This is the true story of Molly Craig, a young black Australian girl who leads her younger sister and cousin in an escape from an official government camp, set up as part of an official government policy to train them as domestic workers and integrate them into white society. With grit and determination Molly guides the girls on an epic journey, one step ahead of the authorities, over 1,500 miles of Australia's outback in search of the rabbit-proof fence that bisects the continent and will lead them home. These three girls are part of what is referred to today as the 'Stolen Generations.
The Stolen Generation refers to a generation of mixed-race aboriginal children who were forcibly removed from their families and placed in white homes with the hope of breeding out their blackness.
Mary Lee and I saw it. Good flick. We enjoyed it. To us, the tragedy depicted was how well-intentioned decisions at the highest level can be corrupted by self-serving implementation. The goal was to assimilate mixed Abo-Euro children into European society because they were being persecuted within Aboriginal society. The means was to allow their adoption by White families and enroll them in remedial K-12 education. In the implementation, the schools became de-facto prisons and labor camps, and the host families used the children as domestic slaves.
Although children of full Aboriginal descent were removed, in general the children of "mixed descent" (having one or more European ancestor) were the most targeted. A 1937 Federal Government conference on Native Welfare concluded in its final report that "...the destiny of the natives of aboriginal origin, but not of the full blood, lies in their ultimate absorption by the people of the Commonwealth, and it therefore recommends that all efforts be directed to that end."
Therefore the aim of the policy was twofold, both of which are now considered highly racist: one was to assimilate mixed-descent Aborigines into the European society and culture. (Full-blooded Aborigines were considered too uncivilized to be assimilated.) The other was to ensure mixed-descent Aborigines would intermarry with Caucasians rather than with Aborigines; although the Social Darwinist ideology prevalent at the time held that the Aboriginal race would sooner or later die out, it was decided that the process was to be hastened by eventually breeding the Aboriginal race out of existence.
Australia was a VERY racist society at the time. Non-whites were not permitted to immigrate there until the latter part of the 20th century.
To the credit of contemporary Australians, there is a concerted effort to teach all students about the mistreatment of blacks.
The taking of the children was not about protecting them from Aboriginal bigotry but about something more sinister: [citation from Wikipedia]
I suggest that Triguy read the entire Wikipedia article before asserting the motives of the policymakers. There is nothing in the article that suggests that their motives were anything other than well-intentioned.
Quote:
A recent Government report noted that removals were certainly voluntary in some cases, as some mothers surrendered their children as they believed that they were unable to raise them for some reason. However a substantial body of evidence indicates that in a disturbing number of cases children were forcibly removed from their parents using "force or duress". In general the practice was to remove children between the ages of two and four, although in some cases children were removed just hours after birth.
The official report observed that in many cases gross violations of human rights occurred. Children were in some cases forcibly removed from their mothers' arms while still in the hospital. Other evidence gathered indicated that deception and brutality was used to remove the children. One account referring to events in 1935 stated that...
"I was at the post office with my Mum and Auntie [and cousin]. They put us in the police [vehicle] and said they were taking us to Broome. They put the mums in there as well. But when we'd gone [about ten miles] they stopped, and threw the mothers out of the car. We jumped on our mothers' backs, crying, trying not to be left behind. But the policemen pulled us off and threw us back in the car. They pushed the mothers away and drove off, while our mothers were chasing the car, running and crying after us." [1] (http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/special/rsjproject/rsjlibrary/hreoc/stolen/)
The official report closely examined the distinctions between "forcible removal", "removal under threat or duress", "official deception", "uninformed voluntary release", and "voluntary release". Even in the last case, there was evidence that in some cases Aboriginal parents voluntarily sent their children to religious missions, in the hope that at least in this way they would be able to retain contact with their children and some knowledge of their whereabouts. With regard to official deception, the report identified several cases where parents were told by government officials that their children had died, even though this was not the case.
The report also acknowledged that in several cases the state took responsibility for children that were genuinely orphaned or in a state of neglect. Defenders of the removals, in fact, claim that mixed-race children were often severely neglected within Aboriginal communities. The evidence gathered also indicated a substantial number of cases where the care of the children after removal was extremely good. Nonetheless, the report condemned the policy of disconnecting children from their "cultural heritage". In the testimony of one Aboriginal; "I've got everything that could be reasonably expected: a good home environment, education, stuff like that, but that's all material stuff. It's all the non-material stuff that I didn't have — the lineage... You know, you've just come out of nowhere; there you are".
