The stolen Generation is not a well know subject but if you get into depth you will find much more about it, other than the children were stolen from their home and ‘fostered’ by white people. The government, the main culprit behind the feat, took these children away from their families because they wanted to ‘make them more like use’. Being racist in this act they changed their wording and told the public it was to help the children get away from the abusive and disadvantaged life, so they can reach their full potential.
The children were away for different reasons, some of the more common excuses were: ‘they were sent there’, ‘neglected’, ‘get her away from the community’, ‘protect her mortality’ and more. Sometimes there was no reason given but other times it was a lie, distortion of truth or being who the child was, an Aboriginal. The experiences of the stolen Generation vary wildly depending on the family that the child was sent to and the ages of each child. The child taken from their family lived in one of few places, often, to an orphanage, foster family or a mission. They weren’t permitted to leave that family (or place) until they turned the age of eighteen, even further were ‘released’ into the white society. The ‘Half-caste’ and even full aboriginal children received minimal education because they were expected to be servants, farm workers, for men, and maids, for women. When, and if, the child was reunited with the family, their reactions would all be different. Some were rejected because their mother moved on while others would all be happy and try to recollect what they missed. Some families never reunite because their parents died or they were never found. The Government, who leant to the white Australia policy believed that the aboriginals needed to be more like the ‘normal people’ and took children to make them do what the government wanted.
Children were treated differently depending on the area they were, their skin tone and their pronunciation. The worst cases of child treatment included abuse (physical, sexual and psychological), they were often starved and living conditions were at the least moral to have children live, short term this caused an outburst in resentment for the white people from the Aboriginal people. Long term it caused a bad relationship between them, possibly causing such disconnection aboriginals turned to alcohol and drugs to numb the scarring. Still with weariness toward the European settlers’ decedents the Aboriginal people are starting to feel less jeopardized to bulling and abuse from other people. There is still resentment from the victims of the Stolen Generation.
