Stolen
By Jane Harrison
Teaching notes prepared for VATE members by
Anne-Louise Wilton
CONTENTS
1.
Introduction to Stolen
Page 1
2.
Ways into the text
Page 2
3.
Running sheet
Page 5
4.
A perspective on the text
Page 8
5.
Character, style and setting
Page 10
6.
Guided analysis of selected passages and themes
Page 14
7.
Activities to explore the text
Page 17
8.
Appendix
Page 21
Page 21
Page 22
Page 23
Page 24
-
Handout 1
Handout 2
Handout 3
Handout 4
Page numbers in these notes refer to Harrison, J. Stolen, Currency Press, 1998
VATE
Purchasers may copy Inside Stories for classroom use
Section 1. An introduction to Stolen
Set in a children’s home Stolen tells the story of five young Aboriginal children forcibly
removed from their families. The children: Anne, Shirley, Ruby, Sandy and Jimmy allow
us into their lives and they share with the audience their personal and unique stories.
Stolen shows the devastating impact that removal from their family and subsequent
institutionalization has on each of the character’s lives.
Jane Harrison’s play was first produced in 1998 by the Ibijerri Aboriginal and Torres
Strait Islander Theatre Co-operative and Playbox Theatre Centre. The project began in
1992 and was initially called The Lost Children. Its name was changed when the
Wilson-Dodson Bringing Them Home report was published in 1997.
The play begins with the characters as children and ends with them as adults finding
their way ‘home’. The narratives are told in a non-linear manner as each character’s
removal is interspersed with his or her later experiences. Jane Harrison has not written
Stolen in a traditional way containing acts and scenes but rather as a series of episodes.
Reading a non-linear narrative may prove to be a challenge for some VCE students as
they deconstruct the plot and characters.
Without stories, the understanding of the policy of removal of aboriginal children from
their families is likely to be too abstract and remote. It is these fragments of personal
experience that fill out the picture of generations of separated children. Stolen by Jane
Harrison is a moving theatrical experience, which will leave the audience with more
understanding of this heart-wrenching chapter in our Australian story.
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Section 2. Ways into the text
Understanding the Context
As hopeful as the ending may be, the journey of the characters is a story about loss,
which can be discussed from historical, political and personal perspectives.
The historical perspective

Establishment of the racial attitudes and policies of the time is one way into the text.
A viewing of the ABC series Frontier and use of the accompanying Inside Stories
notes for this series (Ken Barbuto, 2000) could provide students with some
background information about each of the following historic periods and policies.
White Australia Policy
To promote a white Australia it was believed that part Aborigines had to be absorbed.
State-run Aboriginal Protection or Welfare Boards controlled and supervised the lives of
indigenous Australians from the early 1900’s until 1969. Government policy in all states
of Australia advocated the removal of Aboriginal children from their families as it was
believed this would disassociate them from their culture. These boards decided where
indigenous people could live, who they might marry or have a relationship with, and
where and how their children could be raised.
Protection
Colonial governments saw Aboriginals not as people who had been colonised but as
heathens to be converted and institutionalised. By the end of the nineteenth century,
Australian states were introducing comprehensive ‘protection’ legislation which enabled
extensive regulation over the lives of Aboriginal people. A central feature of the
regulation of indigenous people was their segregation from non-Aboriginal society.
Persons of part-descent as well as those of full-descent, were often rounded up and sent
to missions, government stations and settlements on reserves, or were adopted or
fostered by white families.
In the state of Victoria the following legislation was passed:
- Aborigines Protection Act 1869. The Act created a Board that was
given no specific duties under the Act.
- Aborigines Protection Act 1886. This Act gave the board regulatory
powers in respect of ‘half-castes’ and the power to issue rations,
clothing and blankets.
- These earlier acts were repealed with the Aborigines Act 1890, which
gave wider regulatory powers concerning living, working, and
education and provisioning for Aborigines and ‘half-castes’.
By 1911 all states and territories with the exception of Tasmania had passed some form
of ‘protection’ legislation with an emphasis on segregation and restriction. The
protection legislation remained intact for the first half of the twentieth century. The
legislation was built on the assumption that Aboriginal people were a ‘dying race’.
Darwin’s The Origin of Species had been published a decade earlier and policies
reflected an acceptance of the doctrine, ‘survival of the fittest.’
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Assimilation
Officials who administered the assimilation policy quite commonly held the belief that the
problem of the ‘half-castes’ was basically a matter of breeding different stock. However,
in the 1920’s it was apparent that the Aboriginal race was not dying out but in was in fact
being supplanted by the ‘half-caste’ population. The move towards this policy began in
the late 1930’s but the actual introduction of assimilation policy was delayed until the end
of WW11 in 1945.
At the 1961 Native Welfare Conference it was agreed that assimilation meant that all
Aborigines and part-Aborigines were expected to attain the same manner of living as
other Australians and to live as members of a single Australian community enjoying the
same rights and privileges as other Australians. Legislation still remained restrictive
even if there was a growing espousal of assimilation policy. For Aboriginal people to ‘fit
in’ meant to stop being Aboriginal, thus the place of Aboriginal people was to be on the
terms of non-Aboriginal people.
Integration
In 1975, the Commonwealth passed an Act to make it unlawful to discriminate against a
person on the basis of individual characteristics, including race.
A Political Perspective
Aboriginal People and the Law
Before the 1960’s the right of Aboriginal people to vote in elections varied from one state
to another. The Commonwealth Electoral Act 1949 only allowed Aboriginal people the
right to vote in national elections if they were enrolled in state elections or had been
members of the defense force. Aboriginal people in Victoria did have the right to vote.
The Commonwealth Electoral Act 1962 withdrew the requirement of enrolment in state
elections, thus giving Aboriginal people the right to vote in federal elections irrespective
of their state of residence.
In 1967 a national referendum altered the Australian Constitution giving the
Commonwealth, rather than the states, power to make laws relating to Aboriginal people.
In addition the Aboriginal people were now to be counted in the national census.
The Bringing Them Home report written by Ronald Wilson in 1997 showed the rationale
behind the removals was an attempt to indoctrinate aboriginal children. They were to
think, act and behave as whites and by this means Aboriginality was to be bred out.
This report is available on the web:
http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/special/rsjproject/rsjlibrary/heroc/stolen
Source: Cunneen C and Libesman T (1995) Indigenous People and The Law,
Butterworths, Adelaide,Australia.
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Three key political issues raised in Stolen are:
- The sorry issue and reconciliation.
- The question of reparations.
- The question of cultural genocide.
Information relevant to each of these issues can be found at
The Age website: http://www.theage.com.au/issues/aboriginal.index.html

