The Stolen Generations have had devastating impacts for
the people who were forcibly removed as children, their parents and families, and their descendants
. All these groups of people experience high rates of depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress and suicide, and poor health and socioeconomic outcomes.
What does the Stolen Generation refer to in Aboriginal history?
The Stolen Generations refers to
the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children who were removed from their families between 1910 and 1970
. This was done by Australian federal and state government agencies and church missions, through a policy of assimilation.
What is the significance of the stolen generation for Australia as a nation?
Thousands of children were forcibly removed by governments, churches and welfare bodies to be raised in institutions, fostered out or adopted by non-Indigenous families, nationally and internationally
. They are known as the Stolen Generations.
What happened to the Aboriginal children in the Stolen Generation?
What happened to the stolen children? ... The stolen
children were raised on missions or by foster parents, totally cut off from their Aboriginality
. Many were stripped of their names and called by a number. They were severely punished when caught talking their Aboriginal language.
What did Australia do about the Stolen Generation?
The Stolen Generations refers to a
period in Australia’s history where Aboriginal children were removed from their families through government policies
. ... In the 1860s, Victoria became the first state to pass laws authorising Aboriginal children to be removed from their parents.
How was the stolen generation stopped?
The NSW Aborigines Protection Board loses its power to remove Indigenous children
. The Board is renamed the Aborigines Welfare Board and is finally abolished in 1969.
How are the stolen generation remembered?
Members of the Stolen Generations were remembered
today on the 13th anniversary of the National Apology
. ... According to the Healing Foundation, the National Apology is important because the word “sorry” in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander languages and cultures holds special meaning.
Why was the Stolen Generation wrong?
The impact on children who were taken:
This resulted in
children experiencing a disconnection from culture
, and an inability to pass culture on to their own children. Many children were wrongly told that their parents were abusive, had died or had abandoned them.
What was the aim of the Stolen Generation?
Children taken to such institutions were trained to be assimilated to Anglo-Australian culture. Policies included punishment for speaking their local Indigenous languages. The intention was
to educate them for a different future and to prevent their being socialised in Aboriginal cultures
.
How has the Stolen Generation affected Aboriginal health and wellbeing?
The report found the descendants of Stolen Generations members also
face poorer health and social outcomes
compared to other Indigenous Australians. And relatives of Stolen Generations members were almost twice as likely to experience discrimination and violence, according to the report.
What rights were taken away from the Aboriginal?
By 1911, every mainland State and Territory had introduced protection policies that subjected Indigenous people to near-total control, and denied them basic human rights such as
freedom of movement and labour
, custody of their children, and control over their personal property.
What did the 2008 apology achieve?
On 13 February 2008 Prime Minister Kevin Rudd made a formal apology to
Australia’s Indigenous peoples
, particularly to the Stolen Generations whose lives had been blighted by past government policies of forced child removal and Indigenous assimilation.
Why was apologizing important to the Stolen Generation?
These formal apologies were an important step towards building a respectful new relationship between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians. Many Stolen Generations members felt that
their pain and suffering was acknowledged
and that the nation understood the need to right the wrongs of the past.
Did the stolen generation end?
The NSW Aborigines Protection Board loses its power to remove Indigenous children. The Board is renamed the Aborigines Welfare Board and is finally abolished in
1969
.
What laws allowed the Stolen Generation?
One of the earliest pieces of legislation in relation to the Stolen Generation was
the Victorian Aboriginal Protection Act 1869
, this legislation allowed the removal of Aboriginal people of mixed descent from Aboriginal Stations or Reserves to force them to assimilate into White Society.
When was the stolen generation at its peak?
The Inquiry’s final report, Bringing them home , tabled in May 1997, concluded that in the period from
1910 to 1970
, when the practice was at its peak, between 10 and 30 per cent of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children were forcibly removed from their families and communities.
