The flags at half-mast.
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The drooping fabric, a trail of tears down the pole.
A mark of respect, of sorrow.
People gather quietly.
A recognition that this is a day of significance.
May 26 — Sorry Day.
A day people across our nation gather annually to commemorate the Stolen Generations.
Stolen Generations.
A term that brings us face to face with our past.
But not only our past, but also our present and our future.
Face to face with the reality that the Stolen Generations was a result of deliberate government policy.
The forcible removal of successive generations of First Nations children from their families and communities as part of the policy to “breed out” Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people to make Australia a “white” nation.
“This story’s right, this story’s true
I would not tell lies to you
Like the promises they did not keep
And how they fenced us in like sheep
Said to us come take our hand
Sent us off to mission land
Taught us to read, to write and pray
Then they took the children away
Took the children away
The children away
Snatched from their mother’s breast
Said this is for the best
Took them away”
Stolen Generations
The assimilation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children into white culture.
To ensure they forgot their language, Culture and family ties.
“The welfare and the policeman
Said, ‘You’ve got to understand
We’ll give them what you can’t give
Teach them how to really live’.”
To become ‘white’.
Stolen Generations
The removal of children from places of belonging — families and communities — only to be placed into institutions: baby and children’s homes, orphanages.
“Teach them how to live they said
Humiliated them instead
Taught them that and taught them this
And others taught them prejudice.”
Ballarat Orphanage
Kardinia Children’s Home
Salvation Army Boys Home.
Cootamundra Girls Home
Kinchella Boys Home
‘Homes’ — with names that still resonate in Aboriginal communities today.
Such a tiny tip of the iceberg of institutions across the country.
Harsh places of regimentation, neglect, fear, violence and worse.
“Told us what to do and say
Told us all the white man’s ways
Then they split us up again
And gave us gifts to ease the pain
Sent us off to foster homes
As we grew up we felt alone
’Cause we were acting white
Yet feeling black”**
As if taking children from their families was not enough, for many, this action also resulted in a criminal conviction being recorded against their names.
Until 1989, it was standard practice for children to get a police record for being removed from their family.
Being found guilty simply for being Aboriginal.
We can read the historical accounts of the passing of the Aborigines Protection Act of 1886 — the act that was the foundation for the damaging and racist removal policies.
We can reflect on the racist attitudes of the day.
We can recognise the term ‘Stolen Generations’.
Know it refers to the thousands of First Peoples children who were removed from their families because of government policy.
We can acknowledge that there were very few First Nations families who were not impacted by these removals.
But how can we begin to grasp a deeper understanding of how we would we feel if this had happened to us?
To have had our children stolen because of the colour of their skin?
How would we feel if it was our children who were transported far away from family, making it virtually impossible to find their way back home?
If it was our children who were herded together in institutions, punished for speaking their language and minor misdemeanours, or abused?
How can we understand the depths of despair of parents who tried desperately to find their children, to bring them home, not realising the overwhelming forces of government, police and public opinion that they were up against?
We need to take time to listen.
To learn.
To listen to the stories with an open heart.
To listen as a parent, as a brother, as a sister, as a grandparent, an aunt or uncle.
National Sorry Day is an opportunity to listen and to acknowledge and consider the ongoing impacts of the harsh government policies of removal and ‘assimilation’.
To consider how this still plays out today.
To understand the long arc that links those past government policies to the intergenerational trauma that is still experienced within First Nations communities today.
It is also an opportunity to recognise the importance of the crucial, ongoing work of First Nations community organisations that the Stolen Generations and their families have a different future.
So we invite you to be part of the healing of our nation as we acknowledge those who found their way home, those who are still searching, those who have passed on and those who never found home and rest in the Dreaming with their Ancestors.
Come along and join the Shepparton Region Reconciliation Group and others on Sorry Day, Monday, May 26 at Monash Park in Shepparton (10.15am for a 10.30am start) as we commemorate and acknowledge the Stolen Generations.
The lyrics quoted in this article are from Archie Roach’s 1990 debut single, Took The Children Away, based on his experience of being forcibly removed from Framlingham Mission near Warrnambool as a young child.
Took the Children Away won the 1990 Human Rights Award for Songwriting, the first time that the award had been bestowed on a songwriter.
To find out more about the impacts of government policies read the Bringing Them Home Report at bth.humanrights.gov.au
Reconciliation column