Australia's Stolen Generations

One of the darkest chapters of Australian history was the forced removal of Aboriginal children from their families. Children as young as babies were stolen from their families to be placed in girls and boys homes, foster families or missions. At the age of 18 they were 'released' into white society, often scarred for life by their experiences.

Today these Aboriginal people are collectively known as the 'Stolen Generations' because several generations were affected.

Many Aboriginal people are still searching for their fathers, mothers and siblings.

I feel our childhood has been taken away from us and it has left a big hole in our lives. —Jennifer, personal story in the Bringing Them Home Report

Heartbreaking stories of being taken

What members of the Stolen Generations experienced is best told by themselves.
Read stories by Aboriginal people who were taken away from their families.

Abuse of stolen children

Aboriginal children who were taken from their families often suffered mental and physical abuse and remained scarred for life.
Abuse of stolen children

A guide to the Stolen Generations

Why were Aboriginal children stolen?

This is the most burning question for members of the Stolen Generations. In removing their children white people stole Aboriginal people's future. Language, tradition, knowledge, dances and spirituality could only live if passed on to their children. In breaking this circle of life white people hoped to end Aboriginal culture within a short time and get rid of 'the Aboriginal problem'.

In the early 20th century white Australians thought Aboriginal people would die out. In three generations, they thought, Aboriginal genes would have been 'bred out' when Aboriginal people had children with white people.

Adult Aboriginal people resisted efforts to be driven out of towns in simply coming back. But children, once taken away, could be controlled much easier.

I grew up feeling alone, a black girl in a white world, and I resented them for trying to make me white but they couldn't wash away thousands of years of dreaming.—Aunty Rhonda Collard, member of the Stolen Generations [17]

Another reason for children being taken away was that authorities thought Aboriginal parents would neglect them. There is evidence, however, that malnutrition and starving kids were caused by Aboriginal people not receiving the full wages they were owed (stolen wages) [12].

Reasons why Aboriginal girls were taken away (in %). This statistic considers why Aboriginal girls were removed from their families. "Other" reasons include "being female on an Aboriginal reserve" and simply because of being "Aboriginal". [22]

Which children were taken away?

Authorities targeted mainly children of mixed descent, i.e. what they called 'half-caste' Aboriginal children (caution, this is a derogative term.). They thought that these Aboriginal children could be assimilated more easily into white society.

Many children during this time were never told that they were Aboriginal and discovered this much later in their lives. Aboriginal author Sally Morgan wrote about her experiences in her book 'My Place'.

What happened to the stolen children?

The stolen children were raised on missions or by foster parents. They were totally cut off from their Aboriginality. They were severely punished when caught talking their Aboriginal language. Some children never learned anything traditional and received little or no education. Instead the girls were trained to be domestic servants, the boys to be stockmen.

Many of the stolen girls and boys were physically and sexually abused. Many babies born to girls raped by white men were in turn taken away from them, sometimes as soon as they were born.

There is no black or white, we are both of those. I am black and I am white. We were the product of white men raping our taditional women. We were an embarrassment. No-one wanted us. They just wanted us out of the way. —Zita Wallace, taken aged eight years [14]

Boys and girls were brought into separate institutions which they (and some experts) would later compare with German concentration camps and the holocaust. Many tried to run away but with limited success. Many never saw their parents again or were told they were orphans.

We were each handed a pair of pyjamas with a number Mr Borland, the manager, had given us earlier printed on the pocket, and a shirt and pair of shorts also. I was number 33. Not Bill. Not even Simon. Just number 33. —Bill Simon, taken away aged 10 [21]

Institutions in NSW where stolen Aboriginal children were brought to be trained as domestics or labourers.

The most infamous institutions are the following (be careful when you mention them to Aboriginal people, a lot of hurt and bad memories might come up):

• Bomaderry Children's Home (United Aborigines Mission) which operated from 24 May 1908 to 1981.
• Cootamundra Aboriginal Girls' Home (Cootamundra Domestic Training Home for Aboriginal Girls), originally a hospital, operated from 1911 to 1969.
• Kinchela Aboriginal Boys' Home (Kinchela Training Institution) which moved to Kempsey in 1924. About 600 Aboriginal boys passed through Kinchela before it was closed in 1970.
• Mittagong Boys' Home
• Kempsey
• Parramatta Girls' Home which operated from 1887 until 1986
• Kahlin Compound, Darwin
• The Bungalow, Alice Springs
• Box Hill Boys Home, Melbourne

Many of those who were stolen established links with the area where they stayed for many years. After they left the institutions these people settled in the area.

