The Stolen Generation

1. The Stolen Generation

2. What do we know about The Stolen Generation?

3. Took The Children AwayArchie Roach (Mushroom Records 1990) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aywDT6yHMmov 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 • 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 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?

4. The Stolen Generations: The Facts • Removal of Indigenous children from their family 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.

5. The Facts • 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

6. The Facts • Once girls turned 14 they were expected to find employment with white families as domestics • By the 1980’s, 100,000+ children had been removed.

7. Stolen Generation Video

8. Timeline

9. Timeline cont. Source: http://www.reconciliation.org.au/

10. The Stolen Generations • During the 1800’s, the colonial authorities believed that a protection system was the best way to look after Indigenous Australians. • This meant setting up special communities for them where they could farm the land and live off the produce.

11. The Stolen Generations • Indigenous people were traditionally nomadic though, and many could not get used to this way of life. • The Aborigines Protection Act 1909 gave the authorities license to ‘provide for the custody, maintenance and education of the children of Aborigines’

12. The Stolen Generation • Governments believed the best way to ensure that Indigenous children (especially those of mixed descent) were assimilated into European society was to remove them – forcibly, if necessary – from their families and raise them in institutions or foster homes.

13. The Stolen Generation • The thinking of the strategy at the time was that • “Assimilation means, in practical terms, that, in the course of time, it is expected that all persons of aboriginal blood or mixed blood in Australia will live like other white Australians do”

14. Read Page 122 • From Protection to Assimilation • Preparing for a different life

15. Marjorie Video

16. Imagine • Imagine you are a nine-year-old Indigenous child. • You have just been taken into the custody of the state. • Which do you think would be the hardest to leave behind? • Your family? Your language? Your culture?

17. From the clues provided in Rose’s story, why do you believe her brothers and sisters were removed? Why do you think she may have been left behind? Which people were directly or indirectly affected in a negative way by the welfare workers’ decision to remove Rose’s brothers and sisters from the family?

18. Chapter 4 – Question 7 on Page 123

20. The Apology http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b3TZOGpG6cM