Selected articles could be the basis for class discussion in preparation for reading
the play.
The Personal Perspective
Writing stories is political because it is a way of informing people about how people live.
The stories that are presented show how the Aboriginal people existed under this
government policy and provide another way of thinking about this very political issue. To
sensitise students to the personal issues involved:


In class read and discuss other personal stories on the Aboriginal experience.
- For example, selected stories in the collection : Weller, A. Going
Home and the Inside Stories notes on this text (Mary Weaven, 2000)
- Read the lyrics the Archie Roach’s songs ‘Took the Children Away’
and ‘Mother’s Hearbeat’ refer to Handouts number 1 and 2, (pp. 2223).
- Read about Archie Roach’s life story in an article on the internet titled
‘Of White Lies and Stolen Lives’
http://www:/home.vicnet.net.au/~aar/stolen.
- Read the picture books The Burnt Stick by Anthony Hill, Penguin,
1994 with Down the Hole, Up the Tree, Across the Sandhills: running
away from the state and Daisy Bates by E.Williams, Jukurrpa, 2000.
- Read a novel about Donna Meehan’s perspective in her
autobiography It is no Secret
View the following documentaries:
Cry from the Heart SBS 25/5/00 50minutes
Stolen Generations SBS 27/5/00 50minutes
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Section 3. Running sheet
PAGE/S
CONTENT
1
Arriving
The actors arrive on the stage each holding a
suitcase. They slip into their characters as children.
They talk about home and family.
1 and 2
Adult Flashes
In this episode the characters are adults. Ruby’s
home is a mental institution. Anne is living on her
own. Jimmy is in prison. Sandy carries his home
with him. Shirley is knitting for her grandchildren.
3 and 4
Hiding Sandy
A flashback to Sandy’s childhood shows the
desperation of his mother to protect her ‘half-caste’
son from being taken by the Welfare people
4 and 5
It Rained The Day.
A flashback to Shirley and Jimmy’s childhood. Sandy
is being taken by the Welfare people.
5 and 6
Line-Up 1
The children are forced to line-up from lightest to
darkest and ‘sell’ themselves so they will be taken
‘home’ for the weekend.
6 and 7
The Chosen
Anne is adopted.
7 and 8
Jimmy Being
Naughty
Jimmy steals apples.
8 and 9
Unspoken Abuse
Ruby has been sexually abused.
9
It Rained the Day
Shirley’s son is taken away.
9 and 10
Ruby Comforting
Her Baby.
Ruby mimics her sexual abuse with a doll.
10 and 11
Sandy’s Story of the A fictional dreamtime
Mange
boogieman as white.
11-13
Your Mum’s Dead
The Matron lies when she tells Jimmy that his
mother is dead.
13
Line-Up 2
Ruby reluctantly lines up because she feels her
shame exposed. Jimmy is still desperate to be
selected.
13 and 14
Anne’s Told She’s Anne’s adopted parents decide to tell her that she’s
Aboriginal
an Aborigine and that her biological mother wants to
see her because she is dying.
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story
that
shows
the
5
15
Unspoken Abuse
Ruby is sexually abused again.
15 and 16
Your Mum’s Dead
Jimmy’s mother writes a letter telling him that his
father is ill. Jimmy never receives the letter because
it is filed away.
16
To Tan or Not to
Tan
Anne feels torn about whether she should see her
real mother.
17
Shirley’s Memories
Shirley is stolen
17
Line-Up Age Twelve
Jimmy is selected.
17-19
Cleaning Routine 2
The children learn that they will never have any
position of economic power.
19
Shirley Knits for
Her Family
Shirley is knitting for her two children even though
she does not know where they are, because they
too were stolen.
19-20
A Can of Peas
The Welfare people take Sandy because his mother
has a can of peas ‘past their use-by-date’ in the
back of her cupboard.
20
Jimmy’s Being
Naughty Again
Jimmy is stealing again
20-21
Line-Up 3
Jimmy is selected and taken for the weekend.
21-22
Shirley Never
Gives Up Searching
Shirley is searching for her son Lionel twenty-seven
years later.
22-23
Desert Sands
Aboriginal women stick sand into their vaginas to
stop white men raping them.
23
Unspoken Abuse 3
Jimmy is sexually abused.
24-25
Ruby’s Descent
into Madness
Ruby suffers a nervous breakdown.
25-26
Sandy’s Life on
the Road
Sandy spends his life travelling, after leaving the
nursing home.
26-28
Jimmy’s Story
Jimmy leaves his prison cell and takes off aimlessly.
He learns that his mother is alive.
28-29
Am I Black
or White?
Anne meets her real mother
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29-30
What Do You Do?
Jimmy and his mother express their fears and
insecurities about meeting after being separated for
twenty-six years.
30-31
Ruby’s Family
Come to Visit
Ruby’s real parents come to meet her in the
institution for the mentally ill.
31-32
Sandy finds the children’s home being renovated
into a new apartment block.
32-33
Sandy Revisits
the Children’s
Home
Racist Insult
34
Anne’s Scene
After meeting her Aboriginal family she is not sure
where she belongs.
35
Shirley’s Come
Full Circle
Shirley meets daughter and her grandchild.
vows she is never going to let them go!
35-36
Sandy at the End of Home for Sandy is the desert – the place where the
the Road
story began many centuries ago.
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Jimmy’s mother dies before he gets to meet her. He
hangs himself in his prison cell.
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Section 4. A perspective on the text
From the late 1880s until 1969, as part of their protection and assimilation policies, state
governments took Aboriginal children away from their communities. Such children were
either placed into government-run institutions or adopted or fostered by white families. In
1997 a report entitled Bringing Them Home showed the harmful physical, psychological
and social effects that this policy had on Aboriginal children and their families. Until this
report, Aboriginal peoples’ experience of these policies had been silenced.
Stolen by Jane Harrison is about five half-caste Aboriginal children who were removed
from their families and placed in a children’s home. As the characters, Anne, Ruby,
Shirley, Jimmy and Sandy, tell their stories they show that there is more to being stolen
than the physical act. Jimmy’s admission, “I’ve been a thief but I’ve never stolen
anyone’s soul”, (p.34) is heartbreaking and morally challenging because it confronts the
audience with the traumatic effects that his removal had on an individual whose
punishment was a life sentence.
It is the silence at all levels of society that raises the most confronting questions about
this government policy. Were the principles of this policy so rigidly fixed that when the