Sometimes at night we'd cry with hunger. We had to scrounge in the town dump, eating old bread, smashing tomato sauce bottles, licking them. —Bringing Them Home - Community Guide, children's experiences

How many children were stolen?

That is not easy to answer. Few records of stolen children were kept, some were deliberately destroyed or just lost. Some administrations tried to tout their "successful assimilation" of Aboriginal people by deliberately understating Indigenous numbers, thus distorting data.

Hence numbers can only be roughly estimated. One source [3] estimates that more than 6,200 children were stolen in NSW between 1883 and 1969.

In 1994 the Australian Bureau of Statistics presented a survey which revealed that one in every ten (10%) Indigenous people aged over 25 had been removed from their families in childhood [4], a figure which seems to be confirmed by research since the Bringing Them Home Report [5].

The [South Australian] government was unable to say how many Stolen Generation people live in the state. — Statement in a 2007 article about the first court-ordered compensation ruling [9].

When were the children stolen?

Towards the end of the 19th century authorities started to take children away without a legal framework. A framework was established in 1909 with the Aborigines Protection Act.

During the 1960s the process of child removal had slowed down but continued well into the 1970s (see personal ad below). Some of the schools and missions who held the Stolen Generations did not close until the early 1980s (e.g. Bomaderry Children's Home in NSW [19]).

A new Stolen Generation?

Children continue to be taken from their families today. On the day of Prime Minister Kevin Rudd's apology to the Stolen Generations on February 13th, 2008 the Aboriginal newspaper Koori Mail reported that the NSW government created "2,500 new foster care places". The article continued that 12,700 children reportedly are "unable to live with their [black or white] parents due to abuse, neglect or bereavement."

A Special Commission of Inquiry into the Department of Community Services (DoCS), which has the authority to remove children from their families if they were 'at risk of significant harm', found that in March 2008 there were 4,458 Aboriginal children in out-of-home care, a number which is equal to four times the number of Aboriginal children who were in foster homes, institutions or missions in 1969, during the Stolen Generations [30].

From 2001-02 to 2007-08 the number of reports submitted to DoCS increased by 300% to 55,303 [26].

Aboriginal children's safety is "always grounded in their culture" [31] because they need to remain connected to the communities and be sure and strong in their cultural identity.

Stolen Generation member dies only months after reunion

A 107-year-old member of the Stolen Generations died only months after she was finally reunited with members of her original people in Port Hedland, WA [6]. Belinda Dann's life is a sad example of many other members of the Stolen Generations, many of whom died broken-hearted because they never saw their loved ones again.

Belinda was six years old when she was taken from her mother. Along with sisters she was taken to Beagle Bay mission in north-western Australia. When they asked for their mother they were told she would come which she never did. She married as a teenager and moved to Port Hedland. She remembered her Aboriginal name but did not know who she was and where she came from.

By coincidence one of Belinda's grandsons mentioned her Aboriginal name in a conversation with an Aboriginal girl who had heard of Belinda and was connected to her people. A 100-year-long search was over. Belinda met her people and, incredibly, started speaking in her native Aboriginal language again. Four months later she died.

We didn't find our family until I was 11 or 12. —Prof. Larissa Behrendt, Aboriginal barrister [10]

We didn't know we were related. You find it out at 20 or 30, sitting in a pub drinking. —Richard Pittman, Stolen Generations member, taken aged four [18]

Healing members of the Stolen Generations

On 13 February 2009, one year after the government's sorry apology, the Australian government promised to establish the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Healing Foundation.

The foundation is designed to deal with the "trauma experienced by all Aboriginal people as the after-effect of colonisation" [20], but with a particular focus on the Stolen Generations.

It won't deliver healing services, instead it funds healing work, educates communities and social workers and evaluates healing programs to find out what works.

According to Aboriginal trauma and grief specialist Dr Greg Phillips healing is "a spiritual process that includes recovery from addiction, therapeutic change and cultural renewal" [20].

