Stolen Generations

1860

The Central Board for the Protection of Aborigines had been advocating such powers since 1860.

1883

The protection was done through each jurisdiction's Aboriginal Protection Board; in Victoria and Western Australia these boards were also responsible for applying what were known as Half-Caste Acts. More recent usage has developed since Peter Read's publication of The Stolen Generations: The Removal of Aboriginal Children in New South Wales 1883 to 1969 (1981), which examined the history of these government actions.

1897

Through the late 19th and early 20th century, similar policies and legislation were adopted by other states and territories, such as the Aboriginals Protection and Restriction of the Sale of Opium Act 1897 (Qld), the Aboriginals Ordinance 1918 (NT), the Aborigines Act 1934 (SA), and the 1936 Native Administration Act (WA). As a result of such legislation, states arranged widespread removal of (primarily) mixed-race children from their Aboriginal mothers.

1905

In Western Australia, the Aborigines Act 1905 removed the legal guardianship of Aboriginal parents.

1909

In Williams, an individual (rather than a group of plaintiffs) made claims in negligence arising from having been placed under the control of the Aborigines Welfare Board pursuant to s 7(2) of the Aborigines Welfare Act 1909 shortly after her birth, and was placed by the Board with the United Aborigines Mission at its Aborigines Children Home at Bomaderry near Nowra, NSW.

It challenged the Aboriginal Protection Act of 1909 in order to return two children from Cootamundra Domestic Training Home for Aboriginal Girls to the Aboriginal mother. Aboriginal artist and author Sally Morgan has written several novels based on the lives of her and her family members, featuring intimate portrayals of the impact of forced removal on individuals, their families, and communities, although Sally herself was not a stolen child.

1911

His lobbying reportedly played a part in the enactment of the Aborigines Act 1911.

1915

For instance, Patrick McGarry, a member of the Parliament of New South Wales, objected to the Aborigines Protection Amending Act 1915 which authorised the Aborigines' Protection Board to remove Aboriginal children from their parents without having to establish cause.

1918

Through the late 19th and early 20th century, similar policies and legislation were adopted by other states and territories, such as the Aboriginals Protection and Restriction of the Sale of Opium Act 1897 (Qld), the Aboriginals Ordinance 1918 (NT), the Aborigines Act 1934 (SA), and the 1936 Native Administration Act (WA). As a result of such legislation, states arranged widespread removal of (primarily) mixed-race children from their Aboriginal mothers.

However, in the subsequent case of Kruger v Commonwealth, the High Court judges rejected the claim of the plaintiffs that the Aboriginals Ordinance 1918 authorised genocide as defined by the Convention and ruled that there was no legislation to implement the Convention under Australian municipal law at the time.

1924

McGarry described the policy as "steal[ing] the child away from its parents". In 1924, the Adelaide Sun wrote: "The word 'stole' may sound a bit far-fetched but by the time we have told the story of the heart-broken Aboriginal mother we are sure the word will not be considered out of place." In most jurisdictions, Indigenous Australians were put under the authority of a Protector, effectively being made wards of the State.

1930

Neville, to assimilate the mixed-race children into the white population by means of "breeding out the colour", and therefore eventually resulting in the full-bloods being "forgotten", bore strong similarities to the racial views of the Nazis in 1930s Nazi Germany.

1931

In a subsequent interview with the ABC, Doris recalled her removal in 1931 from her mother at age three or four, and subsequent rearing at the settlement.

1934

Through the late 19th and early 20th century, similar policies and legislation were adopted by other states and territories, such as the Aboriginals Protection and Restriction of the Sale of Opium Act 1897 (Qld), the Aboriginals Ordinance 1918 (NT), the Aborigines Act 1934 (SA), and the 1936 Native Administration Act (WA). As a result of such legislation, states arranged widespread removal of (primarily) mixed-race children from their Aboriginal mothers.

1935

One first-hand account referring to events in 1935 stated: I was at the post office with my Mum and Auntie [and cousin].

