Premium Essay

Stolen Generation In Australia

Submitted By
Words 642
Pages 3
The stolen generation was a crucial time in Australia’s history. It was a time when the government took Aboriginal and Torres strait islander children from their families without any consent. Although they were the first people of Australia they weren’t considered as humans by the government agencies, churches and welfare bodies. After they were taken from their families they were placed in institutions, reserves, dormitories or missions where they were taught Christianity to destroy aboriginal culture. Others were fostered or sent to orphanages with non-indigenous families during the years 1871-1965. The purpose for this was to destroy aboriginal culture and to raise them the way their parents could not. However, around the 1940’s they changed the purpose to assimilation but others still trained them as domestic servants and continued that purpose
The Cootamundra girls home was an institute for aboriginal and Torres strait islander girls located in NSW. They discovered Cootamundra in a dis-used hospital building by the aboriginal protection board. The purpose for this was to train them as indentured servants such as clean and cook. They were offered to go school but school wasn’t the main priority for the for them in the institution. The Cootamundra girls home started in the year 1911 and ran for 58 years. …show more content…
The purpose for national sorry day was to honor the aboriginal and Torres strait islander children who were token from their families and communities and then were placed in fostering homes or institutions. However, to also remember the members from the stolen generation who still live today still carry the grief and suffering they have experienced. Then during the year 2008 on the 13th of February Kevin Rudd our former prime minister apologized on behalf of all of Australian indigenous people he said sorry for the members of the stolen generation which moved the whole

Similar Documents

Premium Essay

The Stolen Generation in Australia

...The Stolen Generation in Australia The Aboriginal people lived long on their land without any contact from the Europeans. They are believed to first arrive in Australia between 42,000 and 48,000 years ago (Beck). They managed to live in often inhospitable conditions unbearable for the inhabitants of the “old continent”. The Aborigines did not differ only in their living conditions, but also in their way of living in general, their culture. The aboriginal culture was based on several principles which did not come to understanding when the Europeans first arrived. Perhaps the most essential aspect of the Aboriginal culture is the “kinship obligation”, when everyone in the tribe is expected to perform certain tasks without being asked to (Encyclopædia Britannica 4). The white society, in contrast with the Australian indigenous people, was based (and still is) on the concept of private membership, something absolutely unknown in Australia prior to the European settlements. The irreconcilable differences led, in consequence, to clashes and misunderstandings between the two cultures. The Europeans, however, regarded themselves superior. Lloyd describes the situation in Australia after the arrival of the European settlers as being based on “the idea of Aborigines as an inferior ‘doomed race,’ superseded by more highly developed, more enlightened Europeans” (Lloyd). No matter whether this claim was legitimate or not, it had damaging consequences. James Cook landed in Botany Bay in...

Words: 1839 - Pages: 8

Premium Essay

The Stolen Generations

...The Stolen Generations – Assessment2 Essay 1 Indigenous Education and Perspectives Alana Zammit Swinburne Online University WARNING: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander readers are warned that the following assessment may contain images and names of deceased persons The Stolen Generations – Assessment2 Essay 1 Indigenous Education and Perspectives Alana Zammit Swinburne Online University WARNING: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander readers are warned that the following assessment may contain images and names of deceased persons Assessment2 2 As stated in the Bring them Home Report (April 1997) a national inquiry into the Separation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait islander Children from their families. It was first established by state government in Victoria in 1869. Then the other states followed. Later similar legislation is passed in other colonies: New South Wales (1883), Queensland (1897), Western Australia (1905) and South Australia (1911). The Northern Territory Aboriginals Ordinance makes the Chief Protector the legal guardian of every Aboriginal and ‘half-caste’ person under 18. Boards are progressively empowered to remove children from their families. The stolen generations has had a massive impact on Aboriginals throughout Australia. The Aboriginal people of the stolen generations’ lives have been changed and generations of families devastated from this. Children lost their parents and siblings when taken away. They also lost...

