What is it?
The stolen generation is a very sad subject, it happened between 1910 and 1970. What happened was that the Australian government (the Australian government at the time probably wasn't made of Aboriginal Australians but of European settlers) believed they had a right to take mixed race children away from their parents at about age 2 to 5 to mix them into white society and breed their black ancestry out. They were forced to accept white civilisation and where banned from speaking there native language.
When did it happen?
The stolen generation occurred between 1910 and 1970.
Who was involved?
The people who where in charge of this happening where the Australian government of the time.
This quote from Australians Together explains the government policy of Assimilation:
The forcible removal of Indigenous children from their families was part of the policy of Assimilation. Assimilation was based on the assumption of black inferiority and white superiority, which proposed that Indigenous people should be allowed to “die out” through a process of natural elimination, or, where possible, should be assimilated into the white community.
Children taken from their parents were taught to reject their Indigenous heritage, and forced to adopt white culture. Their names were often changed, and they were forbidden to speak their traditional languages. Some children were adopted by white families, and many were placed in institutions where abuse and neglect were common.
Why? What was the point?
The Australian government didn't believe in the future of the Aboriginals and thought that if they could assimilate the mixed race children into white society by forcing them to accept European civilisation and banning them from speaking their cultural language everything would be perfect...... Well they were wrong, all this caused was trauma for the children and their parents.
No comments:
Post a Comment