Government officials in Australia believed that removing Aboriginal children from their families and raising them according to white cultural practices was the best way to assimilate Aboriginal people between 1883 and 1969. The children were placed in institutions, churches, foster homes, or adopted by white families, cutting them off from their Aboriginal culture and often subjecting them to abuse. Many of the stolen generations suffered long-lasting emotional, spiritual, intellectual and psychological scars as a result of being separated from their families and culture.

1. The fact Whathappened to the stolen children?

2. Government officials believed that the best way to make Aboriginal behave like white people was to take their children away to raise them themselves. (Read,1981,p. 1)Figure 2 Milton Orkopoulos, MP .Minister for Aboriginal Affairs, May 2006

3. They thought that children’s minds were like a kind of blackboard on which the European secrets could be written. (Read,1981, p. 1)Figure 2 http://www.abc.net.au/missionvoices/layout/set/popup/media/stolen_generations/to_nanna_epp_c1990/default.htm

4. The removal of Aboriginal children took place from 1883 to 1969 (Read, 1981) figure 4 http://www.creativespirits.info/aboriginalculture/politics/stolen-generations.html

5. Aboriginal people had no choice but to follow the ‘white’ culture. (ENIAR,2010).figure 5 http://www.abc.net.au/missionvoices/layout/set/popup/media/education_and_learning/winagual_to_listen_c2001/default.htm

6. Most of the stolen children were raised in a church. (ENIAR,2010). Figure 6 http://www.abc.net.au/missionvoices/layout/set/popup/media/spirituality/group_of_people_listening_to_a_sermon_coranderrk_c1860c1865/default.htm

7. Some children were raised in state institutions. (ENIAR,2010). As showed below, Bomaderry children home, Cootamundra Aboriginal Girls' Home ……Figure 7 http://www.creativespirits.info/aboriginalculture/politics/stolen-generations.html

8. Some were foster or adopted by white parents. (ENIAR,2010).Figure 8 Cootamundra Home, circa 1930

9. They were totally cut off from their Aboriginality. (ENIAR,2010).Figure 9 http://www.abc.net.au/missionvoices/layout/set/popup/media/stolen_generations/my_babies_c1910c1911_/default.htm

10. The children would not be allow to go home and their parents received no encouragement to come to visit. (Read, 1981, p12). Figure 10 http://www.abc.net.au/missionvoices/layout/set/popup/media/cummeragunja_images/the_people_of_cummeragunja_seated_outside_the_church_c1900/default.htm

11. Brothers and sisters might see each other every two or three years, often not at all. (Read, 1981, p.12)figure 11 Bomaderry Home, 1928

12. They were severely punished when caught talking their Aboriginal language.(ENIAR,2010). Figure 12 http://www.abc.net.au/missionvoices/layout/set/popup/everyday_life/art_photos_videos/photos/coranderrk_cricketers_c1880/default.htm

13. Some children never learned anything traditional and received little or no education.(Creative Spririts,2010)Figure 13 Aboriginal Camp - Brewarrina, 1932

14. Instead the girls were trained to be domestic servants, the boys to be stockmen. (Creative Spririts,2010) Figure 14 Aboriginal Camp - Tingha, circa 1925

15. Many suffered physical, mental and sexual abuse. Food and living conditions were poor.(Creative Spririts,2010) Figure 15 http://www.creativespirits.info/aboriginalculture/politics/stolen-generations.html

16. One man stated that he was kept locked up in a shed for several days and told to eat hay. (Read,1981, p.13) Figure 16 New Boys at Kinchela, 1932

17. Another in 1981 had scars on his feet, which he received forty years ago from frost bite, bringing in the cows, without shoes. (Read, 1981, p.13)Figure 17 Cane Gang, 1932

18. The girls as ‘slaves’ needed to scrub, wash, iron and sew or worked on vegetables gardens or dairy farms. (Read, 1981, p.13)Figure18 http://www.abc.net.au/missionvoices/layout/set/popup/media/everyday_life/lake_tyers_c19501960/default.htm

19. The children were emotionally, spiritually, intellectually andpsychologically deprived, and these scars might never heal. (Read, 1981, p.13)Figure19 http://www.abc.net.au/missionvoices/layout/set/popup/media/stolen_generations/framlingham_school_with_teacher_and_students/default.htm

20. Many believed that theirparents hadn’t been able to care for them or didn’t want them. (Read, 1981, p. 2)Figure 20 http://www.abc.net.au/missionvoices/layout/set/popup/media/stolen_generations/to_nanna_epp_c1990/default.htm

21. The victims of separationthought it shameful to talk about their removal. (Read, 1981, p. 2)Figure 21 http://www.abc.net.au/missionvoices/layout/set/popup/media/cummeragunja_interviews/uncle_colin/coming_home/default.htm

22. References ENIAR, (2010). Retrieved from website: http://www.eniar.org/stolengenerations.html Creative Spirits , (2010) . Retrieved from website: http://www.creativespirits.info/aboriginalculture/politics/stolen-generations.html Read, P. (1981) . The Stolen Generations : The removal of Aboriginal children in New South Wales 1883 to 1969. Retrieved from website: http://www.slq.qld.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0018/60651/Stolen_generations_-_Bibliography.pdf