby); the hopeful turned hopeless (Jimmy); the stolen child who in turn has her children stolen from her (Shirley), the lost (Sandy) and the 'black' girl in a 'white' man's world (Anne). In a workshop of the opening scene, 'Arriving' (pg. 1) in which the characters speak in the 'stream of conscious style' the difference in what each actor produced to portray their particular character was very noticeable. Harrison's use of a wide breadth of characters is effective in reflecting the broad spectrum of social concerns the Stolen Generation faced: physical, sexual and mental abuse, 'I promised not to tell' (Ruby: pg. 8); high suicide and depression rates, 'I can't fight' (Jimmy: pg. 34); cultural…
The strong presence of racism among Australian communities as depicted in the film caused such events, namely the Stolen Generation, to occur. This significant event was a period in late 1800s-1960s where children from both Indigenous, and non-Indigenous (i.e. ‘white’) origins were forcefully taken away from their families as a result of official Australian Government policy. In relation to the film, Gail’s recall of a bitter memory associated with Kay particularly sheds light upon this key historical event.…
....The degradation and the sheer brutality of the act of physically separating a mother from her children is a deep assault on our senses and on our most elemental humanity....…
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.…
The Stolen Generations (also known as Stolen children) were the children of Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander descent who were removed from their families by the Australian Federal and State government agencies and church missions, under acts of their respective parliaments. The removals occurred in the period between approximately 1909[1] and 1969,[2][3] although in some places children were still being taken until the 1970s.[4][5][6]…
The Stolen Generation describes the period of time in which the many Aboriginal children were forcibly removed from their families in order to discontinue the passing down of their culture, language and identity. These young children were sent to institutions or adopted by non-Indigenous families and received little to no form of education in comparison to the level of schooling offered to the white Australian children. Life was immeasurably harsh for the Aboriginal children as they were growing up within a society which taught them to believe their culture was nothing more than rubbish and were encouraged to deny their own heritage. This disabled their ability to flourish and explore their potential in the world due to their racial discrimination which vastly limited their future pathways as they…
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.…
Given the ongoing and intergenerational effects of being taken away, is it useful to think of the Stolen Generations as something that happened in the past, or as a contemporary issue affecting Indigenous peoples? What implications are there for all Australians in recognizing the need for national healing?…
In reply to your letter, I would like to inform you, that the policy regarding the removal of Aboriginal children was not as you stated. As soon as a child was born, they were considered a ward of the state because of their Aboriginality.…
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.…
