The Stolen Generations E-Book

Marvin Hanisch

• Herausgeber: GRIN Verlag
• Sprache: Englisch

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2011

Beschreibung

Pre-University Paper from the year 2009 in the subject Didactics for the subject English - Applied Geography, grade: 1,0, , language: English, abstract: The paper analyses the forced removals of Indigenous children in Western Australia from their families in the 20th century. Nowadays, this generation of children has become known as "The Stolen Generation" in Australia. To begin with, the author underlines the importance of “The Stolen Generations” for Australia’s history by highlighting the national “sorry day” in 2008 where the Prime Minister officially apologised to the Indigenous People. As a starting point, background information about the situation of Indigenous people in Australia is provided. Moreover, racial theories and ideologies that were prevalent in the 20th century are discussed. The relevance of these race questions is exemplified by describing the situation in so-called "mission camps” where many of the removed children were brought up. Furthermore, the concept and apparent “threat” of the “half-caste” (Indigenous Australians of mixed parentage) is outlined and political, legal and public actions concerning the Indigenous People are presented. To illustrate the finding, there is a brief analysis of the movie "Rabbit-Proof Fence" by Phillip Noyce and the drama "Stolen" by Jane Harrison. Moreover, the question of genocide in the context of the United Nations resolution is discussed. Finally, the author evokes the sensitive topic of compensation funds for the "Stolen Generations" and gives a brief cross-reference to the very similar history in Canada and New Zealand.

Leseprobe

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Content

Content

1 Introduction: “sorry day” – Australia’s “man’s walk on moon”

2 Background information about indigenous Australians and their status in society

3 Racial theories and the lasting consequences for native Australians

4 The half-caste – fear of a “mixed race”

4.1 Reasons for its formation and the threat it constituted

4.2 Finding a solution

5 Political, legal and public actions concerning the indigenous people

5.1 The Aborigines Department and its Chief Protector A. O. Neville

5.2 The execution of racial ideas with limited resources

5.3 Different perspectives on racial philosophy

5.4 Noteworthy acts, conferences and reports affecting the lives of Aboriginal people

6 Summary of the film “Rabbit-Proof Fence” by Phillip Noyce

7 Mission camps – a place to keep the natives

7.1 The procedure of being brought to the missions and political ideas

7.2 Zooming in on the missions

7.2.1 Moore River Native Settlement

7.2.2 Sister Kate’s Home for Nearly White Children and personal evaluation

8 The consequences of removal for the Aboriginal culture and the situation today

9 “Stolen” by Jane Harrison – a drama summarising the “Stolen Generations” issue

10 The question of genocide

11 Compensation and comparison to other Commonwealth states

Appendices

A. Acts and reports that concern(ed) the “Stolen Generations”

B. Chief Protectors in Western Australia

C. Map of mission camps mentioned in the text

D. Mendelian inheritance as applied by A. O. Neville

E. A poem

Select bibliography

Table of figures

1 Introduction: “sorry day” – Australia’s “man’s walk on moon”

On February 13th 2008, the Australian Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd, held his milestone “sorry speech” in Parliament:

“[Today,] we reflect in particular on the mistreatment of those who were stolen generations – this blemished chapter in our nation’s history.

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.”[1]

From at least 1905 to the late 1960s[2], the government of Western Australia – as well as any other Australian state – systematically removed approximately 7,100 children of Aboriginal descent[3] from their families to be “raised as white children” for the purpose of forced integration.[4]

In December 1992 Paul Keating, then Prime Minster of Australia, officially acknowledged on the occasion of the “International Year for the World’s Indigenous People”: “We took the children from their mothers.”[5]

Picture 2[6]: Kevin Rudd (right) and Lowitja O’Donoghue (left)

Sixteen years later, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd resumed Keating’s elementary efforts and apologised to the so-called “Stolen Generations”. Before his inauguration, he had promised to say “sorry” for “the injustices of the past”[7] and confront “one of the darkest chapters in Australia’s history”[8].[9]

Tens of thousands of spectators gathered to watch the historical moment on large-scale video displays in all major cities[10] or joined the event as one of over 1.3 million viewers on TV[11] at home throughout the country. Almost every Australian newspaper covered its front page and included special editions with large pictures of cheering crowds together with individuals who were moved to tears.[12]