Healing is not just another government program. It has taken many generations to get to this level of trauma and it will take quite a few to fully recover from it. —Dr Greg Phillips, Aboriginal trauma and grief specialist from the Waanyi people [20]

Many members of the Stolen Generations attend annual reunions where they meet fellow Aboriginal people to share their stories and experiences they endured as children in the institutions where they were raised. The Link-Up service (see bottom of this page) often supplies funding for these reunions. For many this is the start of their journey of healing.

Compensation for Stolen Generation members

The conservative government led by Prime Minister John Howard which led Australia from 1996 to 2007 refused to apologise to the Stolen Generations arguing that it feared calls for 'endless' compensation.

Most members of the Stolen Generations will find that a successful pursuit of a civil claim through the courts is technically impossible, or simply too painful. "Suing governments is hard, brutally hard, especially for people who are damaged," says Julian Burnside, a human rights lawyer and activist [ 49].

For many claimants records might not exist or have been destroyed or lost which makes it very hard, if not impossible, to claim compensation. Witnesses might have passed on. Relevant documents have been, and still are, controlled by governments and institutions. Plaintiffs must also endure 'hostile cross-examination' and intense scrutiny of their private lives and those of their families, including health and social problems that they might have suffered as a result of their removal [11].

In response to the lack of documents changes to the Aboriginal Trust Fund Repayment Scheme in New South Wales also allow oral evidence when considering applications [15].

It'll be just as much a mystery in 20 years' time why the Stolen Generations are not being compensated properly, as it is a mystery now to white people of how the previous generation locked all of those kids up. —Peter Read, Professor of Aboriginal History, University of Sydney [13]

As long as members of the Stolen Generations are denied reparations while governments spend millions of dollars defending Stolen Generations litigation, the injustice continues. —Robin Banks, Chief Executive Officer, Public Interest Advocacy Centre (PIAC) [11]

Not all Aboriginal people are in favour of compensation though.

I'm not into [compensation]. For others, it may acknowledge their loss. But for me, nothing can be done now. —Lee Willis-Ardler, Aboriginal film-maker [2]

Two major events acted as a precursor for a possible national compensation scheme: Tasmania's Stolen Generation compensation and the suing of the South Australian government by a member of the Stolen Generations.

Tasmania first state to compensate Aboriginal people

The Labour government which took office in 2007 has apologised but also refuses to compensate members of the Stolen Generations, anticipating large compensation claims. But in a courageous move, the state of Tasmania has made history.

Paul Lennon, Premier of Tasmania in 2006, apologised to the Tasmanian Aboriginal people and paid financial compensation.

For more than 20 years members of the Stolen Generations in Tasmania campaigned for recognition of their rights. First they demanded an apology, which was given in 1997, then compensation. [1]

In October 2006 the then Tasmanian Premier Paul Lennon released a AUD 5 million funding package as part of his reconciliation efforts, making Tasmania the first state to compensate members of the Stolen Generations. He wanted to recognise "that in Tasmania's history Aboriginal people were dispossessed from their land, severed from their culture and taken from their families".

The package was distributed between living members of the Stolen Generations and the children of those who had died. 106 Aboriginal people qualified for one-off compensation, 45 cases were rejected [29]. To qualify applicants had to be Aboriginal and been removed from their families between 1935 and 1975 for at least 12 months.

Many other Australian state governments shrink from apologising to or compensating Aboriginal people for fear of multi-million dollar payments.

Stolen Generation member successfully sues SA government

Bruce Trevorrow, who sued the South Australian government successfully for compensation. Photo: Kirstie Parker, Koori Mail

Ngarrindjeri man Bruce Trevorrow was 13 months old when he was sent to hospital with a stomach ache. The hospital falsely recorded that he had no parents and was 'neglected and malnourished', reason enough for authorities not to return him to his family. A decade would pass before Bruce was able to see his loved ones again [7].

In June 1998 Mr Trevorrow sued the South Australian government for pain and suffering. During the trial it was established that Bruce

• lost his cultural identity,
• suffered depression and subsequently became an alcoholic and heavy smoker,
• was never told his mother tried to see him but was not allowed to,
• suffered from emotional problems which put him in and out of institutions, including jail,
• is chronically insecure.

