 |
| A Painting about the Child Removal in Australia |
Do
you imagine you have a child of 2 to 3 years.one day a government vehicle came
to your home and take away your child. After that you never know about your
child whether he/she is still alive or not. We can’t think about this type of
cold-hearted act, then you just imagine if these cold-hearted act existed in a
country for a long decades. These merciless act was faced by Australia. From
1905 to 1960 a number of aboriginal people were forcibly removed by Australian
government from their families. Around a number of 60 children were stolen per
month. Why Australian Government had done like this. Why the aboriginal
children got separated from their families..?
In
1770 AD Captain James Cook landed in Australia, he was the first European who
landed in Australian Continent. He has written in his book that when he reached
in the Australian land the aboriginal people never consider that an outsider
reached in their land, they neither contacted nor made difficulties to the traveller. They lived in their own way.
When
first British ship reached to Australia in 1788 colonization in Australian
Continent had started. In 1901 Six British colonies united and passed a
referendum for create the new modern Australia. After the formation the
government of federation of Australia decided to miscegenation of the
aboriginal people by removing the aboriginal children from their parents. The
children shifted to different government agencies or missionaries. The
government’s justification is to civilize the aboriginal people. Government
also justified that by mingling or miscegenation of the children with white
descent will make the aboriginal people to civilized people. As a result the
brutal act of child removal policy has started. The white people used
aboriginal boys as the agricultural labors and girls as house servants. Many of
the children psychologically and sexually abused by the white families’ .there
were a number of aboriginal children born of mixed race. They got a low level
education and the aboriginal children brutally tortured by the white .around
four generation of aboriginal children removed from their parents up to 1970.
Through
this brutal activities the white Australian Government done the genocide of the
aboriginal people. Sometimes it will be compared to the brutal acts of Nazis to
the Jews in Europe.
In 1997 the Commonwealth Government undertook an inquiry into
the Stolen Generations as these children had come to be known. Hundreds of
Survivors gave evidence of their experiences and a report of the extent of these
practices was made public.
In
13th February 2008 Australian Prime minister Mr. Kevin Rudd presented
an apology to the Indigenous People for the Government’s act of forcible
removal of aboriginal people from their parent’s .the form apology was as follows
“I move:
That today we honor the Indigenous peoples of
this land, the oldest continuing cultures in human history.
We reflect on their past mistreatment.
We reflect in particular on the mistreatment
of those who were Stolen Generations—this blemished chapter in our nation's
history.
The time has now come for the nation to turn
a new page in Australia's history by righting the wrongs of the past and so
moving forward with confidence to the future.
We apologize for the laws and policies of
successive Parliaments and governments that have inflicted profound grief,
suffering and loss on these our fellow Australians.
We apologize especially for the removal of
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children from their families, their
communities and their country.
For the pain, suffering, and hurt of these
Stolen Generations, their descendants and for their families left behind, we
say sorry.
To the mothers and the fathers, the brothers
and the sisters, for the breaking up of families and communities, we say sorry.
And for the indignity and degradation thus
inflicted on a proud people and a proud culture, we say sorry.
We the Parliament of Australia respectfully
request that this apology be received in the spirit in which it is offered as
part of the healing of the nation.
For the future we take heart; resolving that
this new page in the history of our great continent can now be written.
We today take this first step by
acknowledging the past and laying claim to a future that embraces all
Australians.
A future where this Parliament resolves that
the injustices of the past must never, never happen again.
A future where we harness the determination
of all Australians, Indigenous and non-Indigenous, to close the gap that lies
between us in life expectancy, educational achievement, and economic
opportunity.
A future where we embrace the possibility of
new solutions to enduring problems where old approaches have failed.
A future based on mutual respect, mutual
resolve and mutual responsibility.
A future where all Australians, whatever
their origins, are truly equal partners, with equal opportunities and with an
equal stake in shaping the next chapter in the history of this great country,
Australia “.
Courtesy: Wikipedia
Famous Australians in aboriginal background
1. David
Unaipon – A preacher and writer, Australian government honored him by featuring
his image in front of the 50 dollar note in 1995
2. Cathy
Freeman – An athlete who won gold medal in 400 meter in Sydney Olympics 2000
3. Neville
Bonner -
Australia’s first aboriginal politician
4. Archie
Roach - One of the most respected aboriginal singer/song writer of Australia
5. Adam
Goodes – Australia’s Rules football (AFL) player
The genocides in the world are happened by
killing the people belongs to a particular community, race or a land. But by
introducing child removal policy Australia shown how to do a genocide without
killing. Many of the Stolen Generations are still finding their way home, still
searching for the families they lost and putting together the pieces of their
lives
Comments