NationStates Jolt Archive

This is a few months old, but I don't recall anything being posted here at the time. As you probably know, in Australia, there was a policy (until the 1970s) which authorised and encouraged authorities to forcibly take Aboriginal children from their Aboriginal mother if their father was white (and they were being raised by their mother). The policy was justified through a claim that "half-castes" would be better off among whites, and was (quite explicitly and openly, at least until the middle of the 20th century) intended to contribute towards hastening the disappearance of Aboriginals.

You can find out more information directly from the "Bringing Them Home" report (http://www.humanrights.gov.au/social_justice/bth_report/report/index.html).

This issue has left deep emotional scars among many Aboriginals. Not only was being wrenched from your family traumatic (just as it was for mothers whose children were taken by force), but many Aboriginals today, who were part of the Stolen Generations, explain that they have no idea who they are, where they come from, what their identity is, who their family and people are, etc...

You can also watch the film Rabbit-Proof Fence, which is the true story of three Aboriginal girls who were taken in the 1930s, then escaped and tried to get home by themselves. It's an extremely moving and upsetting film. I watched it when I was living in Australia, then saw part of it again with a young Aboriginal woman, who broke down in tears as she watched it. Heck, it would make anyone want to cry.

Anyway... The following was an article in the BBC from last August:


Bruce Trevorrow, who was taken from his Aboriginal family as a young child, has become the first of Australia's Stolen Generations to win compensation.

Bruce Trevorrow's journey into legal history began on Christmas Day 1957.

Then just 13 months old, he was suffering from stomach pains and his father, Joseph, asked neighbours to take him for treatment to the Adelaide Children's Hospital in South Australia.

On admission, the hospital recorded that Bruce had no parents and that he was neglected and malnourished, three untruths that were to change his life forever.

They meant that Joseph Trevorrow, who died some eight years later, would never see his son again.

That same Christmas, a local woman called Martha Davies answered an advertisement in the local paper.

It sought white foster parents for Aboriginal babies. On 6 January 1958, she and her husband visited the children's hospital, and decided to take Bruce home.

Thinking he was still in hospital, Bruce's mother Thora tried to keep track of her son's progress by corresponding with the local Aboriginal Protection Board.

The family did not have a car or telephone.

"I am writing to ask if you will let me know how baby Bruce is," she wrote five months after he was taken away, "and how long before I can have him home."

Even though Bruce had already been fostered, and was being raised by his new family, the Aboriginal Protection Board responded that he was making "good progress", but needed to remain in hospital for further treatment.

It was the cruellest of lies. Bruce had by now become an unwitting victim of what later became known as the Stolen Generation - or, more accurately, the Stolen Generations.

Growing up in a white family was the most disorientating of experiences.

[..] Now, almost 50 years after being taken from his family, Bruce Trevorrow has not only discovered the truth of his upbringing, but become the first Aborigine to win compensation for being taken from his family.

Back in June 1998, he launched legal action against the government of South Australia.

[...] By way of compensation, Bruce was awarded A$525,000 (£220,000, $447,000), the first such payout to a member of the Stolen Generations in Australian legal history.

"I never thought I would win, but just wanted some answers in my life," said the father of four. "I just wanted to know who I was and where I came from."

[...] Bringing Them Home, a landmark study published in 1997, found that at least 100,000 Aborigines had been taken from their parents and placed in the care of institutions, religious missions or white foster parents.

They were part of a nationwide ethnic assimilation programme, now discredited, which started in the early twentieth century and lasted until the beginning of the 1970s.

[...] In claiming his life had been destroyed, Bruce could also compare his experience with that of his three Aboriginal siblings, all of whom have enjoyed very successful lives.

"We could make such a stark contrast because his Aboriginal brothers were such high achievers," says Claire O'Connor, "and they had stayed with the parents."

In the legal pantheon, she claims the ruling can be placed alongside the famed Mabo decision in 1992, when the Australian High Court delivered an enormous boost to Aboriginal land rights by overturning the doctrine of terra nullius - the notion that Australia belonged to no one before being colonised by the British.


(link (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/6937222.stm))

Try to imagine it for a moment. You have a thirteen month-old kid. You take him to hospital. The hospital applies the policy which allows the authorities to take away your child, for no reason at all other than your skin colour and that of your son. You never see your son again. They put out an ad saying that your kid is up for adoption. Another family adopts him, never telling him the truth about what happened.

That's just evil.

The same thing was done in Canada. We call it the 60s scoop. Being born into an aboriginal family was considered inherently abusive...and once again, the government stole our children in an attempt to 'kill the Indian inside'.

The odd thing is that nobody talks about this when it happens in a "civilised", "Western" country. Yet let some damn furriners start doing the same thing, and OMG! ETHNIC CLEANSING! SEND IN THE UN PEACEKEEPERS!

some of the US tribes that had this sort of thing happen are organizing "welcome home" days for their lost children.

people who were adopted away from their families and tribes are often at a loss as to how to contact their bio familes and how to form a relationship with the people they came from.

these days give them a chance to go back knowing that they will be welcomed and assisted in finding whatever family they might have left. the stories of families having their stolen children come back to them are very moving. they often have large extended families that have missed them and wondered how they were for decades.