choice had to be made between saving a child, and/or maintaining the integrity of a
system, the system would be given priority over the needs of the child?
The indigenous people who suffered at the expense of this policy know that loss is a
poignant reminder of the fragility of life. The action that each character took either to
protect the children from being removed or to be reunited with their family demonstrates
the strength of family ties within indigenous communities. When the Welfare people
came to remove Sandy, his extended family tried to hide him. His aunt says, “I tried to
pass him off as one of my mob but he was too pale.” (P.3.) This scene demonstrates that
children were not just the concern of biological parents, but of the extended community.
The removals silenced storytelling, which was the passing of cultural knowledge from
one generation to another.
Life in an institution, which is governed by rules, order and discipline, is an unforgiving
world in which to raise a child. The line-up episodes where the children stand in order
from lightest to darkest and sell themselves reinforce the dehumanizing nature of this
environment. It is later when Ruby and Jimmy return from their weekend visits to white
people’s homes that the audience learns that they were sexually abused. Ruby, when
asked by the children, “What else did ya do?” replies, “I promised not to tell.” (P.8.)
Similarly when the children ask Jimmy, “What did he do to ya?” he cannot speak
because he promised not to tell and simply hangs his head in shame. (P.23.) Who
should feel shamed by this incident? Did the political bureaucrats feel ashamed? Did
the abuser feel ashamed?
The unspoken abuse episodes are a tragedy because two innocent lives are stolen and
paralyzed by shame forever; Ruby is committed to an institution for the mentally ill and
Jimmy dies in custody. Whilst it has been argued that we cannot judge past policies and
practices by contemporary standards one finds the Matron’s silence on this issue most
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confronting. Did she suspect that the children were being abused? Given the assumption
that she did why did, she continue to let the children leave the home for the weekend?
A theme that weaves a thread through the individual and collective stories of the
characters in Stolen is society’s feeling of cultural superiority towards the indigenous
people. A poignant symbol of this attitude is reflected in the filing cabinet. The way it
was used highlights the fact that the indigenous people were viewed as files that could
put away. They were not considered to be humans who wanted to be loved by those
who were closest to them. The Matron tells Jimmy that his mother is dead and to “Just
forget her.” (p.12) Yet the audience knows that his mother is writing him letters which are
being filed away. The final letter he wrote in custody was also filed. Why didn’t white
society show some human warmth or compassion to the most basic of human needs?
Did members of white society truly think that Aboriginals were so different, biologically
and culturally, that they didn’t feel emotions of loneliness and sadness? It was
heartening to witness Sandy return to the home, open the cabinet, and slam the cabinet
shut because at least for him, that part of his story was over.
The view of indigenous people and their culture as inferior is highlighted in the episode
when Anne’s adoptive parents tell her that her biological mother is alive and that she’s
“-Aboriginal?” (P.14.) Anne’s adoptive parents feel “the shame”, (p.14) of her cultural
background. In this confrontation we see the mother and father support one another
while Anne, isolated and alone begins to question her understanding of who she is.
Anne’s parents’ attitudes mirror many of those in society at the time who thought that
they were giving an Aboriginal child a “good upbringing”. (P.7.)
Stolen does not provide a quick-fix solution to the problems of its characters and in fact
raises more questions than it answers. What was the intention of the government policy,
which took ‘half-caste’ Aboriginal children from their cultural environment? Are these
characters’ stories representative of others who were stolen? Does this policy
contravene the United Nations Convention of Human Rights? Was the policy of taking
the children a subversive attempt at genocide? Can we retrospectively judge the action
by contemporary standards and policies? Where do we go to from here in terms of
reconciliation?
Jane Harrison shows the devastating effects of removing Aboriginal children from their
families and placing them in an institution where they did not belong. Neglected, abused
and silenced, Anne, Ruby, Shirley, Jimmy and Sandy all eventually find their way ‘home’.
The shame of this policy was that children incapable of protecting themselves had to
cope with physical, sexual, emotional and spiritual loss of innocence. Yet in the end
Stolen is a celebration of the strength of the human spirit and the individual’s capacity for
survival.
Stolen shows that voicing our individual stories, no matter how painful, is a necessary
part of the healing process. It is through sharing their stories that the characters ensure
we do not reinforce a second silence in the present and as a nation it moves us one step
closer towards reconciliation. Jane Harrison’s play Stolen shows that when one person
suffers we are all wounded and diminished and that the well-being of our society is the
measure of our collective Australian identity.
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Section 5. Character, style and setting
The characters’ journeys, as represented by their suitcases, show the audience that
whenever one moves either by force or voluntarily, one carries the knapsack of self. And
the self is a ragbag of genes and habits, a little knowledge, a memory of other times.
For some, as for these characters, the past is a heavy burden that limits freedom and
expression. Whilst each story in Stolen is unique, the themes of identity, cultural
superiority and inferiority, one’s sense of place, and, finally hope and reunion, link the
characters’ experiences on their journeys.
Jimmy
Jimmy is a lost and lonely boy who desperately wants to be reunited with his mother who
loves him. During his periods of institutionalization he experiences emotional and
physical abuse which has a devastating effect on his sense of self-worth. Jimmy’s
journey leads him back home where he learns that his mother is alive. Tragically, fate
intervenes and she dies before they are reunited. When he learns of her death he hangs
himself in custody.

