Australian Aborigines; The Lost, or ”Stolen”, Generations and the movie ’Australia’

By

Aleksi Rantanen

& Mira Lokuge

’Australia’ by Baz Luhrmann

Australia is a movie about an English aristocrat, Lady Sarah Ashley (Nicole Kidman). The movie sets place in Australias Northern territory during the second World War. Lady Sarah Ashley travels to Down Under and gets involved with a skirmish between two cattle businesses and is captivated by an aboriginal little boy, Nullah, who’s mother is black and father is white, which makes Nullah belong nowhere because he is cream coloured. The movie is an epic historical romance film which pictures the Lost Generations in Australia. Lady Ashleys husband sends an independent cattle drover (Hugh Jackman) to collect Lady Ashley from Darwins port to Faraway Downs Farm. There Lady Ashley takes on a mission to drive 1500 head cattle to Darwin for sale. The movie is filled with romance and love but also tells a story of the life of Aboriginals during the second World War.

During the 1900s, separation was an official Government policy which lasted for many decades. Aboriginal children were removed from their families and forced to work as servants and to live on the government- controlled missions and reserves between 1885 and 1969.

The Stolen Generations of Australia

White settlers believed that the Aborigines would soon die off, and the reserve land would be sold and used for farming. However, a new generation of Aboriginal children was growing up in the reserves. Large scale child removal, combined with the arrival of European immigrants, changed the Aboriginal life forever.

Many Aboriginal people do not know their origins, who their relatives are, which tribe they are descended from or the names of their parents and or grandparents. They are known as the stolen generation (or the lost generation).

The Stolen Generations of Australia

When it became obvious that the Aboriginal people would not die off as expected, the "Aborigines Protection Board" for the Aborigines decided to break up all Aboriginal communities.

Land belonged to the Aboriginal people was sold to the newly arrived Europeans for farming. The board started by taking away all the rights from Aborigines to own or use reserve lands; the Aborigines could own nothing. The reserves were made a training ground for Aboriginal children to become servants.

The "protection board" had plans to remove Aboriginal children from their reserves and enslave them under the control of white employers. Removed children were never allowed to return home.

The white society thought it would be in the best interests of Aboriginal children to remove them from the "corrupting influence" of their family.

Apprehended children were sent to an institution (usually operated by a religious group) or foster home, and trained to be servants. There were no rules or regulations for the treatment of the Aboriginal children who were sent to work. They are often abused and exploited by their white masters. The children then grew up in a white community knowing nothing of the Aboriginal culture and environment.

The Stolen Generations

State-enforced removal of indigenous Aboriginal children happened in every state and territory of Australia. Such notorious act started in Victoria and New South Wales as early as 1885. In some states, it did not cease until 1973.

Most (one source suggested 85%) of Aboriginal families have been affected in some way, either by having children taken away from them or by being forced to make major decisions to avoid having their children taken.

Mothers of some Aboriginal children would cover their fair-skinned children with black clay, hide them in trees, behind sand dunes, or in hollow logs, or like in the movie, Nullah hid in the water tower when the police came to look for children in Faraway Downs.

The Stolen Generations

Young Aborigines were forced to leave their homes and travel across the state looking for work. For the first time, many whites met with Aborigines and realized what poor conditions they were forced to live under.

Despite this evidence of oppression and inhumane treatments, it was not until 1967 that Aboriginal people had a vote about their treatment in society. The protection of the "welfare system" remained in place until 1969.

The Stolen Generations ”Timeline” Victorian Board for the Protection of Aborigines is established. The Governor can order the removal of any child to a reformatory or industrial school. The Protection Board can remove children from station families to be housed in dormitories. The Aboriginal Protection and Restriction of the Sale of Opium Act (Qld) allows the 'Chief Protector' to remove local Aboriginal people onto and between reserves and hold children in dormitories. The Western Australia Aborigines Act is passed. Under this law, the Chief Protector is made the legal guardian of every Aboriginal and 'half-caste' child under 16 years old. Reserves are established, a local protector is appointed and rules governing Aboriginal employment are laid down. The South Australian Aborigines Act makes the Chief Protector the legal guardian of every Aboriginal and 'half-caste' child under 21 years old. The Chief Protector also has control of where the child lives. The guardianship power is repealed in 1962

1869

1897

1905

1911

The government officially abandoned the assimilation policy for indigenous Australians in the northern territory.

1973

The Stolen Generations ”Timeline” Going Home Conference in Darwin. Over 600 people removed as children, from every state and territory met to share experiences, and expose the history of the removal of Aboriginal children from their families and the effects of this policy on Aboriginal people.

1994

The National Inquiry into the Separation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children from Their Families is established to examine the effects of separation, identify what should be done in response, find justification for any compensation and look at the laws of that time affecting child separation.

1995

Australia appears before the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination.

The government denies that a 'Stolen Generation' exists in a submission to the Senate inquiry on compensation for children forcibly removed.

2000

The Commonwealth Government establishes a memorial to the Stolen Generations at Reconciliation Place in Canberra.

2004

The Australian Parliament apologises to the Stolen Generations. The government and the opposition support the apology and say 'sorry' to Aboriginal people who were taken away from their families from 1900 to the 1970s.

2008

10 challenging words

The Word in English English definition in Finnish

influence power, authority vaikutus

regulation managing, organizing säännös, määräys

apprehend catch and arrest ymmärtää, pidättää

indigenous native, inborn alkuperäinen

notorious known for a bad trait pahamaineinen

oppression misery sorto

reformatory reform school koulukoti

assimilation absorption sulauttaminen

inquiry looking into, analysis kysely, tutkimus

What we all think about Australians

’CRAKY’

Sources

http://www.creativespirits.info/aboriginalculture/

http://www.google.fi/imgres?q=australian+aboriginal&hl=fi&gbv=2&biw=1280&bih=814&tbm=isch&tbnid=hrX0nm5m4Uj8BM:&imgrefurl=http://www.pa-pa.ca/Australia.html&docid=89_qGu1A6ascLM&imgurl

Google Images

http://www.deewr.gov.au/indigenous/Pages/

en.wikipedia.org