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Removal of children from aboriginal parents in australia
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Aboriginals:
The stolen generations of Aboriginal children were taken away from their families by the government, churches and welfare bodies so they could be brought up in institutions or fostered out into white families with the hope that these children would be integrated into white society. Beginning in the 1830’s and ending in the early 1970’s, many children were taken from their families in an attempt to eradicate the Aboriginal race and culture. The Australian government’s policy and practice of removing the Aboriginal children from their families was violently enforced during that time period, unfortunately this official government policy was in effect until 1969. During my research it appears that the practice of mistreating Aboriginal
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Aboriginals were taught to reject their Aboriginality and culture so that they would become more like white Australians in the sense of religion and education. Being of native land the Aboriginals were unlikely to be able to establish their right to their native land and they most likely wouldn’t be able to take part within their culture or the spiritual life of their former communities. Unlike the British migrants it was easier for the Aboriginals to find their families and travel to them because they were still in the same country in which they were taken from. Also when they were let go from the whites the Aboriginals still received as much criticism after they had left the orphanages compared to when they arrived in them. No matter how badly the Australian government wanted to make Aboriginals white, you can’t change the colour of someone’s skin so they would never be seen as the same. The British migrants were taken mostly from orphanages and not their own homes and most of them knew where they were going. The migrants travelled all the way from Britain and had Australia described to them as probably one of the best places to travel to and that it would be better place than where they were at that moment. There were also much more British migrants that were taken away from families than Aboriginals. Unlike the Aboriginals the British migrants were considered to be accepted more because of the colour of their skin, which was exactly what the Australian Government wanted for the Aboriginals, but never
In the 1950s and 1960s, the government began abolishing the compulsory residential school education among Aboriginal people. The government believed that Aboriginal children could receive a better education if they were integrated into the public school system (Hanson). However, residential schools were later deemed inappropriate because not only were the children taken away from their culture, their families and their people, but the majority of students were abus...
... community and live along side white Australians, while other aboriginals happily moved in to the community and came to live a more civilised life.
Over the years Australia has had many different problems with racism and racism affecting peoples’ lives. Many racial groups have been affected, most significantly the Aboriginals. The end of world war two in 1945 marked a huge change in types of racism. Australia went from the ‘superior’ white Australians dominating over immigrants and aboriginals. To a relatively multicultural and accepting society that is present today.
The Assimilation was a policy set by the government in 1937 and went to till 1964. This policy of Assimilation was set not just for Aborigines in Australia but for all foreign immigrants that were not European and white in colour. Having this policy set in place meant that Aborigines were forced to give up their heritage and adopt the culture of the British/Anglo Saxons. This law sent children away from their families to learn how to become and live like a white Australian, leaving all memories, beliefs, and traditions behind. Another major impact this had toward the Aborigines was they had no rights or freedoms and finally all culture, heritage, beliefs were left behind and made to start a new life living as a 'white fella’.
Key events in Aboriginal Australian history stem from the time Australia was first discovered in 1788. For instance, when Federation came into existence in 1901, there was a prevailing belief held by non Aboriginal Australians that the Aborigines were a dying race (Nichol, 2005:259) which resulted in the Indigenous people being excluded from the constitution except for two mentions – Section 127 excluded Aborigines from the census and Section 51, part 26, which gave power over Aborigines to the States rather than to the Federal Government. Aboriginal people were officially excluded from the vote, public service, the Armed Forces and pensions. The White Australia mentality/policy Australia as “White” and unfortunately this policy was not abolished until 1972. REFERENCE
The inequality in Australian education can be attributed to a history of low expectations and discrimination placed on Indigenous people by the government and society. Aboriginal children were denied the right to education until the 1970s due to the discrimitory views of the government and society. The Indigenous population were the sub-standard race of humanity with little to no chance of succeeding in life and these attitudes affected the educational choices offered to them (Ray & Poonwassie, 1992). As the superior race, the Anglo-Celtic Australians, considered themselves both intellectually and socio-culturally more advanced than their inferior Aboriginal neighbours (Foley, 2013). As a consequence of these racially and culturally motivated preconceptions, children of Aboriginal descent were considered unskilled outside of their own and were deemed incapable of excelling in ‘civilised’ white society (Foley, 2013). As a result, the Australian Government, in an effort to civilise and nurture politeness within the Aboriginal people, constructed “structured” (p 139) education training institutions in 1814. However, these problems only provided sufficient schooling for menial work: Aboriginal male children were prepared for agricultural employment, while girls were trained for domesticated services (Foley, 2013). Thus, as a direct consequence of low expectation for life success, Aboriginal children were offered minimal schooling ‘consistent with the perception about the limitations inherent in their race and their expected station in life at the lowest rung of white society’ (Beresford & Partington, 2003, p43). According to Foley (2013) this combination of low expectations and poor academic grounding meant that Indigenous children we...