Jimmy’s story is a damning indictment of the way white society treated Aboriginal
children. Find examples in the play that support this statement.

Jimmy is a victim of circumstances beyond his control. Do you agree or disagree?
Find examples from the play to support your point of view.

How do you interpret Jimmy’s death? Is it a tragic waste or a hopeful end to his life?
Sandy
Sandy is removed from a carefree childhood, spent with an extended family, on the land
where he feels a sense of belonging. The Welfare people decide his mother is unfit to
raise her children because at the back of the cupboard she has a can of peas which are
past the use-by-date. The severity of this judgment, relating standards of house-keeping
to maternal capability, might well strike a chord with the audience.
Sandy’s journey is spent on the run as he searches for a place to call home. Despite
never being reunited with his family Sandy finds peace and realizes that like the earth,
he has the power to heal himself and that no one can take his home again, because he
carries it with him.

What does Sandy mean when he states, “I carry my home with me”? (P.1.)

What is the message that Sandy shares when he tells the fictional Dreamtime story
of the Mungee?

Whilst on the run Sandy, shares his story with a white lady who feels sorry for him
and hands him a twenty dollar note. Why does she do this?
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
The end of Sandy’s journey leaves the audience feeling a sense of hope because he
shows us that you can’t steal what belongs to eternity. Do you agree with this
interpretation?
Shirley
Shirley is a stolen child, and later a mother who has her own children, Kate and Lionel,
stolen. Finally she is a grandmother whose family is reunited. She knits to numb the
excruciating pain of losing her children, which she has carried for twenty-five years.
Shirley knows how fragile one’s hold on life can be, yet, despite this, she is optimistic
about the future.

Shirley says, “They say time heals – but that’s a load of bullshit – if you’ll pardon my
language.” (p.35) To what extent to you agree with Shirley’s opinion?

Read Helen Barnacle’s story, entitled Don’t Let Her See Me Cry, about parting with
her four-year-old daughter when she was in Fairlea Women’s Prison. What do the
stories show about the biological bond between a mother and a child?
Anne
Anne is adopted by couple who feel they are ‘saving’ her from the degradation of
Aboriginal culture. The raise her as their own daughter until they are forced to reveal
that her Aboriginal mother is ill. This places Anne in a quandary because it is the first
time that she has been told that she is of Aboriginal origin. This knowledge raises many
complex questions about her identity. The problems are not resolved with a quick fix,
neat, happy ‘Hollywood ending’. Rather the audience is left wondering how she will
mesh the two worlds together given her upbringing.
What stereotyped images of Aboriginals does Anne share with the audience?

