Chief Protector A.O. Neville, was not just a “man of his times”. He was much brighter than many other people of his era. He had big ideas for “improvement” as he was calling it. His circle of obligations was overwhelming, and he genuinely cared for all of the people of Australia. However, the way that he executed his ideas for improvement was not of the better of the people he supposedly cared about. He was unfortunately oblivious to the harm he was inflicting on the Indigenous people of his country. He and his fellow Europeans were not the first to claim the land in Australia, so conflicts quickly arose when the new settlers had arrived. The European settlers had interrupted the lifestyles of the Aborigines and immediately took control of
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Many were physically torn from their mothers arms with beckoning cries as they were driven off to settlements that were much like orphanages. Moore River was one of the major settlements that the children of the stolen generation were taken to. “Whilst some gained opportunities, education, and a materially better life, the vast majority went to missions, orphanages, or children’s home where they were poorly treated and suffered identity crises and mental anguish” (Historical Context 1). Neville visited and observed these orphanages; Neville saw the scarce clothes they were given to wear and the little food that they were served, yet he did not find this harmful to the children in anyway. “The Aborigines living on these settlements were virtually prisoners” (Historical Context 2). At the camps, the children are taught to forget their past lives. They are forced to forget their family, culture, language, and everything they came from. Neville claimed he was teaching the Indigenous population the “right” way to live. The lifestyle they were being assimilated to was just a popular opinion of what was right. Professor A.P. Elkins, who taught Anthropology at University of Sydney claimed, “Thus, the Australian Aborigines and the African Negroes are human and have their powers, but they are not necessarily equal to the white or yellow
Many were physically torn from their mothers arms with beckoning cries as they were driven off to settlements that were much like orphanages. Moore River was one of the major settlements that the children of the stolen generation were taken to. “Whilst some gained opportunities, education, and a materially better life, the vast majority went to missions, orphanages, or children’s home where they were poorly treated and suffered identity crises and mental anguish” (Historical Context 1). Neville visited and observed these orphanages; Neville saw the scarce clothes they were given to wear and the little food that they were served, yet he did not find this harmful to the children in anyway. “The Aborigines living on these settlements were virtually prisoners” (Historical Context 2). At the camps, the children are taught to forget their past lives. They are forced to forget their family, culture, language, and everything they came from. Neville claimed he was teaching the Indigenous population the “right” way to live. The lifestyle they were being assimilated to was just a popular opinion of what was right. Professor A.P. Elkins, who taught Anthropology at University of Sydney claimed, “Thus, the Australian Aborigines and the African Negroes are human and have their powers, but they are not necessarily equal to the white or yellow