Stolen Generation

I was having a conversation with my mate’s mum the other day about aboriginies. She talked about how poorly they fit into society (by which she means white society) and gave the example of one man in a settlement neighbouring their town west of Sydney who had to leave. Apparently he’d been doing his best to fit in, working a ‘real’ job and saving his money to look after his family rather than drinking and taking drugs. He got so much flak from his people, who said that he should just sit back like them and let the government pay them for past crimes, that he decided to move into town.

I can’t verify this story, but this opinion is common among the non-aboriginals – that they’re parasites, who are incapable of being ‘civilised’. I’m guilty of this line of thought at times, but the story itself highlights that they are capable if they put their mind to it. The question is whether they want to and whether they should.

Conversation also turned to a recent documentary that interviewed a number of the stolen generation that were grateful for being taken out of this society so they could have a better life. Without having seen this documentary, I’m prepared to believe that there were people among the victims who took this attitude. But then, isn’t it also likely that those are the people who would have moved out on their own, anyway? Wouldn’t they be the ones who have the strength to stand up against the actions of their peers and deny the escapism that alcohol allows?

Whatever we all believe, I don’t think that anyone denies that it was done poorly. The government swooped in and carried off any half aboriginal child to a camp for raising as orphans. The objective was to nurture their ‘civilised’ side while letting their ‘savage’ side die away. But the aborigines are a proud, accomplished and peaceful people. We may be modern, but I’d say they are the more civilised. There is so much that their culture can offer and the objective should have been to raise the halfbreeds as a bridge between the cultures. I don’t know how this would be accomplished, but it’s history anyway. There are a number of aborigines that work hard to bridge that gap now and I’m glad to see more more of them around town, drawing crowds with their music and stories.