I would like to learn the source of Triguy's claim of "sinister" policymaker motives. I suggest that alleging "sinister" motives without substantiation to a policy that even its harshest critics say was well-intentioned (albeit disastrously implemented) weakens Triguy's argument (whatever it is).
triguy wrote:
Australia was a VERY racist society at the time.
Again, I would be grateful to learn precisely what Triguy means when using this term.
triguy wrote:
To the credit of contemporary Australians, there is a concerted effort to teach all students about the mistreatment of blacks.
There are no "blacks" in Australia in the the U.S. sense. There are people of partial or total Aboriginal ancestry. There are also a few people of partial or total African ancestry. "Black" in the U.S. sense includes people like Walter White, who would not be considered Black in Australia. "Black" in Australia includes people like Dinesh D'Souza, who is not considered Black in America.
Posted: Mon 20 Jun 2005 15:06 Post subject: Aboriginals self-identify as "Black"
I believe that people have a right to self-identify. Australian Aboriginals call themselves "black." My use of the term "black" has no afrocentric bases but a simple respect for the name Aboriginals have decided to call themself:
"Tactics for hunting down Tasmanians included riding out on horseback to shoot them, setting out steel traps to catch them, and putting out poison flour where they might find and eat it. Sheperds cut off the penis of aboriginal men, to watch the men run a few yards before dying."
--Jared Diamond
Arthur, George. Van Diemen's Land: Copies of All Correspondence Between Lieutenant-Governor Arthur and His Majesty's Secretary of State for the Colonies. On the Subject of the Military Operations Lately Carried Against the Aboriginal Inhabitants of Van Diemen's Land. With an Historical Introduction by A.G.L. Shaw. Hobart: Tasmanian Historical Research Association, 1971.
Basedow, Herbert. "Relic of the Lost Tasmanian Race--Obituary Notice of Mary Seymour." Man 14 (1914): 161-62.
Bonwick, James. The Daily Life of the Tasmanians. London: Sampson Low & Son & Marston, 1870.
Branard, James. "The Last Living Aboriginal of Tasmania." The Mercury (Hobart), 10 Sep 1889.
Calder, J.E. Some Accounts of the Wars and Habits etc. of the Tribes of Tasmania. Hobart: n.p., 1875.
Cato, Nancy, and Vivienne Rae-Ellis. Queen Trucanini. London: Heinemann, 1976.
Chauncy, Nan. Hunted in Their Own Land. Introduction and Afterword by Barbara Bader. New York: Seabury Press, 1973.
Chenault, John. "Truganina." Poem in The Invisible Man Returns. Cincinnati: Ventana Media, 1992: 114-20.
Crowther, William Edward Lodewyk Hamilton. The Final Phase of the Extinct Tasmanian Race 1847-1876: Being an Epilogue to the Sixth Halford Oration. Launceston: Queen Victoria Museum, 1974.
Davies, David. The Last of the Tasmanians. New York: Barnes & Noble, 1974.
Diamond, Jared. "In Black and White." Natural History (Oct 1988): 8-14.
Diamond, Jared. "Ten Thousand Years of Solitude." Discover 14, No. 3 (Mar 1993): 48-57.
Johnson, C. Dr. Wooreddy's Prescription for Enduring the Ending of the World. n.p.: n.p., 1983.
Marchant, Leslie Ronald. A List of French Naval Records and Illustrations Relating to Australian and Tasmanian Aborigines, 1771 to 1828. Canberra: Australian Institute of Aboriginal Studies, 1969.
McMahon, Anne. "Tasmanian Aboriginal Women as Slaves." Tasmanian Historical Research Association, Papers and Proceedings 23, No. 2 (1976).
Miller, Robert S. Thomas Dove and the Tasmanian Aborigines. Melbourne: Spectrum, 1985.
Mollison, B.C. The Tasmanian Aborigines. Hobart: University of Tasmania, 1974.