Words: 2330 - Pages: 10

Premium Essay

Aboriginal Rights

...Changing rights and freedoms and human wellbeing By Yasmin Hayward On Australia Day’s 150th anniversary, in 1938, William Cooper, a member of the Aboriginal Progressive Association, declared the day a “Day of Mourning”, alluding to the annual re-enactment of Phillip’s landing. Aboriginal people call it ‘Invasion Day’, ‘Day of Mourning’, ‘Survival Day’ or, since 2006, ‘Aboriginal Sovereignty Day’. The latter name reflects that all Aboriginal nations are sovereign and should be united in the continuous fight for their rights. Aboriginal people refused to participate in the re-enactment because it included chasing away a party of Aboriginal people. “I refuse to celebrate, and every Australia Day my heart is broken as I am reminded that in the eyes of many, I am not welcome on my own land.” —Nakkiah Lui, Aboriginal woman “We won't stop, we won't go away / We won't celebrate Invasion Day!”—Chant during protests on Australia Day 2012 “January 26th marked the beginning of the murders, the rapes and the dispossession. It is no date to celebrate”—Michael Mansell, National Aboriginal The Day of Mourning Speech. The Aboriginal perspective of Australia day was that is was not a celebration Aboriginal people but in fact a commemoration of a deep loss. The issues outlined in the Day of Mourning speeches in 1937 led by three Aboriginal men were for the Aboriginal people to be able to access the same citizenship rights as those of white-Australians. This included their land being returned...

Words: 1467 - Pages: 6

Premium Essay

The Aborigines Protection Amending Act of 1915

...Act stopped. The act gave the power to remove any child without any court order nor parental consent. The act provided full control, and therefore the Aborigines would lose their freedom. The government removed Aboriginal children from their families and where starting the process that created the Stolen Generation, also known as the Stolen Children. The article The Stolen Generation states that; “1 in 10 of all Aboriginal children were removed from their families in an effort to civilize them by assimilation into white society”, this entire quote is mindboggling because the word “civilize” is used derogatory as if Aborigines need taming like a wild animal. The mere fact that the government believes that the Aborigines so desperate need help makes them conceited. They were taken children from their families, and making them white because they though that it would improve their lives. Through a misguided attempt at helping the Aborigines, the government may have caused more damage than good. The whites thought that the Aborigines needed help to survive and that is just unreasonable because the Aborigines have been in Australia long before the British came. They have lived in Australia for more than 50,000 years before white settlement and did fine living on their own. The Board for the Protection of Aborigines also tried to purify them by attempting to make them white by making his hair straight; “His minders tried to force his hair straight, breaking comb teeth in his frizzy...

Words: 756 - Pages: 4

Premium Essay

The Stolen Generation Analysis

...For many young Australians, little knowledge is known about Aboriginal issues. The Stolen Generations is a historical series of events well known to many young Australians. It was important as many Australian Government bodies, alongside with other establishments, were removing children from Aboriginal families and putting them into foster homes. It was expected to cause a disconnection of the culture and structure of Aboriginal clans. From tutorials and lectures, I think that Indigenous issues are often misunderstood. I understood lecture material as providing insight into surviving problems due to the Stolen Generations. This was seen with a disconnection from land and country, and a loss of identity for Indigenous Australian. This had led...

Words: 1543 - Pages: 7

Premium Essay

Discuss the Process of Reconciliation Between Indigenous Australians and the Federal Government.

...sorry to the Aboriginal Australian people in an attempt to reconcile, it is still not enough for the Aboriginal people. The Aboriginal people still need to deal with the agonising memories that the white government has caused. Rather than apologising verbally, they should improve the economic, education and living conditions for Aboriginal people. In this essay will be discussed the government did wrong in the past. Next, a discussion the process of reconciliation, the way they have improved the relationship with Aboriginal Australian people. Finally will talk about why the apology is not enough for Aboriginal people. In order to discuss what the government did wrong thing in the past, we need to understand what the stolen generation is. The stolen generation describe the event where the Aboriginal children were forcibly removed from their families by the government and assimilated into white society (Korff, 2015). In the past the white government did make many mistakes. According the movie ‘Rabbit Proof Fence’ (2000), there was a scene where the Aboriginal children’s mother who saw the government car driven by the white policemen coming. The Aboriginal mother takes her children away and runs quickly, but the Aboriginal children still get taken by the policemen. It shows that the white government used the brutal methods to get the Aboriginal children. This way done to achieve the white people way of life by taking their life away...

