AN UNTOLD STORY
THAT IS NOT TOLD
Mohammed Noori
Years have passed, yet there are memories
The stolen generation has had a traumatic effect
acted by the British colonisers. The stolen generation is a
story that talks
about the forceful removals of the Aboriginal children. The act
had begun around the 1900s to 1970s in which the Aboriginal
children were removed from their families as a way of
assimilation. This was done so that, the indigenous children
were taught how to learn and live the same way the white
Australians do, having to enjoy the same privileges and the
same beliefs as every other Australian (Bringing Them Home,
1997).
https://www.phoenixaustralia.org/about/paying-ourrespects/stolen-generation/
left...
The government officials had high hopes that the indigenous
children had higher capabilities learning the white way of life
than the adult individuals. The indigenous children that were
taken away had to go through assimilation to forget about their
own culture, language and even change their names. Those
who practiced such things were exposed to abuse both physically
and mentally. The Australian federal and state government were
the ones who had stolen the indigenous communities and because of this, there have been many deep scars that remain both physically
and mentally, and what is unpleasant is that there are many indigenous individuals that suffer from this trauma today (Bringing Them
Home, 1997).
Having to separate a child from their cultural links, the chances of them suffering from an identity crisis is very high. The children had
started to forget who they are and where they belong to. For some, the pressure from not knowing who you are was piling up and this had
not only affected them mentally but also psychologically. Having to brainwash individuals from their culture can lead them to a lifelong
trauma in which there were several cases among the people who were a part of the stolen generations.
This practice was going on for decades until Sir Ronald Wilson who was the President of the Australian Human Rights and Equal
Opportunity Commission had discovered that the policies that resulted in the Stolen Generations have been representative of genocide by
the government. Later he became a co-author of the “Bringing Them Home” report. He wrote “The Australian Practice of Indigenous child
removal involved both systematic racial discrimination and genocide as defined by international law.” (Bringing Them Home, 1997)
In the end, damage that was done by the government’s policies cannot be repaired from all the physical, mental, psychological, and sexual
abuse the children had experienced during the time.
REFERENCES:
HTTPS://WWW.ALRC.GOV.AU/PUBLICATION/RECOGNITION-OF-ABORIGINAL-CUSTOMARY-LAWS-ALRC-REPORT-31/3ABORIGINAL-SOCIETIES-THE-EXPERIENCE-OF-CONTACT/CHANGING-POLICIES-TOWARDS-ABORIGINAL-PEOPLE/
HTTPS://JOURNALS.SAGEPUB.COM/DOI/ABS/10.1177/016934410502300204?JOURNALCODE=NQHA
HTTPS://AIATSIS.GOV.AU/EXPLORE/STOLEN-GENERATIONS
HTTPS://WWW.PHOENIXAUSTRALIA.ORG/ABOUT/PAYING-OUR-RESPECTS/STOLEN-GENERATION/
HTTPS://BTH.HUMANRIGHTS.GOV.AU/