The Stolen Generation Free Essays

With a sudden jerk, squealing of the brakes and a loud puff of the steam engine, the train shunted forward. Fear gripped my heart. Barry and Widdy had bewildered looks on their faces, glancing at me and then at each other. We will write a custom essay sample on The Stolen Generation or any similar topic only for you Order Now I stared out of the window as we slowly pulled out of the station. I was very confused by all the women standing on the platform watching us and wailing. Then I saw her. There was my mum in her only good blue dress standing next to my aunts with tears rolling down their cheeks too fast to wipe away. Then mum waved a white hanky and I pressed my face against the window pane as hard as I could, watching her. Watching until her blue dress faded into a tiny dot of colour. I looked back at the station for as long as I could until she was out of sight. (Meehan, 2000, pg31) This extract from Donna Meehan’s autobiography, ‘Its no Secret,’ recounts a major event in her life. Like many aboriginal children during the 19th century, she was taken away from her family, taken away without an explanation to a so called better place, a place where she could take up a European way of life, learn to be read and write and blend into society, a place that would make her forget her Aboriginal culture, forget her family and finally forget her true identity. This essay will outline the origins and operations of the removal policy. The practice of taking Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children began as early as 1804; however the removal of aboriginal children only became legal in 1905, under the Aborigines Act in Western Australia. This legislation authorised the removal of all aboriginal children and meant that a Chief Protector was made the legal guardian of every Aboriginal and ‘half-caste’ child under the age of twenty-one. These children were then sent to missions and settlements, where it was proposed that their living standards would improve. Chief Protector Cook assured in 1911; ‘Children are removed form the evil influence of the aboriginal camp with its lack or moral training and its risk or serious organic infectious disease. They are properly fed, clothed and educated as white children; they are subjected to constant medical supervision and in receipt to domestic and vocational training. ‘ However Xavier Herbert, and acting superintendent of the Darwin Half-Caste Home stated his experiences mentioning that ‘ the porridge was cooked the day before, already sour and covered in mould, and when doused with thin milk, gave up the corpses of the weevils by the score. The bread was even worse, stringy grey wrapped around solid glue, the whole cased in charcoal. ‘ This recount of the living conditions of aboriginal children during the 90’s clearly shows that although it has been encouraged for us to believe that the separation of Aboriginal children from their parents, families and communities during the 19th century was in the best interests, it has simply become known to many as one of the most disturbing epochs in Australia’s history. According to the official government report, at least 30,000 children were removed from their parents, and this figure may be substantially higher as the report notes that formal records of removals were very poorly kept. Percentage estimates state that 10-30% of all Aboriginal children born during this seventy year period were removed. During the late 19th century the educated opinion in Australia seems, to have generally been of the view that the full-blooded Aborigine represented a dying race, destined to extinction. In the first decades of the twentieth century the emergence of mixed decent children became apparent, these children being; born to Aboriginal mothers who had had sexual encounters with European and sometimes Chinese or Pacific Islander males. Immediately these children were labelled half-caste by Australian settlers and were viewed as a growing fearful social problem. On the ‘social ladder’ in the early years Europeans held the highest rung and the Australian Aborigine held the bottom, this meant that any union made between European and an Aboriginal that resulted in progeny was looked upon with total disgust and alarm. Statistical evidence during these years showed although the full blooded Aborigine was dying out, the number of half caste children was booming, so much so that at the time it was thought that in fifty to a hundred years Australia would be threatened by a population of several hundred thousand Aborigine-European hybrids. To stop this problem eventuating legislation was put into place to enable the removal of Aboriginal and half caste children from their families and communities. In all states and territories policeman and other agents began to locate and transfer babies of mixed decent, from their mothers into institutions. It was thought that if these children grew up in an institution away from their family where they where taught to despise their aboriginal inheritance and forced to forget their Aboriginal culture then mixed descent and aboriginal children would blend into the industrial sector of Australia and hopefully marry white Australian settlers, have children and eventually their aboriginality would be bred out, leaving behind a ‘pure’ white Australian race, this process was known as assimilation. It then must be asked was the removal of Aboriginal children done in the best interests of the child or was it simply done in the best interests of Australia. (Appendix one: OHT CARTOON – â€Å"WERE’ DOING THIS FOR OUR OWN GOOD. â€Å") Although we may not know it, we have all been influenced by society in one way or another to believe that our culture and way of life are superior to all others. This attitude, commonly referred to as racism has occurred for many years amongst different generations and cultures and would have been particularly prominent in the early 19th century. It was believed in this specific era that everything revolved around the Great Chain of Being and according to this concept everything was put into a particular order according to their importance to the rest of the world. It was thought at the time that the Aborigine (appendix two: OHT WITH HEADS ON IT), was the â€Å"lowest and most degraded of the human species,† and with this idea deeply engrained into the minds of all the early white settlers it is easy to comprehend how they at the time, assumed that a white life would be beneficial for all Australian Aboriginal children. It is simple to see how this assumption was reached when the settlers observed the living standards of the Aboriginal people. (Video: TIMEFRAME: 1967 – CITIZENS AT LAST) Although the overall main objective was to try and breed the Australian Aboriginal out to a point of extinction in order to achieve a pure white Australia, there were many who believed that taking aboriginal children from their families was actually in their best interests. The settlers honestly believed that a white life had so much more to offer in the means of employment, social status, living standards and opportunities and when they saw malnourished aboriginal children with weepy eyes and flies in the corners of their mouths they became convinced that their assumptions were correct. Many stolen Aboriginal children had a happy life with their white parents and gained in many ways from a European upbringing. For instance Sally Kid who was one of the stolen children stated that she â€Å"was very fortunate when she was removed from her family as she went to very loving and caring parents and she believed that the love was mutual. † There were many children who were treated appropriately and many white foster parents raised their aboriginal children as if they were there own, however one should stop and think of what effect this had on Aboriginal mothers who missed out on important parts of their child’s lives. (Appendix three: OHT – â€Å"MOTHER AND NO BABY†) Apendix four: STATISTICS SHEET) The social impacts of forced removal have been measured and found to be quite severe. This study found that there have been no improvements in the social position of â€Å"removed† Aborigines as compared to â€Å"non-removed†, particularly in the areas of employment and post-secondary education. Most notably, the study indicated that removed Aboriginals were actually less likely to have completed a secondary education, three times as likely to have acquired a police record and were twice as likely to use illicit drugs. The only notable advantage â€Å"removed† Aboriginals possessed was a higher average income, which the report noted was most likely due to the increased urbanisation of removed individuals, and hence greater access to welfare payments than for Aboriginals living in tribal communities. In the 1970’s the removal of aboriginal and half cast children began to stop and organizations were set up to return stolen aboriginal children to their rightful families. It was not until September 1994 that the first legal suit went forward in regard to the stolen generation. Aboriginals that had been taken from their parents during the decades of the assimilation policy prepared a landmark High Court case alleging that Australian governments practiced genocide in breach of the United Nations international convention. Many legal suits have gone through the courts since that particular time, however a final resolution has not yet been reached. In conclusion I believe that there are many plausible arguments from both those of the stolen generation and those who condemned the removal. From a maternal aspect I believe that it was immorally wrong to take aboriginal and half-caste children from their mothers and families however, it is easy to understand how looking through racist spectacles one could see their race as superior to all others, and in thinking this, assume that it would be in the best interests of the inferior race to adopt the culture of the advanced. The stolen generation is a very delicate topic which still today evokes many different kinds of emotions. The distressing factor of this issue is that it will never be fully resolved, as some Australian aborigines are genuinely thankful for a white upbringing and then there are others who still dispute it. The removal policy was simply a well intentioned plan that went horribly wrong, however one thing can be assured, those who were removed from their families will be remembered by both Aboriginal and White Australian communities for many more generations to come. How to cite The Stolen Generation, Papers The Stolen Generation Free Essays Explain the Stolen Generation (when did it occur/who was responsible and why government officials believed they were justified in taking these actions). The Stolen Generation was a very lonely and depressing time for the indigenous people