The court was satisfied that 'the conduct of the state, amounting to misfeasance in public office, together with the false imprisonment of the plaintiff, has been a material cause of the plaintiff's long-term depression'. The court found that this had 'ruptured the bond' between Bruce and his family to a degree that he could not overcome the difficulties he encountered, contrary to his siblings who were not taken away.

On August 1st 2007, 50-year-old Bruce Trevorrow was awarded AUD 525,000 which made him the first member of the Stolen Generations to be awarded compensation by a court.

The ruling was facilitated by enough evidence found in records which backed Bruce Trevorrow's claims. Many other members of the Stolen Generations cannot access records because they were destroyed or lost.

The SA government did not contest the ruling as such and considered establishing a compensation fund for the Stolen Generations, similar to the one created by the Tasmanian government in 2006 [8]. The SA government lost their appeal in March 2010.

I have reached the conclusion that the plaintiff has, thus far, generally had a miserable life. —Justice Thomas Gray about Bruce Trevorrow

Sadly, on 20 June 2008, Bruce Trevorrow passed away aged 51 after a long illness [27]. Despite his compensation he continued to feel the impact of "dislocation from his family origin, incomplete cultural identity and the many injustices he experienced", said his family [28].

'Not stolen, but rescued'

A significant number of Australians disagreed with the apology delivered in February 2008 to the Stolen Generations by Prime Minister Kevin Rudd. Here are their main arguments:

• The Stolen Generations don't exist. Some people simply and flatly deny that children were stolen. They want to see 'proof' and claim no-one could 'find' them.
• Aboriginal children were 'rescued'. Supporters claim that Aboriginal children were not stolen but 'rescued' from a family and community environment that was "rife with rape, incest, drug and/or alcohol abuse and insanitary living conditions" [16]. The Aboriginal children were 'given a chance'.

  I've asked my granny if she thought she was rescued. She replied, "I didn't need rescuing from my mother's love."—Che Cockatoo-Collins [23]

• 'We did not do it'. People who refuse to apologise to the Stolen Generations feel that they or their ancestors had no part in what happened, hence shared no responsibility for the pain caused.
• An apology leads to compensation claims. Many people fear that after the apology "a flood of compensation claims will be forthcoming" running to "millions of dollars" [16].

Free Stolen Generations resources

The resources listed here are free of charge and you can either download or order them.

Free Stolen Generations booklet

A must-read is the report by Peter Read, 'The Stolen Generations - The removal of Aboriginal children in New South Wales 1883 to 1969'.

Published in 1981 it was then a ground-breaking first attempt to document the devastating consequences of the forced removal of Aboriginal children from their families.

The report's chapters are:

• 2006: The return of the Stolen Generations
• Introduction
• A typical case
• The laws regarding children
• The number of children taken
• Life in the homes
• Employment
• Fostering
• Going home
• The effects
• Why did they do it?
• Appendix

The 34-page report comes with several black-and-white images and can be downloaded as a PDF file from the NSW Department of Aboriginal Affairs ('Publications').

Free DVD: Bringing Them Home. You can order this DVD at the Human Rights Commission. It runs for 32 minutes and contains a moving documentary with and about members of the Stolen Generations.

Free Bringing Them Home DVD

The Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission, a government body, published a DVD in 1997. The free DVD is based on the Bringing Them Home Report which was released on the 26th May that year.

The DVD is a 32-minute documentary, interviewing Aboriginal people of the Stolen Generations and showing historical footage. It is a must-see for all interested in learning more and listening to the stories of Aboriginal people who were stolen. But be careful: The content is sometimes heartbreaking.

The first DVD is free, any further copy is just AUD 5. To order your copy send an email or letter to:

Watch movies about the Stolen Generations

A very good movie which tells the story of three young girls taken away from their family is Rabbit-Proof Fence by Phillip Noyce.

Baz Luhrmann's Australia also treats the Stolen Generations as a central theme of the movie.

The documentary Lousy Little Sixpence was the first film to tell shocked Australians the story of five girls stolen from their families.

Some short films by Aboriginal directors discuss Stolen Generations, e.g. Back Seat by Pauline Whyman or Bloodlines by Jacob Nash.

Or try the award-winning documentary Why me? - Stories from the Stolen Generations by Rick Cavaggion.