Words: 1119 - Pages: 5

Free Essay

The Stolen Generation

...[pic] A short history of the systematic Removal of Aboriginal Children from their Families in NSW. “Indigenous children have been forcibly separated from their families and communities since the very first days of the European occupation of Australia” obtained from the Bringing Them Home Report Who are the Stolen Generations The term ‘stolen generations” is in reference to those Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people who were forcibly removed, as children, from their families and communities by government, welfare and affiliated church organisations. These children were systematically placed into institutional care or with non-Indigenous foster families. Although it can be argued that the removal of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children began as early as the very first days of European occupation in Australia, the forced removal policies and legislation began in the mid 1800s and continued until the 1970s. There is current discourse in Aboriginal communities supporting the notion that the removal of Aboriginal children from their families and communities continues to exist today in the form of complexities associated with current government policies and legislation and the over representation of Aboriginal children in out of home care. How and why do we know the forcible removal of Aboriginal children occurred in NSW? New South Wales, along with other Australian state and territory governments have acknowledged past practices and policies...

Words: 1623 - Pages: 7

Free Essay

Saffiers

...* Stolen generation –with kay getting taken away by the government. * 1967 referendum- counted in the census so there should be equality but theres not still as seen in the bar at the talent show. Them not winning, people leaving when there singing. Taxi. Maybe the tappware party * Vietnam- the aboriginals and the black solider in the helicoopperter. Sapphires essay Rights were a massive issue in the 1968. There were major event all around the world to do with rights but many people over look Australia. In Australia people were still furious over the stolen generation and the effects, and even though the 1967 referendum allowed aboriginals to be counted in the national census, there was still great disprove of aboriginals. The sapphires does accurately reflect the social and political issues of the time. Through the stolen generation, 1967 referendum and the war in Vietnam you see that laws are one thing but acceptance is another. The sapphires shows that there was many social and political issues at that time. One major political and social issue is the treatment of the aboriginals by the white people. Even with the 1967 referendum which allowed aboriginals be counted in the national census, you would think that aboriginals would be treated better. But they didn’t and you see this when the three girls go to the talent show. When they first enter everyone stares at them, looking at them like there from another planet. Then again when they start singing and...

Words: 723 - Pages: 3

Free Essay

Reparations for Former Slaves

...Reparations for Former Slaves Shaylee McCammon COM-150 January 17, 2010 Julia L.G. Kressig Throughout history there have been a number of instances in which people of a different race, religion, or cultural background were discriminated against, and it is time that the government repays those who have suffered. When someone makes public the belief that his or her race or beliefs are of more importance, he or she makes those who are of another race or have other beliefs think they are not important themselves. Those of the mistreated cultures, including former slaves and the aboriginal children of the stolen generation, are entitled to reparations for their mistreatment. These people were not only forced to believe they were not important but also that they could not believe in what their culture suggests they should. These people were forced to leave their homes and brought to strange environments, treated as if they were similar to the dirt on the ground, and forced to serve others for the extent of their lives. The treatment these cultures suffered entitles them to reparations for their mistreatment and removal from their homes and cultural beliefs. African Americans were taking from their homes around the world and brought to America to serve the white population as slaves. Slave traders often brought ships full of hundreds of slaves to this country by keeping them in such close quarters, they could hardly move around. They would put 150 to 200...

Words: 1804 - Pages: 8

Premium Essay

Social Work

...This article was downloaded by: [University Of South Australia Library] On: 03 April 2015, At: 22:06 Publisher: Routledge Informa Ltd Registered in England and Wales Registered Number: 1072954 Registered office: Mortimer House, 37-41 Mortimer Street, London W1T 3JH, UK Journal of Australian Studies Publication details, including instructions for authors and subscription information: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/rjau20 The return of the stolen generation Peter Read a a Historian at the urban research program , Australian National University Published online: 18 May 2009. To cite this article: Peter Read (1998) The return of the stolen generation, Journal of Australian Studies, 22:59, 8-19, DOI: 10.1080/14443059809387421 To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/14443059809387421 PLEASE SCROLL DOWN FOR ARTICLE Taylor & Francis makes every effort to ensure the accuracy of all the information (the “Content”) contained in the publications on our platform. However, Taylor & Francis, our agents, and our licensors make no representations or warranties whatsoever as to the accuracy, completeness, or suitability for any purpose of the Content. Any opinions and views expressed in this publication are the opinions and views of the authors, and are not the views of or endorsed by Taylor & Francis. The accuracy of the Content should not be relied upon and should be independently verified with primary sources of information. Taylor and Francis shall not be liable...

Words: 6780 - Pages: 28

Premium Essay

Comparing The Holocaust And The Stolen Generations

...the Holocaust. You might be thinking we would learn from our mistakes but their are so many other genocides that have happened and are happening right now. Another genocide that has happened is The Stolen Generations. The Holocaust and The Stolen Generations both were terrible genocides in our world, however, these two genocides are different because of their intended goal, the impact in on the world, and how they were ended. The Holocaust was one of the deadliest and cruelest genocides. 6,000,000 Jews were killed during this time. Hitler’s goal for this genocide was for the German Arias to be the only group left. Hitler’s idea of the perfect person was a blond haired, blue- eyed, and tall. Everyone else that didn’t look like this...

