The 'Stolen Generation' is typified by the forced removal of children from their parents by state, territory and federal governments as well as church missions between the periods of the 1800's through to as late as the 1970's. Children were either sent to institutions or were adopted by non-Indigenous families of which, some children had little to no contact with their birth parents.
Phillip Knightley, a revered author and journalist in 2000, wrote Australia - A Biography of a Nation stating that;
"It remains one of the mysteries of history that Australia was able to get away with a racist policy that included segregation and dispossession and bordered on slavery and genocide, practices unknown in the civilized world in the first half of the twentieth century until Nazi Germany turned on the Jews in the 1930's"
This horrific history is etched in the minds of all Australians today, especially of those who had first hand experience of such torture and for the following generations whose identity has been tarnished through the white man's policy of assimilation with the anticipation of wiping out the Indigenous population as a whole.
Within the Kamilaroi nation, the mandatory removal of children to "receive a better education, a more loving family and a more civilised upbringing" took place which now has implications on the students in which we teach at Abbotsleigh. Long term effects of the forced removal of children have been identified as;
Phillip Knightley, a revered author and journalist in 2000, wrote Australia - A Biography of a Nation stating that;
"It remains one of the mysteries of history that Australia was able to get away with a racist policy that included segregation and dispossession and bordered on slavery and genocide, practices unknown in the civilized world in the first half of the twentieth century until Nazi Germany turned on the Jews in the 1930's"
This horrific history is etched in the minds of all Australians today, especially of those who had first hand experience of such torture and for the following generations whose identity has been tarnished through the white man's policy of assimilation with the anticipation of wiping out the Indigenous population as a whole.
Within the Kamilaroi nation, the mandatory removal of children to "receive a better education, a more loving family and a more civilised upbringing" took place which now has implications on the students in which we teach at Abbotsleigh. Long term effects of the forced removal of children have been identified as;
- Permanently breaking the parent/child bond
- the severance of cultural connection to family and country
- deep resentment of government, leadership and white man.
Many of the young girls, were taken from the Kamilaroi nation to the Cootamundra Girls home which was one of the most infamous institutions in NSW. About 1,200 girls across NSW between 1911 and 1969 were housed in this particular domestic training home. It has been recorded that between 1883 and 1969, more than 6,200 children were stolen in NSW alone.
Today, stories have been collected of those who have experienced being 'stolen' either first hand and or by oral reports past down by generations. The link below shares a audio visual story of Mrs Rita Wright who was born in Brewarrina (347 kms west of Moree) and taken at the age of 2 to Marella Mission in Kellyville, NSW. Rita tells her very personal story.
http://stolengenerationstestimonies.com/index.php/testimonies/994.html
Today, stories have been collected of those who have experienced being 'stolen' either first hand and or by oral reports past down by generations. The link below shares a audio visual story of Mrs Rita Wright who was born in Brewarrina (347 kms west of Moree) and taken at the age of 2 to Marella Mission in Kellyville, NSW. Rita tells her very personal story.
http://stolengenerationstestimonies.com/index.php/testimonies/994.html
Marjorie Woodrow also shares her harrowing story. Although not from the Kamilaroi nation, but a neighbouring one called Wongaibon, Marjorie explains her brutal and isolating experience as part of the 'Stolen Generation'.
Kamilaroi - A Nations Identity website designed and compiled by Michelle Carpenter. Macquarie University student number 43601723