1936

Through the late 19th and early 20th century, similar policies and legislation were adopted by other states and territories, such as the Aboriginals Protection and Restriction of the Sale of Opium Act 1897 (Qld), the Aboriginals Ordinance 1918 (NT), the Aborigines Act 1934 (SA), and the 1936 Native Administration Act (WA). As a result of such legislation, states arranged widespread removal of (primarily) mixed-race children from their Aboriginal mothers.

1948

He said he used as the benchmark for usage of the term genocide the 1948 UN Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, which is also cited in the Bringing Them Home report. Historian Inga Clendinnen suggests that the term genocide rests on the "question of intentionality", saying: "There's not much doubt, with great murderous performances that were typically called genocide, that they were deliberate and intentional.

1951

While genocide has been a crime under international law since the commencement of the Convention in 1951, in accordance with Section 51(xxix) of the Australian Constitution, it has only been a crime under Australian law since the commencement of the International Criminal Court (Consequential Amendments) Act 2002, and so the Stolen Generations cannot be considered genocide under Australian law because the Act is not retrospective.

1969

The protection was done through each jurisdiction's Aboriginal Protection Board; in Victoria and Western Australia these boards were also responsible for applying what were known as Half-Caste Acts. More recent usage has developed since Peter Read's publication of The Stolen Generations: The Removal of Aboriginal Children in New South Wales 1883 to 1969 (1981), which examined the history of these government actions.

1970

We had the support of every State government; they came to the Inquiry, came with lever-arch files setting out the laws from the earliest days right up to the end of the assimilation policy, that is up to the 1970s and more importantly, senior government offices attended.

1971

Others who disputed the use of the term include Peter Howson, Minister for Aboriginal Affairs from 1971 to 1972, and Keith Windschuttle, an historian who argues that some of the abuses towards Australian Aboriginal peoples have been exaggerated and in some cases invented.

1972

Others who disputed the use of the term include Peter Howson, Minister for Aboriginal Affairs from 1971 to 1972, and Keith Windschuttle, an historian who argues that some of the abuses towards Australian Aboriginal peoples have been exaggerated and in some cases invented.

1980

Widespread awareness of the Stolen Generations, and the practices that created them, grew in the late 1980s through the efforts of Aboriginal and white activists, artists, and musicians (Archie Roach's "Took the Children Away" and Midnight Oil's "The Dead Heart" being examples of the latter).

1994

This figure was estimated by multiplying the Aboriginal population in 1994 (303,000), by the report's maximum estimate of "one in three" Aboriginal persons separated from their families.

1995

The Mabo v Queensland (No 2) case (commonly known as the Mabo case) attracted great media and public attention to itself and to all issues related to the government treatment of Aboriginal people and Torres Strait Islanders in Australia, and most notably the Stolen Generations. In early 1995, Rob Riley, an activist with the Aboriginal Legal Service, published Telling Our Story.

1997

In 2017, 35% of all children in out-of-home care in Australia identify as being Aboriginal, an increase from 20% in 1997 when Bringing Them Home was published. ===Generational effects=== A 2019 study by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) found that children living in households with members of the Stolen Generations are more likely "to experience a range of adverse outcomes", including poor health, especially mental health, missing school and living in poverty.

In April 1997, the Commission released its official Bringing Them Home report. Between the commissioning of the National Inquiry and the release of the final report in 1997, the government of John Howard had replaced the Paul Keating government.

At the Australian Reconciliation Convention in May 1997, Howard was quoted as saying: "Australians of this generation should not be required to accept guilt and blame for past actions and policies." Following publication of the report, the parliament of the Northern Territory and the state parliaments of Victoria, South Australia, and New South Wales passed formal apologies to the Aboriginal people affected.

The 1997 publication of the government's Bringing Them Home – Report of the National Inquiry into the Separation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children from Their Families heightened awareness of the Stolen Generations.

