Critical Times

By CoogeeGal, Posted on On-line Opinion
Friday, 30 November 2007

With the ousting of the Howard/Liberal Government after the recent Australian Federal Elections one would have thought this party might change its spots. However this bunch of ‘Conquering Settlers’ that pose as ‘freedom huggers’ still espouse the same old reactionary values under the new parliamentary Liberal leadership of Brendan Nelson. The personal contribution below reflecting on the meaning of the Stolen Generation is a poignant rebuttal to those who can’t find it in themselves to say and understand why SORRY is needed!

I often read the posts on this site, but have never actually posted before. But I would like to share a story with you.

My mother was born to an Aboriginal woman and a white-Australian man. As such she is black but is not as dark as her family. For the government, this meant that she met all the criteria for assimiliation under the ‘White Australia’ policy.

Mum lived on a farm, in a timber house with both her parents and her two younger sisters. She was loved, cared for, and had a very happy life.

In early 1966, at the young age of six, two white men pulled up in ute and took my mum. All she can remember of this day was being completely terrified of the two strange men and her mother screaming and crying. Her father was not home at the time. She was only allowed to take her doll, nothing else.

Mum was taken to live with a foster family that lived in a rural town where she was the only Aboriginal person. She was treated like a slave, and was sexually abused on pretty much a daily basis by her foster father until she was finally able to escape at the age of 16. She was also forced to leave school after primary school, because her family wanted her to work in their corner store and told her that an education was wasted on a black girl.

She was not allowed to talk about her life before and was forbidden from trying to find her mother. But she never forgot who she was and remembered her mothers name. Thankfully, years later she was able to find her mum and they were reunited when she was 17.

Mum is now 47, and is still haunted by those years. She has built a wonderful life for herself and has a beautiful family, and every day she amazes me with the strong women that she has become.

It frustrates me when people talk about these things happened in the past. This happened to people who are alive now. How can we pretend that this isn’t an issue?

And don’t try to tell me that the government thought that what they were doing was right. That is a load of rubbish. This happened because Aboriginal people where considered second class citizens (which is reflected by the fact that they weren’t included under the consitution until 1967 and where once classified under the flora and fauna act)and white Australia wanted nothing to do with them.

No one will ever convince me that what happened to my mum was the right thing.

This story can be told by hundreds of Aboriginal people across this country. Some have been stong enough to be able to move on with their lives, but can we really be blame those that aren’t as strong and struggle in life today?

An apology by the government and the Australian people is not about accepting resposibility, its about admitting that what happened in the past was wrong. When I talk about this issue to my non-Aboriginal friends, I always say to them ‘If I told you my grandmother died, or that I had found out my fiance was cheating on me…..what would you say?’. Without a doubt, they always respond with ‘I’m so sorry’ or ‘Im sorry to hear that’. They aren’t taking responsibility for what happened but are expressing their understanding of an awful situation.

I’m very greatful that I knew both by mother and my grandmother growing up, a lot of Aboriginal people today didn’t have the same opportunity.