Effects Of Stolen Generations On Indigenous Children

During the years of 1910 to 1970 children of Indigenous or mixed descent were forcefully removed from their communities, families and mothers with the intention of integrating them into white Australian culture, this is now known as “The Stolen Generation(s)” (Kennedy, 2011, p.333). This happened to an estimated one in three to one in ten Indigenous Australian children and then sent to organisations run by churches or government missions (Atkinson, 2005, p.73). This review will discuss the effects on the Stolen Generations on Indigenous children, in relation to their wellbeing and personal growth. Individually the Stolen Generations impacted Indigenous children greatly in many ways. They were prohibited from speaking their language and participating in cultural traditions and battled difficulties assimilating into ‘white Australian’ society (Kennedy, 2011, p. 333), This caused them to be further relegated because of their race, suffering immense hurt including the loss of self identity, loss of love and trust, loss of family and culture, harsh conditions, basic or no education, physical cruelty, sexual abuse and exploitation of their labour in the form of unpaid domestic and farm …show more content…
336). The publication of Bringing Them Home in 1997 was a comprehensive historical account of the qualitative effects of forcible indigenous child removal (Edney, 2003, p. 10). It produced a greater communal understanding of the consequences to government policy to indigenous people, social attitudes and racial inequality (Majchrzak-Hamilton & Hamilton, 1997, p. 28). This caused reconciliation events, including Sorry Day, Stolen Generations test cases in the courts, and N.A.D.O.C. week in primary