Update 12 February 2008
Apology to the Stolen Generations

At the first session of the 2008 Federal Parliament on 13 February 2008 the new Prime Minister Kevin Rudd delivered an official apology to the Stolen Generations.

The ‘Stolen Generations’ refers to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander (Indigenous) people who were forcibly taken from their families by the government. It was the official policy of the Australian Government to remove Indigenous children from their families from 1909 to 1969. For more information about the Stolen Generations see the Stolen Generations page of this website.

The apology was made for what the Australian Government had done in the past and to express regret for the pain and suffering it had caused Indigenous people. Even though the practice of removing children has now ended the current Prime Minister apologised as the representative of the government.

Overseas, apologies had also been offered to other Indigenous peoples by their governments for past treatment. In Canada, for example, the government in 1998 told the local Aboriginal people that it was “deeply sorry” for the physical and sexual abuse suffered by children taken away from their parents and housed in special Christian boarding schools called ‘residential schools’. In 2008 the Canadian Prime Minister again apologised, when he announced a financial compensation fund for the victims and their families.

Every other Australian state and territory leader had already apologised in the late 1990s, when details of what happened to Australian Indigenous children when they were taken were uncovered in the 1997 ‘Bringing Them Home’ report.

Why were Indigenous children taken?
Under the government policy of the past Indigenous people who were ‘not of full blood’ (that is, had a parent who was not Indigenous) were encouraged to reject their Indigenous cultures and join mainstream ‘white society’. At the time Indigenous people were seen as an inferior race, and it was thought that Indigenous people could become ‘assimilated’ into the broader society so that eventually there would be no more Indigenous people left.

Children who had lighter coloured skin were taken and encouraged not to mix with ‘full blood’ Indigenous people. It was thought that this way Australia could ‘breed out’ the Indigenous race. Similar racist policies also happened in other countries to the local Indigenous people, for example in Canada (as mentioned above).

Where people doing the ‘right thing’?
The lack of understanding and respect for Indigenous people at the time meant that many people who supported the child removals believed that they were doing the ‘right thing’. These included white people who adopted Indigenous children as part of their families.

There was a view in society at the time that Indigenous people lived poor and unrewarding lives, and that institutions and white families would provide a positive environment in which Indigenous people could better themselves. Indigenous culture and language was seen as primitive and to be discouraged. The dominant racist views in the society and government also means that people believed that Indigenous people were bad parents and that Indigenous women did not look after their children.

All this means that some of the people who removed or took in children thought they were doing the right thing. Some of the people who were taken were adopted by loving families, who they had good relationships with throughout their lives.

However, the reason that children were taken in the first place was based on a lack of understanding and respect for Indigenous people and culture that was very racist.

Overall, Indigenous children did not benefit from the removals. Many of the institutions and homes in which the children were placed were very cruel, and sexual and physical abuse of the children was common. Many of the people who managed the removals, including both the government and churches, abused their power and breached their supposed obligations as protectors and ‘carers’. It is hard to argue that the people who abused the children were doing the ‘right thing’, even by the standards of the time.

The children who were taken were generally expected to become labourers or servants, so in general the education they were provided was very poor, and as young adults they became a source of cheap labour, as until the 1960s it was legal to pay Indigenous people much less than white people even for doing the same work.

Did Indigenous children get a ‘better life’ because they were taken?
While some Indigenous people taken were placed with loving families and supported, overall the Indigenous people who were taken have not ended up better off. If the aim of removing children was to improve their lives, history now tells us that the policy failed.

Generally, Indigenous people who were left with their families were better off.  In addition to the trauma that many members of the Stolen Generations experienced as children, as adults today they have worse health than other Indigenous people, are more likely to suffer a mental illness, and are even more likely to be arrested.

Will the apology lead to a flood of compensation claims?
One of the arguments that people who have made against an apology to the Stolen Generations is that it will lead to a flood of compensation claims by Indigenous people, against the government.

Over the years a number of Indigenous people have tried to get compensation through the courts. Most of the claims have been against the state governments, because state governments managed much of the removal policies over most of the last century. These claims have generally been unsuccessful.

Before the apology by Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, the government received legal advice that the apology would make it no more likely for claims to be made. During his speech the Prime Minister ruled out establishing a national fund to compensate Indigenous people who were taken from their families.

The Federal Government and different state governments have offered other kinds of compensation requested by the Stolen Generations, including some funding for services to help Indigenous people find lost family members.

With or without an official apology some members of the Stolen Generation have stated that they will continue their campaign for compensation. Other countries have set up such funds.For more information see the Stolen Generations page of this website.

For details of the campaign by Indigenous and reconciliation groups calling for the apology see:

www.nsdc.org.au (National Sorry Day Committee)
www.antar.org.au (Australians for Native Title and Reconciliation)
www.getup.org (Get Up)
www.humanrights.org.au (Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission)