Some people remain ‘in denial’ about aspects of the history of Australian Indigenous people’s experiences, even in the face of overwhelming evidence.
Despite the overwhelming evidence, some commentators (primarily non-specialists, journalists and politicians) still deny the history of the Stolen Generations. One such commentator is Keith Windschuttle, who is also well known for claiming that massacres on the colonial frontier were nothing but a ‘myth’. Former Prime Minister John Howard suggested that writing on these subjects was ‘black armband history’.
Some have claimed that the removal of children was never official government policy, although this is clearly documented in the Protection Legislation which we examined last week and in the policies proclaimed by various Protection Boards and Chief Protectors of Aborigines. Others have claimed that Aboriginal children were only removed ‘for their own good’, that their lives were improved by their removal. The attempts to deny these histories led to what has been termed the ‘history wars’.
It is important to remember that ‘denials’ of this kind are usually made by people who are ignorant of the extent and nature of the evidence relating to these events.
Further readings on the ‘history wars’ are contained in the Reference list at the end of this Topic.
Further Reading/Resources
If you have time, you should read more of the Bringing them Home report, particularly Chapter 10, Children’s Experiences’.
Commonwealth of Australia. (1997). Bringing them Home: Report of the National Inquiry into the Separation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children from their Families.
More of the individual testimonies are available:
The National Library of Australia’s Bringing Them Home Oral History Project includes nearly 200 interviews with members of the Stolen Generations. You can listen to many of these interviews here:
Specific information about the Stolen Generations in New South Wales is available in the NSW Department of Aboriginal Affairs submission to the Bringing them Home: inquiry.
New South Wales Department of Aboriginal Affairs (1998). Securing the Truth. Sydney: DAA.
The film Rabbit-Proof Fence (2002), directed by Philip Noyce, depicts the real-life story of three young Aboriginal girls (sisters, 14-year-old Molly Craig and 8-year-old Daisy Kadibil, and their 10-year-old cousin Gracie Fields) who were removed from their families in the 1930s in Western Australia and taken to the Moore River Native Settlement, a government-run reserve just north of Perth. A. O. Neville is also depicted in the film (played by Kenneth Branagh). You can watch the film here:
|
