The%20Stolen%20Generation

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The Stolen Generation
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What do we know about Bimbadeen?
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Cootamundra Aboriginal Girls Training Home
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The Stolen Generations The Facts

• Removal of children was official government
  policy from 1909 to 1969.
• It was managed by the Aborigines Protection Board
  (APB). They placed children in government
  institutions and missions
• The APB had the power to remove the children
  without parental consent, and without a court
  order. The labelled the children destitute and
  neglected. This made it easy to remove them
  from their families for their moral and
  spiritual welfare.
• They were not allowed to speak their Aboriginal
  language or have contact with full-blooded
  relatives.
• Those not of full blood were expected to
  assimilate into the broader society under the
  White Australia Policy.
• The education in missions bible stories, sewing
  cleaning for girls, and stockwork gardening
  for boys
• Once girls turned 14 they were expected to find
  employment with white families as domestics
• By the 1980s, 100,000 children had been removed.

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Q and A

• Explore what you already know about the removal
  of Indigenous children from their families.
• Make a list of things you know about the history
  of removal of Indigenous children from their
  families
• What information do you know about the removal of
  Indigenous children in the area you live in?
• How did the Government of the time justify the
  removal of Indigenous children?

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What did people know at the time?
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Rabbit Proof Fence
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Took The Children AwayArchie Roach (Mushroom
Records 1990)
http//www.youtube.com/watch?vaywDT6yHMmov

• This story's right, this story's trueI would not
  tell lies to youLike the promises they did not
  keepAnd how they fenced us in like sheep.Said
  to us come take our handSent us off to mission
  land.Taught us to read, to write and prayThen
  they took the children away, Took the children
  away,The children away.Snatched from their
  mother's breastSaid this is for the bestTook
  them away.The welfare and the policemanSaid
  you've got to understandWe'll give them what you
  can't giveTeach them how to really live.Teach
  them how to live they saidHumiliated them
  insteadTaught them that and taught them thisAnd
  others taught them prejudice.You took the
  children awayThe children awayBreaking their
  mothers heartTearing us all apartTook them away

One dark day on FraminghamCome and didn't give a
damnMy mother cried go get their dadHe came
running, fighting madMother's tears were falling
downDad shaped up and stood his ground.He said
'You touch my kids and you fight me'And they
took us from our family.Took us awayThey took
us awaySnatched from our mother's breastSaid
this was for the bestTook us away. Told us
what to do and sayTold us all the white man's
waysThen they split us up againAnd gave us
gifts to ease the painSent us off to foster
homesAs we grew up we felt aloneCause we were
acting whiteYet feeling black
One sweet day all the children came backThe
children come backThe children come backBack
where their hearts grow strongBack where they
all belongThe children came backSaid the
children come backThe children come backBack
where they understandBack to their mother's
landThe children come backBack to their
motherBack to their fatherBack to their
sisterBack to their brotherBack to their
peopleBack to their landAll the children come
backThe children come backThe children come
backYes I came back.
What does this song tell you about the Stolen
Generation?
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A Policy of Assimilation

• Post WWII Populate or Perish!

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Rabbit Proof Fence
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ImpactCommunity, Family, Culture

• The Statistics

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Removal

• 38 of Indigenous people were forcibly removed
  themselves and/or had relatives who, as a child,
  had been forcibly or otherwise removed from their
  natural family.
• National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander
  Social Survey 2002

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Age

• Over 50 of respondents who gave evidence to the
  Bringing them home Inquiry were five years or
  younger when they were removed from their
  families.
• Bringing them home report, page 182

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Next Generation

• The children of members of the Stolen
  Generations are twice as likely to have
  emotional and behavioural problems, to be at high
  risk for hyperactivity, emotional and conduct
  disorders, and twice as likely to abuse alcohol
  and drugs.
• Western Australian Aboriginal Child Health Survey
  200102

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Health

• Indigenous people in Australia are almost one and
  a half times more likely to have a disability or
  long-term health condition than non-Indigenous
  people.
• National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander
  Social Survey, 2002

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Racism

• 21.5 of Indigenous children under 12 experienced
  racism in the previous six months.
• Western Australian Aboriginal Child Health Survey
  200102

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Q and A

• 1. What do these statistics suggest were the
  effects of the removal of Indigenous children
  from their families?
• 2. What conclusions can we draw from these
  statements/statistics?
• 3. What other information would be useful to
  assess the impact of the policies of removal of
  Indigenous children from their families?
• 4. What problems might arise in collecting that
  information?

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Yothu Yindi Treaty

• http//www.youtube.com/watch?vS7cbkxn4G8U

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Timeline

Year Event
1788-mid 1800s Early removals through church-run missions
1837 British Select Committee recommends the appointment of Protectors of Aborigines in Australia
1869-1935 Indigenous child removal legislation is put in place in all states and territories. The Protectors now have the power to remove children. At first, the removals were part of protection and segregation policies, as it was believed that the Indigenous children were part of a dying race. Later, it was believed that the Indigenous children would assimilate and be absorbed into the non-Indigenous population.
1937 Assimilation is adopted as the official national Indigenous affairs policy
1969 Indigenous child removal legislation is removed
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Timeline cont.
Year Event
1980 The first Link-Up Aboriginal Corporation is established.
1991 The Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody finds 43 of 99 deaths investigated were of people separated from their families as children.
1994 Going Home conference 600 members of the Stolen Generations
1997 The Bringing Them Home report is released.
2000 Over 250,000 people participate in the Sorry walk across the Harbour Bridge on May 28th.
2001 The Moving Forward conference is held exploring ways of making amends with the Stolen Generations.
2004 Stolen Generations memorial at Reconciliation Place in Canberra is unveiled 461 Sorry Books are entered on the Australian Memory of the World Register
2008 23th February the Prime Minister moved the apology.
Source http//www.reconciliation.org.au/
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The Apology
http//www.youtube.com/watch?vb3TZOGpG6cM