Morris, James. "The Final Solution Down Under." 61-70.
Plomley, N.J.B. The Tasmanian Aborigines: A Short Account of Them and Some Aspects of Their Life. Launceston: Plomley, 1977.
Price, Pat Peatfield. The First Tasmanians. New York: Rigby, 1984.
Pybus, Cassandra. Community of Thieves. Melbourne: Heinemann, 1991.
Rae-Ellis, Vivienne. "Trucanini." Tasmanian Historical Research Association, Papers and Proceedings 23, No. 2 (1976).
Randriamahefa, Kerry. Aborigines and Tasmanian Schools. Research Study No. 44. Education Department of Tasmania.
Rashidi, Runoko. "Blacks as a Global Community." Dalit Voice 13, No. 19 (1994): 2-8.
Rashidi, Runoko. The Global African Community: The African Presence in Asia, Australia and the South Pacific. Washington, D.C.: Institute for Independent Education, 1994.
Rashidi, Runoko. "Dangerous Liaisons: A Historical Survey of Black-White Interaction." Image (Jan 1995): 14-18.
Rashidi, Runoko. "Black Death Down Under: Are White People Inherently Evil?" The Knowledge Broker (Aug 1995): 2-3.
Rashidi, Runoko. "The Black Presence in Tasmania: A Case of Genocide." The Challenger, 21, Feb 1996: 24.
Rashidi, Runoko. "Black War: The Destruction of the Tasmanian Aborigines." Rhythm of the Drum 2, No. 4 (1996): 18-22.
Rashidi, Runoko. "The Black Presence in Australia, Tasmania and the South Pacific." The Key 4, Issue 7 (Jul/Aug 1997): 2-4.
Rashidi, Runoko. "Tasmanian Devils--The Destruction of the Tasmanian Aborigines." Black History Magazine (1999): 57-63.
Robson, Lloyd. A History of Tasmania, Volume I: Van Diemen's Land from the Earliest Times to 1855. Oxford University Press, 1983.
Roth, Henry Ling. The Aborigines of Tasmania. 1899; rpt. Hobart: Fullers Bookshop, 1968.
Ryan, Lyndall. The Aboriginal Tasmanians. Brisbane: University of Queensland Press, 1981.
Sculthorpe, H. Tasmanian Aborigines: A Perspective for the 1980s. Hobart: Tasmanian Aboriginal Culture, 1980.
Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery. The Story of Tasmanian Aboriginals. Hobart: Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery, 1960.
Travers, Robert. The Tasmanians: The Story of a Doomed Race. Melbourne: Cassell, 1968.
Turnbull, Clive. Black War: The Extermination of the Tasmanian Aborigines. Introduction by Ian Hogbin. 1948; rpt. Melbourne: Lansdowne Press, 1965.
Turnbull, Clive. "Tasmania: The Ultimate Solution." Racism: The Australian Experience. A Study of Race Prejudice in Australia. Vol. 2, Black Versus White. Edited by Frank S. Stevens. New York: Taplinger, 1972: 228-34.
West, Ida. Pride Against Prejudice: Reminiscences of a Tasmanian Aborigine. Canberra: Australian Institute of Aboriginal Arts, 1984.
Posted: Mon 20 Jun 2005 15:29 Post subject: Re: Aboriginals self-identify as "Black"
Triguy wrote:
Responding to
FWSweet wrote:
Again, I would be grateful to learn precisely what Triguy means when using this term.
Australia's history of racism is a well known fact.
As for sources on Australian racism ... [followed by long non-sequitur reading list]
My question was not about Australian history. My exact words were:
Quote:
I would be grateful to learn precisely what Triguy means when using this term [racism].
I have now asked this same question thrice in three different posts. The question is prompted by Triguy's prolific use of the term in contexts that make it unclear what he means. I even asked specifically whether, in his view, English mistreatment of Irish, Japanese mistreatment of Okinawans, and Black contempt for Whites fit his definition of "racism." Each time, Triguy has evaded the question by posting non-sequiturs. I must conclude that Triguy chooses not to share his meaning of this term with the forum. Given that this makes his extraordinarily frequent use of the term unintelligible, I hope that a sense of mercy will guide him to employ the term less often henceforth.
'
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