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Dictionary gives hope to Aborigines

By Barbie Dutter

13 July 2001- Aboriginal leaders have claimed that the inclusion of the phrase "stolen generation" in the latest edition of the Concise Oxford Dictionary amounts to international acknowledgment of their campaign for reparations.

The term is defined as: "Noun. Australian. The Aboriginal people forcibly removed from their families as children between the 1900s and the 1960s, to be brought up by white foster families or in institutions."The phrase is not used by the Australian government, but Lowitja O'Donoghue, a prominent Aboriginal leader, said: "We welcome the recognition that this gives."

The authorities played down its significance. "Dictionaries do not make value judgments," said a spokesman for the Aboriginal Affairs Department. The lexicographers said a note explaining the political connotations might be added when the dictionary was revised in two years.

The former Aboriginal affairs minister, John Herron, caused fury last year by saying the proportion of indigenous children removed from families under past assimilation policies did not exceed 10 per cent, which did not constitute a generation.

Aborigines account for two per cent of Australia's 19 million people and are by far the most disadvantaged, with a life expectancy about 20 years shorter than that of non-indigenous Australians.

This article appeared in The Guardian

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