The assimilation policy was a policy that existed between the 1940’s and the 1970’s, and replaced that of protectionism. Its purpose was to have all persons of aboriginal blood and mixed blood living like ‘white’ Australians, this established practice of removing Aboriginal children (generally half-bloods) from their homes was to bring them up without their culture, and they were encouraged to forget their aboriginal heritage. Children were placed in institutions where they could be 'trained' to take their place in white society. During the time of assimilation Aboriginal people were to be educated for full citizenship, and have access to public education, housing and services. However, most commonly aboriginal people did not receive equal rights and opportunities, for example, their wages were usually less than that paid to the white workers and they often did not receive recognition for the roles they played in the defence of Australia and their contribution to the cattle industry. It wasn’t until the early 1960’s that expendi...
The rights of Indigenous Australians were restricted by the Government policy of protection and assimilation. The Aboriginal Protection Act was passed in 1869, which gave power over the lives of Aboriginal people to the government, such as where they could live or work. They removed mixed decent Aboriginal children from their families in an attempt to assimilate them into white society. The Child Welfare Act 1939 abandoned this policy and gave Indigenous parents the right to take their children back. But the children were moved far away, and even if they were found and returned, many of them were mistreated and didn’t return the same to their families. This had devastating effects on Indigenous parents, and many white Australians didn’t understand this impact at the time.
Broome, Richard. Aboriginal Australians: Black Response to White Dominance 1788. George Allen and Unwin: Sydney. 1982.
“Whiteness” is one of the core and crucial national identity of Australians. The construction of “whiteness” as an identity is apparently linked to Australian’s colonial history. Robinson (2004) suggested that “Whiteness is not a basic categorical object and being socially constructed. Instead the concept 'white' denotes nothing more than skin colour. It is the Indigenous 'other' who is the focus of racialisation and its effects.” (ppg 145) His statement implies that Aboriginals are the major community being silenced and discriminated in the Australian society. There is a prevailing belief among Australians that “White represents the norm, the natural order of things, or self while non- White represents the Other who may threaten, degrade, pollute or contaminate the White race” (Kamp, 2008,ppg.413). Those who are considered as “white” are mainly determined by sharing common interests and culture with the British colonizers.
The Stolen Generations refers to the forcible removal of Aboriginal, mostly those who were not full blooded taken between the 1830’s and the 1970’s. They were removed due to their mixed heritage, consisting of Indigenous mothers and European fathers. The Stolen Generations have had a damaging effect on the native owners of Australia, their culture, their identity and most importantly, their sense of belonging,
However, the Moseley Royal Commission (Moseley, 1935), established to ascertain the treatment of aboriginal people, described the aboriginal living conditions in Northern Kimberley as being either in ‘the bush in their natural state’ or in ‘pastoral stations’ with the tribes fashioning shelters out of recycled petrol-cans, bags, and bush material. This is still reflective of the conditions that the State Children Act (1907) deemed to be unacceptable and when considering this in the aspect of child welfare and protection questions arise as to whether this aspect of aboriginal culture can be observed as in the best interests of a child. However, Moseley (1935) continues his report on these conditions with a statement that ‘the children… [were] trained from an early age to make [such improvised materials] useful’ and that they ‘wanted for nothing and displayed no signs of unhappiness’. This raises a fundamental issue regarding the ‘Stolen Generation’ practice; whilst the children were deemed to be in ‘undesirable’ conditions by the white settlers, it could be suggested that the children’s state of happiness undermines their ‘destitute’ state of
The way a society is organised can create conflicts or creating some difficult conditions for survival for others, which can increase the chances of having conflict between different cultures and societies.
Between 1910 and 1970, in Australia, aboriginal children were forcibly taken from their families, under false claims. These children were adopted by white households, many of which were emotionally, physically, or sexually abusive. And, in an attempt to rid Australia of aboriginal people and culture, the children were not allowed to partake in any behaviors associated with being aboriginal. Australian aboriginals weren’t the only group negatively affected by interracial adoption. Prior to 1978, 35% of Native American children were illegally removed from their homes. These examples show that interracial racism can be
The stolen generations, the removal of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children that occurred in the late 19th Century to the 1970s have had effects on Indigenous people of Australia today. The 1997 report Bringing Them Home, from the Australian Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission, reports that up to one in three Indigenous children were forcibly removed during this time period. The vast number of indigenous children stolen and the immense amount of sorrow that had been caused has left a lasting impact in today’s Indigenous society. The physical, emotional and sexual abuse that was faced by the overwhelming number of members of the stolen generations has left some incapable of loving and maintaining relationships, leading to