What is the Stolen Generations?

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From 1910 until the 1970s, a systematic removal of thousands of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children from their homes took place under official government policies. These children were placed in institutions or fostered by non-Indigenous families.

Why were children taken?

Shannan Dodson, a Yawuru woman from the Broome area and CEO of the Healing Foundation, says there was a devastating purpose behind their removal.

“What was heartbreaking about the Stolen Generations was that it was tens of thousands of children that were removed, and mostly for the sole reason of wanting to assimilate them into non-Aboriginal culture… Many of those children suffered abuse and many of them never saw their families again.”

Children were specifically targeted because they were more likely to accept what they were told, and to reject their culture. Families were often misled—told that their children had died or that they were unwanted.

Poor record-keeping complicates the determination of the exact number of children removed, with estimates suggesting as many as one in three children. It is certain, however, that every Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community was profoundly affected, and the emotional wounds endure.

Stolen Generations Accept Apology From Kevin Rudd On Sorry Day

CANBERRA, AUSTRALIA – FEBRUARY 13: Members of Australia’s Stolen Generation respond emotionally as they listen to Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd apologize to Indigenous people for past treatments on February 13, 2008, in Canberra, Australia. The apology addressed the tens of thousands of Aborigines who were forcibly separated from their families as children under previous assimilation policies. (Photo by Mark Baker-Pool/Getty Images) Credit: Pool/Getty Images

Where did the children go?

Many stolen children were taken to state and church-led institutions across the country.

These were referred to as training centres or dormitories where the children were subjected to extreme discipline. They were stripped of their identity and given new names, language and religion.

Siblings were often separated, and some institutions housed only infants.

In 1943, at four years, old Aunty Lorraine Peeters, a Gamilaroi and Wailwan woman, was taken to the Cootamundra Domestic Training Home for Aboriginal Girls in NSW. Her two brothers went to the notorious Kinchela Aboriginal Boys’ Training Home.

“Punishment was automatic if you forgot to be white,” she recalls.

“We couldn’t even talk about being an Aboriginal person. And you take that as a four-year-old being brainwashed. You soon forgot Aboriginal ways and learnt white ways. And the punishment was horrific in those places.”

For the next 10 years Aunty Lorraine was trained as a domestic servant for white families.

Today she is a strong voice for survivors, and the founder of the Marumali Program, a healing initiative tailored to the needs of those who experienced forced removal.

Shannan Dodson CEO Healing Foundation

What is intergenerational trauma?

The trauma experienced by children, families and communities continues to reverberate through the generations.

There are young people today who don’t know who they are, where they come from or why they behave the way they do, Aunty Lorraine says.

“It’s a vicious cycle. If we don’t break it in our families, it’ll keep going.”

Due to the historical lack of support systems, trauma has often unknowingly been passed on to children as they witness the pain experienced by their parents and grandparents.

This is known as intergenerational trauma.

Survivors talk about how difficult it can be to parent their own children, because they didn’t grow up in a loving or supportive environment, Shannan Dodson explains.

“Some survivors have admitted that due to the trauma that they’ve experienced, they’ve sadly passed on that trauma to children of their own. And we see that cycle then repeating to grandchildren and great-grandchildren. And that’s why we refer to it as intergenerational.”

The symptoms of intergenerational trauma are visible today in high rates of family breakdown, violence, incarceration, suicide and drug and alcohol abuse.

Communities are now working to end the cycle of trauma through healing.

Australian Aboriginal Girl Visiting the Doctor

A vital component of healing is education—ensuring that all Australians understand the truth about the Stolen Generations. Credit: davidf/Getty Images

What does healing from trauma look like?

“I think healing is something that looks different to different people, but we do know that survivors need to self-determine what that healing looks like for themselves,” Shannan Dodson says.

Healing means rebuilding family structures and strong communities. It also means rebuilding a sense of identity and pride. Reconnection with land, culture and language helps restore the identity that was stripped away.

Survivors also express their need to share their experiences and to be able to speak freely about historical injustices.

“In circles and gatherings, you are creating the healing to happen right there,” Aunty Lorraine says of her work with the Coota Girls Aboriginal Corporation, founded by former residents of the Cootamundra Home.

“They talk about it, they heal from it, by just yarning, sharing… and the more they do that, they’re not forgotten.”

Intergenerational Trauma Animation, The Healing Foundation

This video contains the voice of a deceased person.

Education and truth-telling

Another vital component of healing is education—ensuring that all Australians understand the truth about the Stolen Generations.

“I would love to see [non-Indigenous Australians] give their children a chance to learn the true history of this country,” Aunty Lorraine urges, “and to dismantle the systems, dismantle them and start again because the policies that are written about our mob are really racist, racist based.”

Australia Commemorates National Sorry Day

Leilla Wenberg, a member of the Stolen Generation removed from her parents car at 6 months of age, holds a candle during a National Sorry Day commemorative event at the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital on May 26, 2009 in Sydney, Australia. National Sorry Day has been held annually on May 26 since 1998 to acknowledge the wrongs that were done to indigenous families of the stolen generation. Credit: Sergio Dionisio/Getty Images

What now for survivors of the Stolen Generations?

In a watershed moment in 2008, then-Prime Minister Kevin Rudd issued the long-awaited Apology to the Stolen Generations, their descendants and their families.

What has followed are several initiatives and developments including the establishment of the Healing Foundation.

Survivors and their families need continued support, Shannan Dodson says.

“Our organisation is really advocating for a national healing package, ensuring that the remaining justice that needs to be seen for Stolen Generation survivors happens before sadly any more survivors pass away.”

Through programs like Marumali, support from the Healing Foundation and community-led initiatives, intergenerational healing can continue.

True healing also requires Australia as a whole to listen and help survivors to reclaim their stories.