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the stolen generations - les générations volées - le "generazioni rubate"

Doris Pilkington Garimara reading from her book 'Follow the rabbit proof fence' University College London 2002

Helen Moran co-chair NSDC walking the talk with ANTaR's SoH Sydney 2007

Sorry Day London 2007 photo courtesy Catherine Dubois

Between 1910 and 1970 up to 100,000 Aboriginal children were taken forcibly or under duress from their families by police or welfare officers.

Most were under 5 years old. There was rarely any judicial process. To be Aboriginal was enough. They are known as the ‘Stolen Generations’.

what happened to them?

• Most were raised in Church or state institutions. Some were fostered or adopted by white parents.
• Many suffered physical and sexual abuse. Food and living conditions were poor.
• They received little education, and were expected to go into low grade domestic and farming work.

why were they taken?

They were taken because it was Federal and State Government policy that Aboriginal children - especially those of mixed Aboriginal and European descent - should be removed from their parents.

Between 10 and 30% of all Aboriginal children were removed, and in some places these policies continued into the 1970s.

• The main motive was to ‘assimilate’ Aboriginal children into European society over one or two generations by denying and destroying their Aboriginality.
• Speaking their languages and practising their ceremonies was forbidden
• They were taken miles from their country, some overseas
• Parents were not told where their children were and could not trace them
• Children were told that they were orphans
• Family visits were discouraged or forbidden; letters were destroyed.
  

what were the results

• Most grew up in a hostile environment without family ties or cultural identity.
• As adults, many suffered insecurity, lack of self esteem, feelings of worthlessness, depression, suicide, violence, delinquency, abuse of alcohol and drugs and inability to trust.
• Lacking a parental model, many had difficulty bringing up their own children.
• The scale of separation also had profound consequences for the whole Aboriginal community - anger, powerlessness and lack of purpose as well as an abiding distrust of Government, police and officials.

what is being done?

10th anniversary of the Bringing them home report march in Sydney 2007 photo courtesy Katrina Mathieson

'Sorry Book' launched in UK outside Australia House 1998

A National Inquiry was set up in 1995. Its 1997 Report ‘Bringing them Home’ contained harrowing evidence.

It found that forcible removal of indigenous children was a gross violation of human rights which continued well after Australia had undertaken international human rights commitments.

• It was racially discriminatory, because it only applied to Aboriginal children on that scale, and
• It was an act of genocide contrary to the Convention on Genocide, (which forbids ‘forcibly transferring children of [a] group to another group’ with the intention of destroying the group.)

The Report made 54 recommendations, including opening of records, family tracing and reunion services and the need for reparations’ (including acknowledgement and apology by Governments and institutions concerned, restitution, rehabilitation and compensation).

A Senate committee has investigated the Government’s response to the Report.

The previous Liberal/National Coalition Government increased some funding but has refused to apologise or offer compensation. Australia elected a new Government on 24th November 2007 - it's policy is to make a formal apology to the Stolen generations.

STOP PRESS - On 13 February Kevin Rudd Prime Minister - made the first item of Australia's new government an official apology to the Stolen Generations. The apology received bipartisan support.

The Government has stated there will be no compensation fund.

People of the Stolen Generation have started legal actions for compensation against the Government .

The cases have been hard fought, as Government lawyers are arguing that removal of children was done for their own good.

In 2007 - in a landmark case in the State Supreme Court of South Australia Bruce Trevorrow became the first member of Australia's "stolen generation" of Aboriginal people to win compensation.

A statement by the former Aboriginal Affairs Minister John Herron which denied existance of the ‘stolen generations’ caused distress and anger among those affected. Denial has marked much of the commentary.

'Moving forward: achieving reparations' is a project conducted in partnership with ATSIC, the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission, the National Sorry Day Committee and Northern Territory stolen generation groups.

It's report 'Restoring identity', proposing a reparations tribunal for the stolen generations, has widespread support by Indigenous people.

Ministers for Aboriginal Affairs in Victoria, Queensland, South Australia and Western Australia issued public statements welcoming the report and detailing their initiatives to implement the recommendations.

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The world watched as Australia said 'Sorry'

Apology to the Stolen Generations from Australia's PM Kevin Rudd photo courtesy Katrina Mathieson/eniar

urgent action MPs' signatures needed to support EDM 1000

On 13 February Kevin Rudd Prime Minister made the first item of Australia's new government an official apology to the Stolen Generations. The apology received bipartisan support.

