First, I’m going to define what the “stolen generations”. This is a term to describe those children that were taken away from their aboriginal families by the Australian federal state, church missions and some government agencies; this occurred in the period between 1869 and 1969.In the following chart we can find out why were Aboriginal girls taken, and we can find that the main reason was to send them to service.
These children were not always sent to service, an sometimes they were raised by non aboriginal parents that used to punish them severely when they were caught talking the aboriginal language. These children were removed from their families and every link or bond between them and the aboriginals was broken.
In the removal process, girls and boys were separated in different institutions and this has even been compared with the German concentration camps.
The most important institutions were:
· Bomaderry Children's Home (United Aborigines Mission) which operated from 24 May 1908 to 1981.
· Cootamundra Aboriginal Girls' Home which operated from 1911 to 1969.
· Kinchela Aboriginal Boys' Home (Kinchela Training Institution) which moved to Kempsey in 1924. About 600 Aboriginal boys passed through Kinchela before it was closed in 1970.
· Mittagong Boys' Home
· Kempsey
· Parramatta Girls' Home which operated from 1887 until 1986
· Kahlin Compound, Darwin
· The Bungalow, Alice Springs
· Box Hill Boys Home, Melbourne
When it comes to estimate the number of children removed from their families, the work gets tough. However, the number is estimated in more than 6200 between 1883 and 1969, however this is a number very dificult to estimate due to the conditions of that time.
Some of the effects of this removal were (or even ARE)
· Loneliness.
· Low self esteem and feelings of worthlessness.
· Loss of
identity:
· Mistrusting everyone.
· Difficulties to find their religious beliefs,
· Internal guilt because Stolen Generation members often blame their mothers and fathers for not loving and caring for them, based on incorrect or sparse information supplied by foster parents and government institutions
· Anguish of searching for their identity.
· Depression and other mental illnesses.
· Difficulties parenting or filling any communal role.
· Unable to manage relationships because they have never had a role model to learn from.
· Transgenerational traumas: Parents pass their traumas on to their children.
· Loss of cultural affiliation
Loss of language
Now that we know a little bit more about the “stolen generations”, let’s see what the “national sorry day” is…
This is an event held each 26 may since 1998 to express the regret of the mistreatment of aboriginal people, and it is the day when the country Sais “I’m sorry” because of what happened with the stolen generations.
Is this enough?
I personally think it is very important that the government accepted its responsibility and that it is aware of the mistreats and the negative consequences, However, we already saw the impact this had was severe as well as the consequences for those children that were taken away, or for those aboriginal groups. I think that the government should create institutions in order to treat these people and to help them heal some of those consequences, such as the loss of identity, depression, the loss of cultural affiliation, and the low self esteem. The sorry day is important to recognize publicly that this was a wrong behavior however, this event doesn’t help those who are suffering to recover those things they lost or those feelings they have. This event doesn’t help them heal the injuries or recover the tenets or the customs they lost.
It is needed to create institutions for this aim, and to develop programs with the community to help them accept those who have no identity and integrate them into the social life. I think that it is needed to work with the aboriginals groups in Australia in order to help them preserv their customs and avoid what happened with other groups. The government should develop preventive campaigns with the aboriginals as well as make even more efforts to protect them, since the past governments didn’t.