For Australia, this was a long awaited and hoped for day. Mrs Baker, a woman of Aboriginal descent living in New South Wales, said that for her, the speech had the significance of man’s walk on moon.[13] In addition, the European edition of the “Time Magazine” nominated Kevin Rudd as one of the world’s 100 most influential people in 2008 in the category “Leaders & Revolutionaries” for his “great achievement”.[14]

Except for Mr Howard, all four living ex-PMs were present to witness Rudd’s “sorry speech” on February 13, 2008. Rudd insisted on alluding to his disaccord with his predecessor. Howard had argued that he rejected to take, what he called, a “black armband view” of Australian history by overemphasising the short period of time when children were removed from their families.[15]

Rudd countered this view in his speech:

“This is not, as some would argue, a black-armband view of history; it is just the truth: the cold, confronting, uncomfortable truth – facing it, dealing with it, moving on from it.”[16]

Moreover, he reasoned that the last atrocities still occurred in the 1970s – “not exactly a point of remote antiquity”[17].

Others, like the Liberal senator Ian Macdonald, saw it from a more individualistic point of view telling Parliament “[…] he could not apologise for things that happened 60 years ago, because he was not personally responsible.”[18]

All this demonstrates that Australia still has to deal with a largely unsettled as well as controversial chapter in its history, and this year it is topical again after more than ten years of silence[19]. By focusing on the largest Australian state, Western Australia, I narrowed down this vast research field. The focus is primarily upon this state since it has a high indigenous population and might have provided the intellectual basis for the elaboration of racial theories and purpose-run missions in the 20th century. Throughout this paper, I have chosen to include testimonies that represent a wider opinion or illustrate the facts.

Many renowned historians have already examined the issue of the “Stolen Generations”. Therefore, it cannot be the ambition to work out new facts but rather to present a contextual and explanatory compilation of the collected material and its critical evaluation.

2 Background information about indigenous Australians and their status in society

When the first British settlers arrived in Australia in 1788[20], they shared the continent with approximately 750,000 native inhabitants[21], whom they called Aborigines. Archaeological findings prove that the “first people”, as the natives like to call themselves, have been populating the continent for over 45,000 years[22] emigrating from South East Asia via a former land bridge across the Timor Straits[23]. Recent studies even go as far as dating the arrival of the first humans on the fifth continent at around 100,000 years before today.[24] In any case, experts concur that the Aborigines are the world’s oldest continuing culture.[25][26]

Picture 3[27]: “Colonisation” by Lawry Love, 2001

Before the colonisation, the native’s cultural life was already well advanced including complex rituals and an effective way of passing on their history orally, which today is known under the term of “Dreamtime”. On the other hand, as exterior factors never required any modification in their traditional lifestyle as hunters and gatherers, they soon became prey to the superior military equipment of the Europeans. Skirmishes were frequently resolved by violence as the Aborigines were simply seen as primitive savages or even cannibals[28], who did not deserve much sympathy or pity in the eyes of the English. Thus, when the “invaders” decided in 1805 that Aborigines could be shot[29] legally, many pioneers embraced the opportunity to ruthlessly win farmland and secure their settlements by driving out the natives[30].

Another reason for their rapid decimation was the outbreak of fast spreading diseases to which they showed no immunity whatsoever. Subsequently, the epidemic of smallpox in 1789 is reported to have killed hundreds of natives.[31]

Ultimately, the indigenous population was reduced by half a million[32] until 1900, which equals a decline of nearly 80% within a century[33].

In 2006, a national census counted 455,000 indigenous people[34] of which a ninth are of mixed descent[35].

In general, the white Australians lived in perfect ignorance of the natives, desiring as little contact as possible[36], and denying them all civil rights[37]. Consequently, the relationship between the two cultural groups exacerbated continuously. [38]

This condescending behaviour did not change until the 20th century when the government became conscious of the failed, i.e. habitually undesired, integration of Aborigines into “white society” and took interest in the matter out of different motives, which will be explained in subsequent chapters.

Picture 4[39]:Aboriginal camp in the outback