Whilst Anne expressed anger at her white adoptive parents she never expressed
anger at her Aboriginal family for her removal. Do you think this is a typical response
of children in similar situations?

It has been stated that ‘ignorance is bliss’. Do you think Anne’s adoptive parents did
the ‘right’ thing telling her about her Aboriginal mother given the conflict that it
caused between them, within Anne, and most probably between Anne and her
Aboriginal family?
Ruby
Ruby’s innocence is stolen from her when she is sexually abused. As a result of her
tortured experience, cruel and degrading voices reverberate in her head. Whilst Ruby is
reunited with her Aboriginal family, the audience feels that there is little chance that this
reunion will help the healing process.
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
Reread her descent into madness on p.24, and the episode where she is reunited
with her family on pp. 30-31. Do you think Ruby will ever find her way home from the
mental pain and suffering that she experiences?

Both Ruby and Anne are given a doll. Why was each girl given a doll? What does a
white doll with white hair symbolize? What does this show about white people’s
attitudes towards the children?

Whilst all the characters suffered it could be argued that Jimmy and Ruby suffered
the most. Do you agree or disagree with this interpretation?

Using the Inspirations software package, write a summary of the plot and complete a
profile on each of the main characters. Select relevant quotes to support your ideas.
Setting
The director and designer have approached the setting in a minimalist way. Five old iron
institutional beds represent their characters’ lives at different periods of time. Anne’s bed
is prettier because wealthy white parents adopt her; Jimmy’s bed is turned around
showing us that he has spent time in custody. Images in black and white, which cast
shadows over the set, are symbolic of the shadows in each of the character’s lives.
Props
The characters carry a suitcase with their life’s belongings
The white, clean room highlights that the characters can’t hide or breathe in this
environment which simultaneously sealed them in, and tore them apart.
The broom is a symbol of domestic servitude
The filing cabinet shows the repression that each of them suffered.

Read Handout Number 4 Is That You Ruthie? By Ruth Hegarty pp.134 – 137. This
short extract highlights the control that the filing cabinet had over each of the
character’s lives.
Style and Language
The style of the play is direct and simple. There are very few stage directions. Stolen
lacks any clear structure in terms of plot or character development. It is rather themes
that link the episodes.

Initially, the play was to be titled The Lost Generation but was changed after The
Bringing Them Home report was published in 1997. What different images does the
term lost in comparison to stolen conjure in the reader’s and the audience’s mind?

List the derogatory terms in the play associated with Aboriginal people. What effect
did this language have on their development as individuals?
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
Anne states in the episode Am I Black or White? “You know nothing about being a
Koori”. (p.29.) Why is this word only used once? Why is Koori selected and not
Aboriginal person?

To develop a visual understanding of the images used on the projected slides refer
to: MacDonald Rowena (1995) Between Two Worlds IAD Press Northern Territory
Australia
Or
Visit the Melbourne Museum at the Exhibition Buildings

For a further discussion with the director, playwright and designer, Background notes
are available from the Playbox for a minimal cost.

Stolen is returning to the Playbox Theatre at the Malthouse for another season in
2002.
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Section
6.
A guided approach to analysing
selected passages and themes
Aboriginal Identity
Jimmy: “I’ve been a thug and a thief – but I’ve never stolen anyone’s soul.” (P.34.)
Removal has had devastating effects on Aboriginal communities because the people’s
sense of self is totally bound up with kinship. In Aboriginal society the family unit is very
large and extended, often with ties to the community. Breaking down the family unit has
created many emotional, mental and physical problems. It also impeded intellectual
development.

Define the term identity and discuss the different aspects that contribute to one’s
sense of identity.

Find examples in the text that show that the strength of Aboriginal identity is
inexorably tied up with belonging to a community.

Stolen shows the reader that you have to know where you come from to know where
you are going. Discuss

Read in more depth about indigenous families on the internet at the following
website: http://dreamtime.net.au/indigenous/family.com
A Sense of Place
Sandy: “Back to me place. That bit of red desert. I still remember it. The sand must have
seeped into my brain.” (P.36.)
Stolen shows that despite some of the physical characteristics that distinguish the
characters from one another they all felt a spiritual tie with the land. It also shows how
removing them from the land took the spirit out of the character’s life. Added to this,
human contact was always authoritarian in the institutions where the children were
placed. Is it any wonder that they failed to grow?
The Land
 Reread the episode ‘Desert Sands’, (pp.22-23.)
What does this episode show about the importance of Sandy’s link to the land?
The Children’s Home
 Re-read the episodes ‘Cleaning Routine’, (pp.17-18) and ‘Unspoken Abuse 3’ and
‘Ruby’s Descent into Madness’, (pp.23-24.)
What do these episodes shows about how the children were conditioned to think?
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
Peter Read, in his text, A rape of the soul so profound, reports the outcomes of ten
case histories he examined. It reveals that each person removed declined
catastrophically in both personality and intelligence. Refer to Handout Number 3,
(p.23), for a copy of the comments drawn from school reports and superintendents’
assessments.

