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The whitening, bleaching, genocide, assimilation … a number of terms have been used to describe the policy of the Australian government over several generations which saw mixed race Aboriginal children forcibly taken from their mothers and homes in the outback and resettled in camps and orphanages many miles away. This policy endured until the early 1970s. It is unclear when it started; some reports take it back to 1880.
This was before Federation (1901) when the colonial governments of the states made their own laws. The authors of this unit have had difficulty in locating documents relating to the original assimilation policy. The children affected were generally the offspring of Aboriginal mothers and white fathers. This policy is not to be confused with the “White Australia Policy” which aimed at excluding non-white immigrants into Australia from other countries.
Certainly many more than one generation of children and their families were affected. Joy Williams is a Stolen Generation child.
"Her mother Dora was taken away when she was 10 hours old, Joy was taken at seven hours and Joy’s daughter Julie Anne at 10 months. The only reason ever given was the colour of their skin." A Stolen Generation Cries Out, downloaded 26.08.02
Children as young as a few hours old were taken to live in camps or orphanages so that they would grow up in the white culture and eventually marry whites. In this way, their Aboriginal blood would be diluted over time so that eventually over several generations it would be bred out. It is also unclear how many children were taken in all – reports range from 25,000 – 100,000.
The orphanages were run by the Catholic and Anglican churches. Children were given some education but were also set to work. There are many haunting photos of young children sweeping the dirt with their bare hands. One in ten was sexually abused. Conditions were often harsh and the children were given no explanation or nurturing. Some went to white foster families and were constantly on the move. Minor misdemeanours were punished cruelly, eg flogging, head shaving, being sent to isolation shacks.
In fact, till 1967 Aboriginals had very few rights in the country their ancestors had occupied for at least 30,000 years. They were not able to vote or to own a passport, even if they could afford to travel. They could not own land or property.
The origins of the policy date back to the days of Captain Cook’s arrival in 1770 and then shortly afterwards with the arrival of the First Fleet of convicts at Botany Bay in 1788. The English declared the nation to be Terra Nullius – ie that the continent was empty and owned by no one (“Land of no one” is the Latin translation). Celebrations in 1938 to mark 150 years since the arrival of the first fleet saw Aboriginals treated in a very degrading manner.
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At the official Australia Day Sesquicentenary celebrations, the Government brought in ‘tame’ Aboriginals from the Menindee Reserve. They were taken straight from the train, locked up in a stable at the Redfern police barracks and guarded by dogs:
“On January 26 they were brought out dressed in leaves to be chased along the shore by British soldiers with bayonets and to parade through the streets on a float. The next day they were sent back to their tin sheds on the Darling River”
Sydney Morning Herald Good Weekend, 26 January 1985 cited in Parbury, N. (1986). Survival: a history of Aboriginal life in New South Wales. Sydney: Ministry of Aboriginal Affairs
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The 1938 incident was declared a “Day of Mourning” for Aboriginal people. Protest became more evident in 1972 with the establishment of the Tent Embassy in the grounds of the Federal Parliament in Canberra.
The rejection of Terra Nullius doctrine in 1992 after the Mabo case was a legal milestone. For the first time indigenous land rights in Australia were recognised. Moreover, it was a moral turning point – Aboriginals are no longer exiles in their own country. Finally, white Australians under Prime Minister Paul Keating (1991-1996) were prepared to confront and redress the injustices of the past. Paul Keating told Parliament, “The foundation of discrimination and prejudice has been kicked away”.
Since the mid 1990s, despite the increasing information available on the effects of this policy due to the release of the “Bringing Them Home Report” in 1997 and the start of reconciliation activities with National Sorry Days since 1998, the mood has become different. Current Prime Minister John Howard refuses to formally apologise to the Aboriginal people. Protests by Aboriginals were expected at the Olympic Games with the media attention of the world focused on Sydney. These protests did not eventuate, probably defused by the selection of Aboriginal athlete Kathy Freeman to light the Olympic torch. However, the band Midnight Oil wore “Sorry Suits”, as they performed on stage, for the world to see and thousands of White Australians signed “Sorry Books”. National Sorry Day is held on 26 May each year, and a wide range of activities is organised state wide.
One reason why the government is reluctant to acknowledge the grievances with a formal apology may be their fear that calls for compensation will be the next step. This contrasts with (and may be the result of) their perception of what has occurred in New Zealand with Treaty of Waitangi settlements.
This material has been produced by UNITEC Institute of Technology
under contract to the Ministry of Education.
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