Stolen Generations In Australia

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

a transgenerational impact. Depression and anxiety that led to alcohol and substance abuse created by the loss of family and the loss of Indigenous culture due to an interruption of the oral passing down of culture.
The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people taken away from their families suffered torrential pain being removed from their families.

The missionaries and foster homes they were put into, often miles away from their real family did not offer a fraction of the love of their own family. Instead, they suffered physical, emotional and sexual abuse from their foster families, leaving behind deep scars that often did not heal. Therefore, many did not experience a healthy family and never learnt good parenting skills. They witnessed and suffered abuse that left scars so deep that their relationships would suffer for the rest of their lives. “As a child I had no mother’s arms to hold me. No father to lead me into the world… No-one showed us how to be lovers or parents.” (Alec Kruger) As a result, they did not know how to love and bring up their own children. Their personal trauma became a transgenerational trauma, where the trauma suffered by the members of the stolen generations transferred to the second and further generations. Furthermore, it is not just their children who have to face this, but also their partners. Many relationships became abusive as they did not know love. The experiences of their childhood, and a lack of a loving role model had left a lasting impact on the relationships and unable to love. This suffering is therefore being passed down from generation to generation, and can be found in today’s society, and will be present in the

future.

The extreme sorrow caused by the stolen generations effected not only the children being removed but also their parents and families.

The distress of the loss of their children, the abuse faced in the missions and foster homes and the rage that they felt for the government caused depression and anxiety among the people. This depression, anxiety and rage was often numbed by the use of alcohol and drugs. Alec Kruger recounts that the children “…grew up just struggling to cope at all. They found their peace in… alcohol.” The depression among those who were affected then, and the results of depression, post-traumatic Stress and alcohol and drug abuse can be seen today. The poem, 1899, written by Sandra McBride describes the hard, loveless life of her Aunt who was part of the Stolen Generations. The lines, “God granted you mercy, and they called it suicide,” highlights the horror of the life she lived. She tells us of the abuse she had to endure and the motivation that led her to commit suicide. But to emphasize the abuse that she suffered and the horrors of her life, she portrays death as an escape from this abusive

world.

The removal of children, that lasted generations, disrupted oral traditional passing down of culture. Due to this, some Aboriginal culture and dreaming was lost. They weren’t allowed to speak their indigenous languages in their foster homes and had to speak English and be brought up in a Western Society. Even after they were freed at the age of 18 and went back to their traditional homes, they often denied any traditional knowledge as they had been westernised. Another problem with bonding with their family, if removed at a young age, they often did not know the language. Many “don’t know nothing about … culture, the land and the language,” (Cynthia Sariago). The indigenous culture was lost to them, and with children gone, some cultures were unable to pass knowledge down, and do some aboriginal cultures were lost forever. The indigenous community of today cannot learn and be involved in the traditional ways of their ancestors that they had been doing for the past 50 000 years.

The Stolen Generations have had effects on the Indigenous community, in respect to the children who were stolen, the families of the children and also the generations that followed. The effects of the stolen generation can be seen to day in the members and the generations that followed in in transgenerational tragedy. Indigenous Australians are also deprived of their Indigenous culture and some cultures were lost, and others do not have access to it as the language is unknown to them.