Shirley says, “Home is where the heart is.” To what extent is this demonstrated in
the play?
Cultural Stereotypes and Cultural Superiority
Anne’s adopted parents: Father to the Mother: “We’ll give her the best of everything.”
(P.7.)
Anne: “I thought they’d live in the country or the outback or something. You know on the
land.” (P.28.)
White Voice: “Maybe ya just wanna get a cheap loan or handout.” (P.29.)
Stolen shows the stereotyped views of Aboriginal people that existed in society. It also
shows that culturally stereotyping was not limited to white people. It is Jimmy who says
“God I hope she’s (his mother) not real dirty or something.” (P.30.) It could be argued
that public anxieties about the well-being of Aboriginal children at the time were subject
to a cultural code of silence. Did people not speak out for fear of upsetting the status
quo?

Define the term cultural stereotype.

Reread the episode ‘Racist Insult’, (p.32.) The real danger with this type of cultural
stereotyping is that it becomes a self-perpetuating cycle. Do you agree?

Reread the episodes ‘Anne’s Told She’s Aboriginal’,
White?’ (P.28.)

Find examples in the play that show how the policy of removal was meant to help
Aboriginal children.

Find examples in the play that show white people didn’t believe that the Aboriginal
people had an inner life.

Find examples in the play that show negative information about Aboriginal culture
being given to the characters.

It was argued that the policies were well intentioned. View “The Sunday Program”
Channel 9, 9 April 2000. It shows the white person’s perspective of this policy.

Why were white voices used to taunt the characters instead of real people?
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(p.13) and ‘Am I Black or
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Hope and Reconciliation
Sandy states, “I don’t have to hide. I’m going – home.” (P.36.)
Stolen shows the strength of Aboriginal identity and the determination of the characters
to return to their families. At the end of the play, all of the characters are reunited with
their Aboriginal families. In one sense this could be seen as hopeful.

Re-read the episodes ‘Sandy Revisits The Children’s Home’, (p.31) and ‘Shirley’s
Come Full Circle’, (p.35.)

We move on, we do not forget. Find examples within the play that shows this
statement is an accurate summation of the character’s journeys.
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Section 7. Activities for exploring the text
Questions for discussion

Discuss the front cover of the text. What aspects of the play does it suggest or
reveal?

Why has Jane Harrison written the play as series of episodes and not included acts
and scenes?

Where and when is the play set?

What cultural stereotypes of indigenous people are presented in the play?

Do you think Aboriginal mothers can grieve for their whole life for a lost child? Would
an Aboriginal mother's loss be greater than another person’s loss? If so, why?

Do you think there are any light-hearted or humorous moments in the play? Support
your answer with reference to the text.

Is it possible to force people to adopt the same values and believe the same things if
we are to live in a cohesive society?

What do you think Aboriginal people can offer by way of education to the nonAboriginal community about the history of this country?
Further research, reading and viewing

Research about Aboriginal Dreamtime Stories.
http://dreamtime.net.au/indigenous.com

Re-read Handout 4, (p.24.) After discussing the contents, research what life was like
for Aborigines living in government institutions.
You may like to research one or all of the following:
- Kinchela
- Cootamundra Girls Home

Read or watch the film (to be released 2002) Follow the Rabbit Proof Fence by Doris
Pilikington
- What does this book teach you about Aboriginal culture?
- What similarities are there between the girls’ journey and the
characters in Stolen?
- Has reading this text and the play changed your views on Aborigines?


Read the 1949 Universal Declarations of Human Rights.
How does Australian treatment of Aboriginals measure up against this declaration?
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The Question of Genocide




Could the policy of assimilation be considered genocide? If so, why? If not, why not?
Read Raymond Gaita’s ‘Genocide and the Stolen Generations’ found in A Common
Humanity: Thinking about Love and Truth and Justice, Text Publishing, Melbourne,
1999, pp.131-155.
Further References:
Haebich, Anna Broken Circles: fragmenting indigenous families 1800-2000
Freemantle Arts Centre Press, 2000.
Read, P. A Rape of the Soul So Profound: the return of the stolen generations, Allen
and Unwin, New South Wales, Australia, 1999.
What are other people’s perspectives on The Bringing Them Home report?
- Read the section title ‘Perspectives’, (pp.121-164) in Bird, Carmel, The Stolen
Children and their Stories, Random House, New South Wales, Australia, 1998.
Creative Writing Tasks

Jimmy, Ruby, Anne, Shirley and Sandy carry physical and emotional scars from their
experience in the institution. Write a story titled either, ‘The things I carry’ or ‘I carry
my home with me’.

Write a narrative showing that the children’s families grieved as much as the stolen
children.

Imagine you were a stolen child and that you have contacted Link Up (a NSW
organisation formed to help stolen children deal with their grief and/or to help them
find their families.) Write a diary entry on your feelings about the possibility of
meeting your family for the first time.

You have been researching your family history and you have discovered that you
have Aboriginal ancestors. What is your response? Write either a narrative or a
diary entry exploring questions about your identity.

