Stolen Generation

The Stolen Generation was a time when children, usually half-cast children of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander backgrounds were taken away from their family’s in-order to assimilate the Indigenous people. The removal and policies were organised by the Aborigines Protection Board, which was formed in 1909. They had the power to remove children without a court order or parental consent and this officially lasted from 1909 to 1969, meaning that some Aboriginal people around the age of 60 have been part of the Stolen Generation. It’s estimated that around 100,000 children were taken away from their families to be raised up in homes or church missions, although the exact amount is unknown due to many of the records being destroyed. Children even babies were taken away, put into institutions to be brought up as labourers or servants, so had little education and taught the European way of life. Which has led to their lost of identity and culture, at the time indigenous people were seen as low level humans, an example of this rejection is recounted by Bill Simon who says, “The white staff who were all ex-army personnel, they used to tell us that our people were no good, they didn’t want us.”
It was not until 1997 with the publication of “Bringing them Home” that brought more public awareness to the facts of the Stolen Generation. The report published the facts that the removal of children were highly distressing for the families, most children were mistreated, endured higher rates of sexual abuse, poverty, hardships and missed out on a family life. An example of this is Daniel Forrester who according to his testimony, “During his time at the home, Daniel was sexually abused by this man as well as another man working there (the mission he was staying at)…I said I’ll kill someone if I stay here much longer.” Another example is of Bill Simon who says, “And we were beaten, flogged, molested, everything else but I couldn’t tell anybody because nobody was allowed to come and visit us in the homes.”
The forced removal of Indigenous children meant that many important cultural and family connections and ideas were lost, which not only affected individuals but the whole community. For example one of the Stolen Children stated on the ‘Bringing them Home Report’, “A lot of people say that they don’t know what exactly they are, whether they’re white or they’re black. Where exactly they belong.” The affects of the scheme also made many of the Stolen Children more likely to suffer from depression, have shorter life spans and end up on the wrong side of the law more often than the average Indigenous person. Bill Simon is a clear example of this, he states himself, “And I ended up mixing up there with the wrong crowd. I had me own drug little scheme running there, I used to sell a lot of drugs and get into fights.”
In conclusion the events of the Stolen Generation had many effects on the whole indigenous community, with loss of culture, language and tradition. Many of the members of the Stolen Generation today still have mixed experiences of the events that occurred to them, for example Daniel Forrester says, “I wouldn’t like to see the Stolen Generation repeated again” while Marita AhChee says, “And we had good days and bad days. But I can’t complain. The nuns were lovely to us”