Previous apologies had been offered by State and Territory governments in the period 1997–2001. There is some opposition to the concept of the term "Stolen Generations".

1998

On 26 May 1998, the first "National Sorry Day" was held; reconciliation events were held nationally, and attended by a total of more than one million people.

1999

As public pressure continued to increase on the government, Howard drafted a motion of "deep and sincere regret over the removal of Aboriginal children from their parents", which was passed by the federal parliament in August 1999.

It also conducts research into Indigenous healing. The Marumali Program was designed and established by Stolen Generations survivor Lorraine Peeters, starting with her presentation of the model she had created, the "Marumali Journey of Healing Model", to a conference of mental health professionals at a conference in Sydney in 1999.

2000

At its hearing on this subject in July 2000, the Commission on Human Rights strongly criticised the Howard government for its handling of issues related to the Stolen Generations.

The internationally successful rock group Midnight Oil attracted worldwide media interest by performing at the Olympic closing ceremony in black sweatsuits with the word "SORRY" emblazoned across them. In 2000, Phillip Knightley summed up the Stolen Generations in these terms: This cannot be over-emphasized—the Australian government literally kidnapped these children from their parents as a matter of policy.

Then Minister for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Affairs John Herron disputed usage of the term in April 2000.

In every case, these senior officers acknowledged that there was a lot of cruelty in the application of those laws and policies." In April 2000, Aboriginal Affairs Minister John Herron tabled a report in the Australian Parliament in response to the Human Rights Commission report which stated that, as "only 10% of Aboriginal children" had been removed, they did not constitute an entire "generation".

2001

In 2001, then treasurer of NSW Michael Egan made a statement of public acknowledgement in the NSW Parliament.

2002

While genocide has been a crime under international law since the commencement of the Convention in 1951, in accordance with Section 51(xxix) of the Australian Constitution, it has only been a crime under Australian law since the commencement of the International Criminal Court (Consequential Amendments) Act 2002, and so the Stolen Generations cannot be considered genocide under Australian law because the Act is not retrospective.

2008

A decade later, on 13 February 2008, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd presented an apology to Indigenous Australians as a motion to be voted on by the house.

The acceptance of the term in Australia is illustrated by the 2008 formal apology to the Stolen Generations, led by Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and passed by both houses of the Parliament of Australia.

When the two women were reunited, Doris was no longer able to speak her native language and had been taught to regard Indigenous culture as evil. Baz Luhrmann's 2008 film Australia, starring Nicole Kidman and Hugh Jackman, deals with the Stolen Generations. ===Stage=== Stolen (1998) is a play by Australian playwright Jane Harrison.

2009

Prime Minister Julia Gillard made a personal public apology. ==Trauma and healing== Trauma suffered as a result of children being separated from their families and forced to adopt a culture foreign to them is ongoing and passed down through generations. The Healing Foundation is a government-funded body established on 30 October 2009 as the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Healing Foundation was established after several months of consultation with community representatives.

2010

In October 2010, West Australian Premier Colin Barnett delivered a parliamentary apology on behalf of state institutions involved in the aggressive adoption practices.

2015

You know, you've just come out of nowhere; there you are. In 2015, many of the recommendations of Bringing Them Home were yet to be fulfilled.

2017

In 2017, 35% of all children in out-of-home care in Australia identify as being Aboriginal, an increase from 20% in 1997 when Bringing Them Home was published. ===Generational effects=== A 2019 study by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) found that children living in households with members of the Stolen Generations are more likely "to experience a range of adverse outcomes", including poor health, especially mental health, missing school and living in poverty.

2019

In 2017, 35% of all children in out-of-home care in Australia identify as being Aboriginal, an increase from 20% in 1997 when Bringing Them Home was published. ===Generational effects=== A 2019 study by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) found that children living in households with members of the Stolen Generations are more likely "to experience a range of adverse outcomes", including poor health, especially mental health, missing school and living in poverty.




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