More movies about Aboriginal people or by Indigenous directors

I was crying for the kids. It brought back personal memories for us. I was like him. I was like them. I was taken away.—Dorothy Beto, stolen aged 7 years, reacting to the movie Australia which tells about the Stolen Generations [24]

The Stolen Generations in the arts

Archie Roach, an Aboriginal singer-song writer, wrote "Took The Children Away", a song featured on his 1990 debut album "Charcoal Lane":

...
Took us away
They took us away
Snapped from their mother's breast
Said this is for the best
Took us away.

Told us what to do and say
Taught us all the white man's ways
Then they split us up again
And gave us gifts to ease the pain
Sent us off to foster homes
As we grew up we felt alone
Cause we were acting white
Yet feeling black 		
...

World-famous didgeridoo master David Hudson also made an album about his true family history called "The Stolen Generation - Rosie's Freedom".

More Aboriginal music

Painting as a way to heal the wounds

The healing process involved for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people stolen from their families is an emotional and long one.

Many Aboriginal people find a healing channel through painting. One of them is Aunty Rhonda Collard from Ipswitch, near Brisbane, who has channelled her experiences and pain into art [25].

Aunty Rhonda was a fourth-generation inhabitant of Western Australia's notorious Moore River Settlement (which featured in the movie Rabbit-Proof Fence). Her mother, grandmother and great-grandmother had all to go through the traumatic experience of being stolen.

Her painting Black Madonna features a weeping black woman surrounded by the words of the white man. "Black Madonna is about the forced-feeding of a new religion to a people and a culture that's been here for 40,000 years or more," explains Aunty Rhonda [25].

"It's about hearing someone else's stories, singing someone else's songs, eating someone else's food. Even through all of this, we are still here."

For the first time in my sister's life she wept in front of the TV while she was watching Kevin say sorry. All these years she and I had held the pain.—Aunty Rhonda Collard, Aboriginal artist [25]

Stolen Generations memorial

A memorial to the Stolen Generations in the Mt Annan Botanic Garden near Campbelltown opened in October 2007.

The memorial is thought to put visitors on a journey of healing and reflection. One hectare of forest offers a series of boardwalks which lead to a meeting place, and a sculpture by Aboriginal artist Badger Bates.

The sculpture highlights the tragic consequences of the separation of Aboriginal children from their parents.

Stolen Generations organisations

There are a few organisations helping Aboriginal people from the Stolen Generations.

National Sorry Day Committee (NSDC)

The NDSC is a community-based organisation, formed in 1998 after the Bringing Them Home report recommended that a National Sorry Day be held each year on 26 May "to commemorate the history of forcible removals and its effects."

The NDSC aims to achieve all 54 recommendations of the Bringing Them Home report, and its Indigenous and non-Indigenous supporters work together with Stolen Generations members, Aboriginal communities, government, social justice and community organisations to achive this goal.

Stolen Generations Alliance (SGA)

The SGA is a national representative and advocacy organisation made up of a network of affiliate groups and individuals around Australia who work with Stolen Generations survivors to ensure "their voices are heard, their truth is told, justice is forthcoming and a comprehensive healing process is supported."

The SGA works towards advancing the rights and ensuring the needs of Stolen Generations survivors and their families by lobbying governments at all levels and other relevant organisations to properly address the ongoing needs and concerns of Stolen Generations members and their descendents.

Link-Up

Link-Up helps members of the Stolen Generations to track down their relatives. It has offices in almost every Australian state. In South Australia from 1999 to 2007 Link-Up arranged 160 family reunions and brought together 4,915 people.

Link-Up NSW Aboriginal Corporation
PO Box 93
Lawson, NSW 2783
phone 02 - 4759 1911, toll-free 1800 624 332
linkup@nsw.link-up.org.au

Family Link

Family Link was established in 2009 to identify family and kin placements for Aboriginal children in foster care.

The service, funded by Link-Up, works with the Department of Community Services to place them with other family members when Aboriginal children cannot live safely with their parents.

While only 4% of NSW's children are Aboriginal they make up 31% of all placements.

Family LInk
Hazelbrook, Blue Mountains, NSW 2779

Download Stolen Generations postcards!

Download these two Stolen Generations postcard images and use them for your assignments or send them to friends and family to raise awareness for this important chapter of Australian history! Click images to get full-size version.