Words: 987 - Pages: 4

Premium Essay

Ruth Mackenzie: The Stolen Generations

...The stolen generations “They used to belt them till they was knocked out, that’s how cruel they was.” – Personal testimony, Ruth Mackenzie. Ruth Mackenzie was one of the roughly estimated 6200 aboriginal children to be taken from their home in the stolen generations period. Mackenzie was one of the children the authorities targeted as she was of mixed decent, the government believed that children of mixed decent would be easier to assimilate into the “white” society. Many of the facts of what happened during the stolen generation period (ca. 1890 – 1970.) are not clear, as not much of it was recorded and what was recorded was attempted destroyed. However, many testimonies have been made by the stolen children. So what exactly did happen to them? To begin I think it is necessary to explain what the stolen generations mean. The stolen generations refer to period between 1890 and 1970 when aboriginal children were forcefully taken away from their families. The goal of this was that the aboriginal culture and people would die out, and since the culture is passed on from generation to generation taking the aboriginal children away was also taken away the aboriginals future. The children were normally either sent to institutions or white farms and households, what occurred in these places is hard to imagine....

Words: 591 - Pages: 3

Premium Essay

Generation

...The Stolen Generations The term “Stolen Generations” is used for the Children of Australian aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander, most of the children were under 5 years old, who were taken from their parents by the Australian government and Church. They were separated from their parents and lived in dormitories or with foster parents. It is referred to “stolen generations” because it happened for many decades and several generations were affected. It is believed that these forcibly removals happened from around 1900s until 1970s. Approximately 100.000 children were stolen during that time. They had less contact with their parents or even didn’t know whether their parents were still alive or not. Nowadays, many of them are still searching for their families. There were many reasons to justify the Australian government actions includes to give them better living conditions because their aboriginal parents would only neglect them, to convert their beliefs into Christian by moving them from the cultural influence of indigenous people and to give them better education. However, the truth is, there was an assimilation policy that aboriginal people would die out if they have children with white Australians for generations and a fear of miscegenation by full-blooded aboriginal people. The term “Stolen Generations” is used for the Children of Australian aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander, most of the children were under 5 years old, who were taken from their parents by the Australian...

Words: 429 - Pages: 2

Premium Essay

Stolen Generation Research Paper

...The stolen generations are numerous groups of Aboriginal children that were taken away from their families by the governments, churches and welfare bodies so that they could be brought up in institutions or fostered out into white families. Beginning in the 1830’s and ending in the early 1070’s, many children were taken from their families in an attempt to eradicate the Aboriginal race and culture. The Australian government’s policy and practice of removing the Aboriginal children from their families was put into practice during that time period. Removing children from their families from their families was considered official government policy in Australia until 1969. However, the practice had begun in the earliest days of European settlement, when children were used as guides, servants and farm...

Words: 458 - Pages: 2

Free Essay

The Past Experience of Aboriginal Children in Australia

...traumatised actions experienced during the stolen generation period made the aboriginal children suffer much pain throughout their lifetime. They were separated from their families without consent and sent to various institutions such as children’s missions, community missions, government settlements and hotels in order to cut off Aboriginality. Apart from restriction of speaking their language, carrying on their tradition and seeking their knowledge, they were physically and emotionally abused. Hunger also made their life much harder. So, in order to survive, they had to search for food and eat other peoples’ leftover foods ( Simon 2014). For many years, they have been suffered from loneliness, dislocation, stress and grief. Consequently, psychological harm and mental illness came into their lives which made them harder to survive. Even when they came out of the constitutions, they experienced the loss of their identity, culture, community and family (Read 2006). Thus, many aborigines became alcoholisms which is one of the ways to relieve their pain and trauma. The bitter memories and pains made by the government are still in the hearts of aborigines today. Reference * Korff, J 2015, ‘A guide to Australian’s stolen generations’. Available from: <http://www.creativespirits.info/aboriginalculture/politics/a-guide-to-australias-stolen-generations#axzz3ZDdqIlO2>. [ 7 May 2015] * Read, P (eds) 2006, The Stolen Generation, Sunny Hills, New South Wales. Available...

Words: 263 - Pages: 2