You are a journalist and your task is to interview an indigenous person who was
stolen. Write list of questions and record the person’s response.

A sepia photo album was Shirley’s link to the past. Create an imaginary photo album
and include a narrative beside each photo showing the progression of her life.

For talented artists in the classroom. Read the picture books entitled The Burnt Stick
by Anthony Hill, Penguin, 1994 and E. Williams, Down the Hole, Up the Tree, Across
the Sandhills: running away from the state and Daisy Bates, Jukurrpa, 2000. Select
one aspect of this topic and write and illustrate a picture book.
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Group Oral Presentations

Select and dramatise an episode (or episodes) from the text.

Monologue
Analyse a character (not necessarily a major character), and give a perspective on
the removal of Aboriginal children. For example, a student may choose to present
Anne’s adoptive mother and father’s perspective of raising a ‘half-caste’ child.

Informative presentation
Using PowerPoint, present a brief outline of Aboriginal history making direct links to
the experiences of the characters in the text. This presentation should make use of
an informative voice-over as well as still photographs.

Text presentation
Re-read the episode, ‘Your mum’s dead’, (pp.11-13.)
Dramatise this episode and use PowerPoint to present the ‘dreamin’ images that
circle around their beds.

Narrative on a theme
Present an interpretation of the text by addressing (and acting out) important events
in the narrative. Students should focus on a theme that ties related events together
in the play, and explain changes that have occurred over time, and the reasons for
such changes occurring.

Developing an episode outside the scope of the play
Write an episode (or series of episodes) depicting imagined conversations outside
the action of the play. For example, dialogue between the Matron and Ruby’s
caretakers for the weekend or a dialogue between the Welfare men as they arrive to
take Sandy and his brothers and sisters.

Debate or Speech
‘That there never was a generation of stolen children.’
Refer to The Education Age website: www.theage.com.au/issues/aboriginal.index.html
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Topics for writing

‘Stolen deals with each character’s struggle to be reunited with their ancestral
identity.’ Are they successful?

‘Lives governed by the same regimented policy affected us differently; however, what
happened to one, happened to all of us.’ Discuss.

‘There is a lot of pain in having fingers and legs broken but it takes a lot longer to
repair spirits and minds.’ Discuss.

The characters are never victims as they triumph over adversity and inspire optimism
and spirit. Do you agree?

Jane Harrison stated, “What always impressed me was the lack of bitterness from
the many survivors of these policies and I’ve tried to mirror that attitude in the play.
Stolen is not about blame, it’s about understanding and acceptance.” Is this your
view of Stolen?

Stolen shows the effects of institutionalisation on an individual who is simply trained
to obey and not treated as a person of flesh and blood. Discuss.

‘The shame is about never being regarded as someone’s daughter or son who had
needs and dreams.’ Discuss.

Stolen shows the disastrous consequences of the cruelty of severing the spiritual
and biological link between mother and child. Discuss.

Institutionalization teaches the characters learned helplessness.
opinion?

