- Published: December 26, 2021
- Updated: December 26, 2021
- University / College: The University of Adelaide
- Language: English
- Downloads: 10
The stolen generation …. The degradation and the sheer brutality of the act of physically separating a mother from her children is a deep assault on our senses and on our most elemental humanity…. The stolen generation is the name given to the generation of aboriginal and Torres strait islander children that were removed from their families and placed into institutions where they were forced to forget their aboriginality. These children were then given a pooreducationand were sent into the homes of white Australians to be servants or labourers.
The government and churches around Australia had an ignorant and uneducated view about the native aboriginals and how they chose to live. They thought that aboriginal families lived poor and unrewarding lives; they believed they were doing the right thing and were helping the children by removing them from their homes and families. They believed that aboriginal people were bad parents and that the women did not look after their children. No records were kept of the children that were taken and siblings were deliberately separated, today many people do not know where or if they have brothers or sisters out there.
This had destroyed families and torn them apart. They were forced to go through the unimaginable and were treated as slaves. You and me, we were not direct causes of this. This was our ancestors. A generation before we were born. We had not yet even existed when this was happening all over Australian yet it took all these years for an apology to be given to the people of the stolen generation On the 13th of February 2008 the prime minister Kevin Rudd apologised on behalf of all of Australia for the way that the people of the stolen generation were treated.
This is what he said: ” 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 proudculture, we say sorry. “