$525,000? That's a lot of cash.

Let's hope they keep it to the actual victims, and people don't start to sue on behalf of their deceased grandparents.

Reminds me of native american children forced into boarding schools, given white names and forced to speak only English and punished for trying to maintain native traditions.

Makes one wonder who had the 'moral superiority', doesn't it?

Reminds me of native american children forced into boarding schools, given white names and forced to speak only English and punished for trying to maintain native traditions.

Makes one wonder who had the 'moral superiority', doesn't it?

Oh, the Residential Schools were just one aspect of it. When that wasn't working fast enough, they came and took our kids and gave them to white families too.

Unoriginal bastards.

Oh, the Residential Schools were just one aspect of it. When that wasn't working fast enough, they came and took our kids and gave them to white families too.

Unoriginal bastards.

YOu were lucky. My ancestors had to deal with the Spanish. Now those were some evil fuckers! *nod*

So. Who wants to bet that there'll be someone who will come along and defend this sort of thing? In a page or two no less?

So. Who wants to bet that there'll be someone who will come along and defend this sort of thing? In a page or two no less?

Na, they'll just say how no one should get the money.

So. Who wants to bet that there'll be someone who will come along and defend this sort of thing? In a page or two no less?

I will come along and defend this sort of thing.

Governments should take away all indigenous children and give them to white foster parents because the state knows best

So. Who wants to bet that there'll be someone who will come along and defend this sort of thing? In a page or two no less?

there are a couple of not-entirely-troll posters whose positions require them to do so. i don't know if they'll have the guts to do it though.

The odd thing is that nobody talks about this when it happens in a "civilised", "Western" country. Yet let some damn furriners start doing the same thing, and OMG! ETHNIC CLEANSING! SEND IN THE UN PEACEKEEPERS!

Whats funnier is that during the renaissance the whites considered everyone else savage and that they were the civilized ones when in truth the whites were more savage and probably less civilized with all the imperialism, genocide and the hey hey that hurts me.

Na, they'll just say how no one should get the money.

In that:

"It's a long dead matter. We shouldn't pay for it. Even if the victims are still alive."

Curses! Our ethnic cleansing plan has been foiled

Sort of way I suppose.

there are a couple of not-entirely-troll posters whose positions require them to do so. i don't know if they'll have the guts to do it though.

Why not? It's not like they have to identify themselves.

Whats funnier is that during the renaissance the whites considered everyone else savage and that they were the civilized ones when in truth the whites were more savage and probably less civilized with all the imperialism, genocide and the hey hey that hurts me.

During? What do you mean during? The attitude is still there.

During? What do you mean during? The attitude is still there.

They're prevented or refuted in many ways but it is still not enough. There is the UN, there's the general hatred for genocide today that didn't exist back then and white people are demonised by the history classes in US public school.

They're prevented or refuted in many ways but it is still not enough. There is the UN, there's the general hatred for genocide today that didn't exist back then and white people are demonised by the history classes in US public school.

Yes because having some historical accuracy = demonization.

Yes because having some historical accuracy = demonization.

They exaggerated a few things.It's true they did LOTS AND LOTS of nazistic and terrible things yet they are portrayed as a race of monsters who are screaming out for foreign bloodshed at every second. They are portrayed as psychotics infantile people who are bent on the wanton destruction of others. Not all of them were like that, just the majority.

white people are demonised by the history classes in US public school.

pffft. Ahahahahahahaha.

What a bunch of lies.

Yes because having some historical accuracy = demonization.

No. Talking about it for one group but not another = demonization. People should talk about the wars in the American plains before white settlement, or China in centuries past.

I'm not saying that white people are any better. Just that discrimination/genocide/etc. has existed everywhere.

Reminds me of native american children forced into boarding schools, given white names and forced to speak only English and punished for trying to maintain native traditions.

Makes one wonder who had the 'moral superiority', doesn't it?

Also makes you wonder about the intelligence of government-controlled schools.

Remember: THe Child Protection Services are your friends.

Remember: The Child Protection Services are your friends.

We're from the government, and we're here to help.

No. Talking about it for one group but not another = demonization.



People should talk about the wars in the American plains before white settlement, or China in centuries past.


Doublethink much?

Doublethink much?

Beg pardon?

All I'm trying to say is that if we're going to air the dirty laundry (which we should), we should air it for everyone.

Beg pardon?

All I'm trying to say is that if we're going to air the dirty laundry (which we should), we should air it for everyone.

Not what you said.


No. Talking about it for one group but not another = demonization. People should talk about the wars in the American plains before white settlement, or China in centuries past.

Also makes you wonder about the intelligence of government-controlled schools.

Weren't they church-run? They certainly were in Canada.