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'Stolen' Aborigine returns home

3 March 2003 - An Aboriginal woman who was taken to Britain as a child under a government policy to assimilate Aborigines into white communities, has travelled to Australia to meet her family. Neila Penny, 35, is the first of the so-called "Stolen Generations" to take part in such a trip, under a new government-sponsored reunion programme.

She is one of tens of thousands of Aboriginal children who were forcibly separated from their families in the 1960 and 70s in an attempt to "breed out" their Aborigine blood and give them a better life.

Ms Penny, who was raised in Kent, south-east England, arrived in the Western Australia state capital of Perth on Sunday. She was greeted at the airport by four sisters, two brothers and many cousins, uncles, aunts, nephews and nieces.

She said she did not remember her family because she was separated from them as a toddler.

"I've waited a long time for this, a hell of a long time," Ms Penny said. "I feel overwhelmed, ecstatic."

She said that her adoptive family had been open about her background.

"I've always considered myself Aboriginal," she said.

Her cousin Fred Penny, who organised her trip, said the family was delighted to meet their long-lost relative.

He said that he and his wife had visited Ms Penny last year in England, and had taken with them a book of tales describing their tribe's culture. The family are members of the Nyoongar tribe of south-western Australia.

"It was like she was waiting to hear that. There was an empty spot there that got filled in," he said, adding that this trip was "all part of her healing".

The plight of the Stolen Generations has recently been dramatised in the Philip Noyce film Rabbit-Proof Fence, which was released last year.

The policy was only publicly acknowledged in 1997, when the results of a judicial inquiry were published.

Source: BBC

Neila Penny

30 April 2003 - Neila Penny is part of the stolen generation. 36 years ago she was taken from her Nyoongar parents in Western Australia and migrated to England with her new family. We join Neila for her emotional homecoming when she finally meets the family she never knew. We also learn of her inspirational plans for the future.

GEORGE NEGUS: Our next story is a homecoming with a difference. Two different countries - in fact, two very different worlds - and a young woman caught in between them. Neila Penny was the first of the stolen generation children to come home from overseas under a special West Australian Government scheme. She tells Jane Cunningham that her visit to WA last month was undoubtedly one of the most significant journeys she's ever made.

JANE CUNNINGHAM, REPORTER: It's hard to miss the emotion etched on the faces of this West Australian family as they eagerly await the arrival of their relative from overseas. But this is a reunion like no other.

NEILA PENNY: Overwhelmed, ecstatic, happy. Oh... (Sighs)

MAN: Blown away?

NEILA PENNY: Emotional. Everything you could possibly think I'm going through, I'm going through it right now.

JANE CUNNINGHAM: That's because for the first time, Neila Penny has come home to the family she has never met and the sunburnt country where she was born.

NEILA PENNY: My mum, she's always told me I'm an Aborigine from Australia. But when I used to look in the mirror, I used to just see a black child but I used to think I was white.

JANE CUNNINGHAM: The government policy of removing Aboriginal children was devastating for thousands of families. Neila was just a baby when her adoptive parents took her to England, unaware of the circumstances behind her adoption.

NEILA PENNY: I was just brought up to be a good girl, good education. I had a very good childhood. Um, my mum, she's a wonderful person. I just thought the time was right in my heart and I just wanted to know my birth family, you know.

JANE CUNNINGHAM: Neila has just travelled 14,000 kilometres from London in England to Perth in Western Australia. But the trip she's making today is by far the biggest part of her journey so far. Neila's on her way home to the wheat belt town of Narrogin, the place where she was born 35 years ago.

JANE CUNNINGHAM: And I'm, er, getting very sweaty hands. So I'm going to meet my other dad, my Uncle Trevor. I've waited a very long time for this, so, um...I'm excited and nervous and...

JANE CUNNINGHAM: This is a bittersweet homecoming. Neila has nine siblings and a huge extended family to meet, but the two most important people - Neil and Audrey, her mum and dad - passed away before being reunited with their daughter.

NEILA PENNY: Home to my birthplace.

JANE CUNNINGHAM: Waiting to meet Neila for the first time is her dad's brother, her Uncle Trevor. He's the closest that she has to a biological father.

NEILA PENNY: To meet Uncle Trevor is going to be hard because, um...Weeps) ..he looks just like Dad.

JANE CUNNINGHAM: Neila's tears are of joy, but also of immeasurable pain, as she makes the heartbreaking journey to her father's unmarked grave.

NEILA PENNY: (To gravestone) I didn't want to see you like this.

JANE CUNNINGHAM: We've all considered the words 'stolen generation' but until you've seen a daughter grieve for the parents she never knew, you can never fully understand the true meaning of those words.

MAN: I know if your dad would've been here today, he would not have it any other way...that all of youse are together at last.

NEILA PENNY: My dad was a good man. He worked hard all his life. I was named after him, so he's so important to me, and, um...um...I'm just overwhelmed, you know? And I just wish that I could've been here a lot sooner, you know?

JANE CUNNINGHAM: Neila has waited 36 years for this. For her, it's been a lifetime of wondering, of questioning, of not knowing why.

NEILA PENNY: (To Trevor Penny on a veranda) This is where I was born?

TREVOR PENNY: Yeah.

JANE CUNNINGHAM: Coming home means she can finally get answers.

NEILA PENNY: I heard that, um...when I was, uh...taken, it was because they thought that Mum and Dad weren't looking after me properly.

TREVOR PENNY: I don't want to upset you in any way, because I know for a fact no-one, but no-one, would've looked after their babies any better than your mum. You mum and dad didn't give you away. I want you to know that. They didn't give you away. You were taken away, um...um...without their consent - I can say that - because, uh...your dad was very upset and so was your mum. But I think it was done through the welfare. Because, um...you were a sick baby.

NEILA PENNY: Just the thought of Mum and Dad going through that pain all those years, that hurts me. But not understanding as well, the reason why I was taken away, you know? When I look on the map in England, of Australia, and I say, "That's Narrogin there. That's Narrogin there," I just can't believe I'm here.

TREVOR PENNY: But it's lovely to have you back here. Honestly, I mean, it's like a dream come true, you know?

NEILA PENNY: Of course I have anger, um... We can't do anything about the past, you know? Only the future. So I just have to enjoy the rest of my family what I've got, and, um...I'm grateful that all of my siblings are all alive and well.

JANE CUNNINGHAM: Despite growing up far apart, this family has forged a bond strong enough to overcome the odds.

NEILA PENNY: It just felt so natural, you know? And, you know, like, we all just came together. These are my siblings, you know? But actually seeing them in the flesh and holding them...that was just the best feeling. And I felt I was...I just felt so good to be home, you know?

JANE CUNNINGHAM: Two weeks later, her visit may have come to an end, but her life as a Nyoongar woman, it seems, is just beginning. How are you feeling?

NEILA PENNY: Sad. I just don't want to go, you know? There's just so many people to see still. I haven't met half of my family. I've got all my family in my suitcase. They've taken me into their hearts. They're amazing people, you know? And they're my family and I feel honoured to be part of it. That's the way I feel about it. I need to come home, 'cause this is my home.

GEORGE NEGUS: How about that for real reality television? What a terrific thing for the program to be a part of. Well done, everyone involved. And, Neila, now that you've done it once, come back again soon. Another one of those stories that knocks you around. Been happening a bit lately.

related links :

• Background: From - Asian Human Rights Commission - Douglas Scott Case

Further information: stolen generations issues page - includes news index and external links

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