"The time has now come for the nation to turn a new page in Australia’s history by righting the wrongs of the past and so moving forward with confidence to the future.
We apologise for the laws and policies of successive Parliaments and governments that have inflicted profound grief, suffering and loss on these our fellow Australians.
We apologise especially for the removal of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children from their families, their communities and their country.
For the pain, suffering and hurt of these Stolen Generations, their descendants and for their families left behind, we say sorry.
To the mothers and the fathers, the brothers and the sisters, for the breaking up of families and communities, we say sorry.
And for the indignity and degradation thus inflicted on a proud people and a proud culture, we say sorry."

Extract - Apology to Australia's Indigenous Peoples 13 February 2008
download full speech as a pdf

British MPs’ motion to support Australia’s ‘sorry’ to Indigenous Australians

21 February 2008 - EDM 1000 tabled in the British parliament

Begins
Indigenous Australians
That this House recalls Great Britain's role in the colonisation, settlement and early governance of Australia;  acknowledges Great Britain's responsibility for the suffering and degradation inflicted on indigenous Australians including the removal of indigenous human remains and material culture; supports the Prime Minister of Australia, Kevin Rudd, in his apology to the stolen generations and other indigenous Australians for the pain, loss, deprivation and abuse they have suffered; recognises the continuing strength and  vitality of the indigenous peoples of Australia and their culture; supports the Australian government's commitment to recognising the special status of Australia's indigenous peoples and tackling the inequalities still facing indigenous Australians.

related links:

• Apology to Australia's Indigenous Peoples 13 February 2008 Speech by Prime Minister Kevin Rudd (PDF)
• Apology to stolen generations questions and answers (PDF)
• 'Sorry' - issues page - contains index of world media coverage of the apology (NEW!)
• Rabbit-Proof Central:
  all our info about the hit film which brought the issue of Australia's 'Stolen Generations' to the world's attention.
• Restoring Identity (703kb PDF)
  Final report of the Moving Forward consultation project.
• Rabbit-Proof Fence online Study Guide (478kb PDF file)
• Restoring identity - achieving justice for the stolen generations
  27 September, 2002 - Media Release, Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission (HREOC); Media Release, Public Interest Advocacy Centre.
• British MPs’ motion to support Australia’s ‘sorry’ to Indigenous people welcome
  23 February 2008 - Media Release - The European Network for Indigenous Australian Rights (ENIAR) has welcomed the British MPs’ motion acknowledging responsibility for ill-treatment of Indigenous Australians.

external links

• AIATSIS
  Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander resourse links
• Bringing them Home
  Report of the National Inquiry into the Separation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children from their Families.
• NSDC National Sorry day Committee
• Stolen generations Alliance
• HREOC Website: Bringing them home: Education Module
  The Bringing them home education module provides an opportunity for students and teachers to research and consider this history and to assess how far the nation has come in achieving a home coming for those children.
• The 'Stolen Generation' - Finding A Fiduciary Duty (E Law)
• `Stolen Children Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs')
• Apology: regret or sorrow?
  By Senator Aden Ridgeway, The Australian Democrats' Reconciliation Spokesman
• Winangali-Marumali - working to increase the quality of support available for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander survivors of removal policies through delivery of its Marumali program. The Marumali program is based on a unique, original & unparalleled model of healing developed and delivered by Lorraine Peeters, a survivor of the removal policies herself.
  
• Stolen lives
  Beatrix Campbell on the 'sisters' who are challenging Australia to admit to its forced separation of Aboriginal families.
• Racism No Way Fact Sheets for Schools
• The long way home
  "What I'd hope [Rabbit-Proof Fence] might encourage is for all Australians to understand the deeply felt emotions that have fuelled some of the debates on the stolen generations issue and on reconciliation in general."
• The 'Stolen Generation' - Finding A Fiduciary Duty
  Article by Tim Hammond examining the fiduciary duty legal aspects of the issue.
• RANZCP: Inquiry into Stolen Generations
  Submission made to the Inquiry into Stolen Generations by the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists focusing on the psychological and psychiatric impact of the Stolen Generations on individuals and communities.
• The Noongar Stolen Generations 
  Notes for a paper prepared by Anna Haebich, concentrating on the experiences of Noongar stolen generations in Western Australia.
• Background Briefing: Stolen Generations 
  Transcript of an ABC radio programme focusing on the issue. Includes a list of additional resources.
• The Stolen Generations: Implications For Australian Civilization, Citizenship and Governance 
  Project report by Robert van Krieken and Robyn Arrowsmith of Sydney University. Includes project summary, overview and findings.
• Bringing Them Home Oral History Project (National Library of Australia)
  In December 1997, in response to the first recommendation of Bringing Them Home: Report of the National Inquiry into the Separation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children from Their Families, the Commonwealth Government announced the National Library would be funded to develop and manage a new oral history project. The oral history project will collect and preserve the stories of Indigenous people and others, such as missionaries, police and administrators involved in or affected by the process of child removals.