Stolen Generation Assimilation

How were the lives and experiences of the Stolen Generations affected by the policy of Assimilation?

The lives and experiences of the Stolen Generations were greatly affected due to the policy of Assimilation. The Policy of Assimilation was the act of forcing Australian and Torres Strait Islander people to conform to the practises and ideals of white society and, although it was not officially adopted as a policy until 1951, the ideas behind it were being implemented well before then. From the time period of 1945 onwards, the policy has had various social effects on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, causing trauma on the individuals that were taken due to the neglect and physiological, physical and sexual abuse. Although the policy

of Assimilation did have a positive outcome for some, for the overwhelming majority the response was negative.
The Policy of Assimilation was designed to improve the lives of Indigenous Australians by absorbing them into white society. It was founded on the assumption of black inferiority, and proposed that Indigenous people should be allowed to ‘die out’ through the 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 made to adopt white culture and it was hoped that all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders would “eventually attain same manner of living as other Australians.” In practice, however, assimilation lead to further destruction of Indigenous culture and identity. Under the policy of Assimilation, thousands of children were forcibly removed from their home, and these children have become known as the Stolen Generations.
For every individual that was taken pre-Assimilation or during Assimilation, almost every aspect of their life changed in a negative way, resulting in deep trauma. Children were ‘stolen’ or ‘forcibly removed’ from their family not because of a general move of their community or because of a specific requirement such as a need for medical attention, but for a number of reasons all connected with race. Children were taken far from their home, and in doing so, the connection to one’s homeland was lost. This was disturbing for many, as according to Aboriginal belief, people have a deep and sacred connection with their land and 'to die outside one’s area was tantamount to losing one’s soul.' A poem by Pauline McLeod, who was removed from her natural family in 1962, states "They stole me from a lifetime. My heritage. My home. My family. My identity," showing a loss of cultural affiliation. In most cases, children who were taken were denied any traditional knowledge, and the removal of Indigenous ‘Stolen Generations’ people from their families and communities prevented them from making connections to their family and from acquiring their language and culture, leaving them with a loss of identity. Maria Starsevik, who was removed when she was only two years old, "met [her] mother for the first time when she was thirty," but "by then too much time had passed and it was hard to make a connection," and Cynthia Sariago, whose mother was taken, stated that “it’s hard going back [to your home country] because you’re not really accepted by your mother’s traditional people.” Even after members of the Stolen Generations were reunited with their family or community, often times it turned into hurt and rejection as their family was unable to, or did not want to bond with them. Because of their European background and upbringing, children who were removed from their families would be, and still are being discriminated against when they try to reconnect with their Indigenous community.
It is for these reasons, many children removed by Assimilation experienced a cruel, traumatic childhood.
While some children were adopted by white families, many children were placed in institutions, where abuse and neglect were common.

Within the institutions, children were only provided with basic shelter, food and clothing, living in grossly overcrowded rooms where there was little or no provision for privacy or recreation. Because of the change in lifestyle many children were exposed to new diseases, and despite the mission founders publically stating that medical and emotional support would be provided, many children’s need for support was neglected. Children were given harsh beatings for minor misdemeanours, and there are thousands of reports of abuse. Almost a quarter of witnesses in the Bringing them Home Inquiry who were fostered or adopted reported being physically abused, and one in five reported being sexually abused. Within institutions, one in six children reported physical abuse, with a further one in ten reporting sexual abuse. Children also carry emotional pain, as within institutions they were neglected, receiving minimal, if any affection. In a Bringing Them home submission, it is described how a woman “didn’t know how to hug her babies, and had to be shown how to do that,” most likely because she never was shown affection herself as a child. Moreover, because children were taught to reject their culture, and were banned from speaking their traditional language, many felt as though they did not belong anywhere, as they were “Too black to be white. Too white to be black. Caught in the middle, Belonging no

where.”
With the neglect that these children often received in the removal process………….. or something like that, I dunno
Furthermore, there have been many long-lasting social effects, both intergenerational and individual, as a result of the policy of Assimilation. Many of the children who were taken and their families who were left behind, have suffered, and are still suffering from severe and irreversible depression, while others turned to alcohol as a coping mechanism. Of those who had experienced removal from their natural family, 35% assessed their health as fair or poor and 39% experienced high or very high levels of psychological distress. Furthermore, many of the Stolen Generations never experienced living in a healthy family situation, therefore never learning parenting skills and in some instances, this has resulted in a cycle of generations of children raised in state care. In most institutions, the children received extremely low levels of education, as they were expected to work as manual labourers and domestic servants. Because of this, many were unable to obtain a well-paying job later on in life. Additionally, in 1995, one in ten Indigenous Australians over the age of 24 had been removed from their families as children, and this group experienced far higher arrest rates than any other group with a study finding that 80% of Aboriginal prisoners in NSW were affected by the removal policies.
For these reasons, the policy of Assimilation has left many of the children it affected with a range of long-lasting social implications.

On the other hand, although most of the Stolen Generations has negative experiences, there were some whose removal was a positive outcome, as many children gained access to opportunities they otherwise would not have had available to them. For most children, if they got adopted or fostered, it meant that they were given access to a good education, which they might not have otherwise received, however despite the opportunities however, many were discriminated against, and still felt as though they did not belong. In a confidential submission in Bringing Them Home, one women stated “.... even though I had a good education with [adoptive family] and I went to college, there was just this feeling that I did not belong there." Additionally, although they were initially discriminated against, the policy of Assimilation

From the time period of 1945 onwards, the policy of Assimilation effected many, both long and short term. Although the intention was to improve the Indigenous Australian’s quality of life, for the majority the policy “inflicted profound grief, suffering and loss.” The removal of children from their families, significantly changed almost every aspect of their life and caused deep trauma. Many of the Stolen Generations were subject to abuse and neglect, and their removal created many negative social effects. Despite this however, some of the Indigenous Australians who were removed from their families had a positives experience, being given opportunities they otherwise would not have been given.