of Australia. It lasted an overwhelming 60 years in which an estimated 100 000 aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children were forcibly removed from their families and land to be raised in homes or adopted by white families. We will write a custom essay sample on The Stolen Generation or any similar topic only for you Order Now This Policy was designed to ‘breed out’ Indigenous people until there was none left. These children became known as the ‘Stolen Generations’. The forced removal of these Indigenous children became an official government policy from 1909 to 1969. However these acts of removing Indigenous children from their homes occurred before and after these dates. The Aborigines Protection Board (APB) managed this removal policy; Governments, Churches and welfare bodies all took part in this operation. The Government gave the APB the power to forcibly remove Indigenous children without parental consent and without a court order in 1909. Children were to be fixated to an institution or mission dormitory, fostered or adopted. The Government under the White Australia and Assimilation Policies tried to encourage Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people who were not of pure blood to become incorporated into the broader community of white Australian’s so that eventually there would be no Indigenous people left. At the current time the white Australians thought they were superior to the Indigenous people and that they were doing them a favour by giving them an education and clothing them, even though they only educated them to a certain extent so that they could work as labourers or servants. Children were extracted from their Indigenous culture so they could be brought up white and ‘taught’ to reject their Aboriginality. These children were distributed to institutions and from roughly the 1950’s were also allocated to white families. The APB only educated the Aboriginal children so that they could become labourers or servants, so their education was very poor. They did not educate them to a satisfactory ‘white’ standard because the white people could stay in power and hold the higher positions in society. The Aboriginal girls that were forcibly removed from their families were sent to homes and facilities authorized by the Board to be trained in domestic service. The white people did not understand or respect the Aboriginal people or their way of life, this also meant that the people who supported the policy thought they were doing the ‘right thing’. Some of these people also believed the aboriginal people lived impecunious and unrewarding lives and that the institutions they were placed in would be a more appropriate environment in which the Aboriginal people could better themselves. The white people thought the Aboriginals were stupid and had no tools or houses and could not provide for themselves. When in-fact they were just so blind to the fact that the Aboriginal culture was based off living as one with the earth and the white people couldn’t perceive and accept their way of life. The dominant, bigoted racist views that were part of the white society and government at the time also meant that people believed that Aboriginal people were bad parents and that the Aboriginal women did not feed or look after their children accordingly. They didn’t realize that the Indigenous people lived of the land and used the nuts and plants for medicine, they only took what they needed from the land. They were not greedy, unlike white people who harvested massive crops and wore fancy clothing. So the white people took it upon themselves to try and exterminate the aborigines by breeding them with white people until there was none left. No one really knows how many Indigenous people were taken from their homes and lands, because most records of this tragic time have been lost or destroyed. Countless parents never saw their children who were stolen from them, siblings were prepensely separated from each other and most never saw each other again. To this day many Aboriginal people do not know who their relatives are or have been unable to track them down due to this appalling and shameful policy Australia enforced in an attempt to assimilate the Aboriginal population during 1909-1996, meaning that even today there are Aboriginal people as young as their late 40’s and 50’s who are members of the Stolen Generation. ) Discuss the varying experiences members of the stolen generation had; including where they were taken and the conditions in which they lived. Experiences throughout the stolen generation vary quite allot, especially gender wise, generally the men found it difficult and tried to escape from where they were sent. On the other hand the women generally had lots of fond memories although it was very difficult at the time because they were separated fr om their parents at a very young age. Depending on wether you were female or male, you would be taken to different locations, the women were often taken to farms as servants and waiters, the men were normally taken to institutions where they would be trained to become labourers. Both genders were at first taken to missions that were usually religious based. At these missions they would be taught how to speak and dress like a white person. Once they were of a satisfactory standard, they would be placed in different locations, women as maids, servants and cooks and the men as stockmen, labourers