A review of the play claims that Stolen is an evening of shame and sorrow and a
desperate pleading for reconciliation between black and white. To what extent do
you agree with this view?
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What is your
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Section 8. Appendix
Handout Number 1
The Archie Roach story has been well documented. A former homeless alcoholic, Archie
Roach recorded his first record Charcoal Lane, in 1990 with Paul Kelly lending a hand.
The album contained Took the Children Away, a song that dealt with Archie's past
experience as one of what is now called the 'stolen generation' of Aboriginal people.
This story’s right, this story’s true
I would not tell lies to you
Like the promises they did not keep
And how they fenced us in like sheep
Said to us come take our hand
Sent us off to mission land
Taught us to read, to write and pray
Then they took the children away
Took us away
They took us away
Snatched us from our mother’s breast
Said it was for the best
Took us away
Told us what to do and say
Told us all the white man’s ways
Then they split us up again
And gave us gifts to ease the pain
Sent us off to foster homes
Took the children away
The children away
Snatched from their mother’s breast
Said it was for the best
Took them away
As we grew we felt alone
Cause we were aching white
Yet feeling black
One sweet day all the children came back
The children came back
The children came back
Back where their hearts grow strong
Back where they all belong
The children came back
Said the children came back
The children came back
Back where they understand
Back to their mother’s land
The children came back
The welfare and the policeman
Said you’ve got to understand
We’ll give to them what you can’t give
Teach them how to really live
Teach them how to live they said
Humiliated them instead
Taught them that and taught them this
And others taught them prejudice
You took the children away
The Children away
Breaking their mother’s heart
Tearing us all apart
Took them away
Back to their mother
Back to their father
Back to their sister
Back to their brother
Back to their people
Back to their land
One dark day on Framingham
Came and didn’t give a damn
My mother cried “Go get their dad”
He came running fighting mad
Mother’s tears were falling down
All the children came back
Dad shaped up, he stood his ground
The children came back
He said “You touch my kids and you fight The children came back
me”
Yes, I came back
And they took us from our family
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Handout Number 2
Archie's 1997 release, Looking for Butter Boy, sees him again explore musically his past.
Mother's Heartbeat is a moving song about the stolen generation, which gives an insight
into the depth of suffering experienced by so many Aboriginal Australians.
When I was inside my mother
her heartbeat kept me whole
in perfect time together
my mind, my body, my soul
there's nothing so sweet
as my mother's heartbeat
beating inside her womb
waiting inside my room
her body loves me to sleep
waiting through my darkest night
beating, it's my rhythm of life
the sound of my mother's heartbeat
my mother's heart was beating
when I first touched the ground
safe in my mother's keeping
how I was safe and sound
ah, there's nothing so sweet
as my mother's heartbeat
ah, my mother's heart is beating
somewhere in this earth
and at night while I lie there sleeping
I'll dream sweet dreams of her
for there's nothing so sweet as my
heartbeat
my mother's heart stopped beating
one dark and dreadful day
and all I heard was weeping
the day I went away
ah, there's nothing so sweet
as my mother's heartbeat
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Handout Number 3 Extract from “A Rape of the Soul So Profound” by
Peter Read
Comments drawn from school reports and superintendents’ assessments (pp.173-174)
Clem
1943: first in a class of six
1947: ‘a very good worker by himself’
1953: convicted of assault and robbery
Elsie
1946:
1947:
1949:
1950:
‘good conduct’
encouraging school reports
‘very poor intelligence’, special abilities ‘nil’
‘a very lazy worker and not clean’, ‘seems to be in a daze’
George
1941: ‘Trustworthy’, ‘very good’
1944: ‘very dull’
1946: ‘spends all his spare time on his bed reading and sleeping’
Norman
1944: ‘a good little boy’, ‘satisfactory’, ‘very bright’
1950: ‘difficult’, ‘temperamental’, ‘very erratic’, ‘of doubtful morals and honesty’
1952: of insufficient education even to join the army
Fred
1947: ‘satisfactory, developing along the right lines’
1951: ‘very sullen disposition’, ‘most unhappy’
Claude
1946: ‘intellectually good’, ‘fair’ 7th in a class of 12
1950: ‘unsettled’ after running away to join his mother
1952: certified insane and placed in a mental hospital
Annie
1942: first in class, behaviour ‘very fair even good’, needs help, ‘wants to be a nurse’
1943: ‘reasonably good’
1949: ‘defiant, rude and untruthful’, legally uncontrollable
Irene
1945: did well in some subjects at school
1946: ‘good child’, ‘doing all right’, ‘good’
1948: 8th out of a class of 21, although of ‘poor’ intelligence; ‘doing very well’, ‘a good
willing girl’
1950: accused of theft, ‘tantrums’, complained of loneliness
1952: ‘mentally retarded’, ‘should be examined by a mental expert’
1962: ‘in and out of gaol, mostly for drunkenness’.
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Handout Number 4
Extract from Is That You Ruthie? by Ruth Hegarty pp. 135-137
In 1986 Joe died of cancer, it was then that I began to journey back to my roots, and find
out what was happening to all my friends.
Every now and then one of them would say, “When are you going to write that book,
Ruthie?” and I’d think about our lives in the dormitory. I felt that there had to be more
information around, something written down, some official record of the dormitories. On
the advice of my daughter, Moira, I went to the Department of Family Services in George
Street hoping to discover some of the dormitory girls’ history. “No,” they said, “there’s no
official history, no one expected you (Aboriginal people) to survive, so no one bothered
to write a history . . . But we do have a file on you.” I was surprised, but apparently
everyone who went through the dormitory system had a file. I was there that day with
Cassie, my eldest daughter, and we waited patiently while they went off to find my file.
Finally they handed it to me and as I turned over the pages I saw the story of my life
written in official letter-head, memorandums, letters, copies of travel permits and clothing
dockets. I even found letters I’d sent to Gleny’s father, and one from him that I’d never
received. There were the letters I’d sent to the Department of Native Affairs, and their
letters to me and to various people I had worked over the years.
But I was horrified to discover they also had records of the awful interviews they put us
dormitory girls through when we came back to Cherbourg pregnant. Nosey and
demeaning questions about who we had been seeing and what we had been doing. It
was disgusting; I did not want my children – or anyone else – seeing this. I remembered
how humiliating it was, all those years ago, having to stand in front of the administrator
while he asked those questions – very personal questions. You had to stand in front of
his desk while he sat back in a comfortable chair and took notes. Many of the girls were
put through this, and often they would say “yes” to anything to get the interview over and
done with. To think that they had written it all down and put it in a file where it sat for
nearly fifty years.
Afterwards, I thought how different my life might have been had Glenys’ father got to
read those letters I sent him, or if I had read his. They wouldn’t let me have the letters,
so I got copies of them for Glenys to read. But I wanted all those files to be destroyed,
and I went in and told them so. But they wouldn’t destroy them. They don’t belong to
me, they said, the files are the property of the Queensland government. But they told
me I could put a waiver on my file or on some of it if I wanted to, so that no one else
could ever see it, so I did.
Seeing that file there and all the information in it made me realise how much they
controlled our lives. All the other dormitory girls would have similar files too, all stored
away in this government department. How ironic it turned out to be – here was material I
could use to help me write my book. But even with all this information, it would take me
the phone call about Dulcie’s death to really get me started.
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