Stolen generations

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Sorry Day poster

The term Stolen Generations ( English : Stolen Generations ) referred to in the political history of Australia , the generations of children of Australian aborigines ( Aborigines ) who by the Australian government were taken from their families. From today's perspective, it is a racist violation of human rights . The forced removal of the mostly "half -caste children " happened systematically and officially from around 1909 to 1969. Ten to thirty percent of all Aboriginal children were affected.

Actions and Reasons

After the Aborigines lost their land and access to water to the white settlers in the 19th century, reservations were assigned to them. There they remained largely dependent on food supplies from the government. The fact that the number of "pure-bred" Aborigines decreased, but that of the "half-breeds" increased sharply, triggered efforts by the governments to assimilate these "mixed race" and bring them to white society as workers instead of continuing to depend on state aid to leave the reservation. As a result, various Aboriginal Protection Acts were enacted in the states of Australia either by Chief Protectors in South Australia and Northern Territory or by Aboriginal Protection Boards in Victoria , Western Australia , New South Wales and Queensland , which should form the legal basis for removing children. In Tasmania there was no such organization or regulation, as the Tasmanians as a people were in fact no longer present.

As a result, children were removed from their Aboriginal families, mostly without a court order or proof that they were neglected children. Instead, children were arbitrarily and in some cases violently literally torn from their mothers' arms. The children were given up for adoption in government homes , missions, and with white families , where they would be raised like whites to later take up life in white society.

Reactions

politics

After the final report, Bringing Them Home, was published on May 26, 1997, The Stolen Generations gained worldwide attention. A day of remembrance, National Sorry Day , was established.

In August 2007, there was the first landmark judgment that awarded the injured as a child Bruce Trevorrow compensation of 525,000 Australian dollars. On February 13, 2008, the newly elected Prime Minister Kevin Rudd apologized for the injustice done to the Aborigines over two centuries in a speech to the Australian Parliament .

Culture

The play Stolen, written by Jane Harrison and premiered in Australia in 1998 and performed in Asia and the United States, deals with the fate of five Aboriginal children who were taken from their mothers.

Doris Pilkington received a literature award in 1996 for the novel Caprice - A Stockman's Daughter . In 1996 she published the novel "Follow the rabbit-proof fence", which was filmed in 2002 under the title Long Walk Home (original title: Rabbit-Proof Fence) and has the Stolen Generation as its theme. The novel describes the escape of three Aboriginal girls from a camp, along the 3,256 kilometer long protective fence against the rabbit plague .

Archie Roach , who was born in the Framlingham Aboriginal Mission, released an album in 1990 that was titled Took the Children Away . This song is dedicated to the topic of the Stolen Generation and not only achieved great fame among the Aborigines, but Roach won several awards with this song and received a gold record as an award for the sales success .

The band Goanna brought out the song Sorry , which deals with the fate of the stolen generation and became known worldwide.

The movie Australia from 2008 also deals with this topic, among other things.

See also

literature

Web links

Commons : Apology to the Stolen Generations  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Marten, JA, (2002), Children and War , NYU Press, New York, p. 229 ISBN 0-8147-5667-0
  2. ^ Australian Museum : Indigenous Australia: Family Life . 2004. Archived from the original on December 6, 2008. Retrieved March 28, 2008.
  3. ↑ Peter Read: The Stolen Generations: (bringing them home) The Removal of Aboriginal Children in New South Wales 1883 to 1969 (PDF), Department of Aboriginal Affairs (New South Wales government), 1981, ISBN 0-646-46221-0 . Archived from the original on April 9, 2012.
  4. ^ Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission: National Overview . ( Bringing them Home. Chapter 2)
  5. ↑ Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission: Bringing them home: The "Stolen Children" report (1997) ( Memento of September 7, 2007 in the Internet Archive )
  6. ↑ BBC News : The agony of Australia's Stolen Generation . August 9, 2007
  7. ^ Jörg-Uwe Albig: Australia's heavy legacy . Interview with Tom Calma. In: GEO epoch . No. 36, 04/09
  8. ↑ Deutsche Welle : Australia's long-awaited "Sorry" . February 13, 2008
  9. ^ The Daily Yomiuri via European Network for Indigenous Australian Rights: Exploring the pain of the "Stolen Generations" ( Memento of October 10, 2009 in the Internet Archive ). November 10, 2002
  10. ↑ Lore of the Land - Indigenous Cultures: Archie Roach ( Memento from April 1, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) (accessed April 24, 2009)