or other tedious jobs. Even though they had jobs, the Aboriginal workers would not get paid. If they were lucky they would be left in their country ( their land/are they called home), this was very important to them because their country was part of their life. In the Aboriginal community they believe that being on country is a nurturing experience for them, in other words if they look after their country, the country will look after them. Its their duty to look after the land, and when they are separated from it, they cannot do this, which brings them great suffering and pain. From the point in which they were taken and separated from their family, friends and country, they were not permitted to speak their own language and could only speak English, if they did speak their own language they were severely punished. They had to dress and behave like white people. They were displaced, their whole culture was stripped from them, they were put into a situation on a cultural level to survive, and were totally at the mercy of the white people. My Grandfather is an Anthropologist (Gary Watson) and has spent the last 8 years in Western Australia working with the Wadjarri Yamatji tribe. In the Wadjarri language Yamatji roughly translates to Aboriginal. One of his friends from the tribe is a member of the stolen generation and gave my grandfather some examples of the cultural displacement he went through; when he was first taken from his land and family he had a girlfriend, and he would constantly escape from the institution to go and see her. They would always come and take him back, he could not understand why they would want to keep him from her. He was severely punished every time he escaped but he continued to escape to go and see her. Another experience he told my grandfather was when they told him to sleep inside the house, for him this was absurd. why would he sleep inside, he had never slept inside his whole life. To this day he hates sleeping inside, even in a little tin shed when they’re out in the bush. Allot of the Aboriginals couldn’t and still cant understand why the white people would want to take them away and confine them and tell them not to be themselves. All these experiences have left a lasting impression, to this day these experiences affect the members of the stolen generation. Lots of the men get very angry when u bring the topic up, more so because they were done wrongly just because they were black. Bibliography Reference Material My Grandfather is an Anthropologist (Gary Watson) Spent last 8 years in Western Australia working with the Wadjarri Yamatji tribe. Horton, David, The Encyclopaedia of Aboriginal Australia, Aboriginal Studies Press, Volume 1, 1994 The World Book Encyclopaedia, World Book, North Michigan, Volume 1, 2005 The Australian Encyclopaedia, Australian Geographic Society, Sydney, Volume 1, 1988 History Books Barwick, John and Jennifer, Aboriginal Australia, Heinemann, Melbourne, 2009 Bird, Carmel (ed), The Stolen Generation, Random House, Sydney, 1998 Internet Source http://reconciliaction. org. au How to cite The Stolen Generation, Papers The Stolen Generation Free Essays The stolen generation †¦. 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 is the name given to the generation of aboriginal and Torres strait islander children that were removed from their families and placed into institutions where they were forced to forget their aboriginality. We will write a custom essay sample on The Stolen Generation or any similar topic only for you Order Now These children were then given a poor education and were sent into the homes of white Australians to be servants or labourers. The government and churches around Australia had an ignorant and uneducated view about the native aboriginals and how they chose to live. They thought that aboriginal families lived poor and unrewarding lives; they believed they were doing the right thing and were helping the children by removing them from their homes and families. They believed that aboriginal people were bad parents and that the women did not look after their children. No records were kept of the children that were taken and siblings were deliberately separated, today many people do not know where or if they have brothers or sisters out there. This had destroyed families and torn them apart. They were forced to go through the unimaginable and were treated as slaves. You and me, we were not direct causes of this. This was our ancestors. A generation before we were born. We had not yet even existed when this was happening all over Australian yet it took all these years for an apology to be given to the people of the stolen generation On the 13th of February 2008 the prime minister Kevin Rudd apologised on behalf of all of Australia for the way that the people of the stolen generation were treated. This is what he said: â€Å"We apologise especially for the removal of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children from their families, their communities and their country. â€Å"For the pain, suffering and hurt of these Stolen Generations, their descendants and for their families left behind, we say sorry. â€Å"To the mothers and the fathers, the brothers and the sisters, for the breaking up of families and communities, we say sorry. â€Å"And for the indignity and degradation thus inflicted on a proud people and a proud culture, we say sorry. â€Å" How to cite The Stolen Generation, Papers