The Stolen Generation
Not that long ago, from the early 1900s through to the late 1960s, it was government policy in Australia to remove Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children from their families. This was done uner an assimilation policy where it was believed that children who were not "full blood" should be integrated into the white society. These children are known today as the Stolen Generation.
Children were taken to government, religious, or welfare institutions all over Australia. Some were taken a long way from their homes and placed with children from other regions and language groups - many children never saw their families again. Some of the very young children did not discover their Indigenous background until they were adults.
Saffioti, T. (2011). Stolen girl. Magabala Books.
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A young Aboriginal girl is taken from the north of Australia and sent to an institution in the distant south. There, she slowly makes a new life for herself and, in the face of tragedy, finds strength in new friendships. |
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Set in Sydney, 1937, this is the fictional diary of a young Aboriginal girl, a member of the Stolen Generation.
She is given the diary by the Sister in charge of Bomaderry Aboriginal Children's Home and through its pages she describes her life - from her arrival there, aged five, through her struggle to understand why she was taken from her real mother, to her adoption at ten years of age by a white Catholic family in St.Ives. Mary Talence, birth name Amy Charles, is increasingly confused - and then ashamed - as she is taught that white skinned is good, black skinned is bad. She longs to understand why this is so but finds that logical questions - almost any questions - provoke anger and accusations of ingratitude from her white family. |
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The Burnt Stick is the story of a young Australian aboriginal boy, John Jagamarra, who was taken from his mother by the Welfare Department, and sent to the Fathers at the Pearl Bay Mission. All through his childhood, John remembered the life of the camp at Dryborough Station and the good trick his mother, Liyan, played with a stick burnt in the fire when the Big Man came looking for John. She rubbed the black charcoal into his skin to make John seem darker than he really was - too dark to be taken away.
Twice she got away with it. But the third time...
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This picture book is a fictionalised account that tells of an Aboriginal girl taken from her family and sent to a children's home. Each night she sings, and dreams of her mother and the life they once shared - of sitting on the verandah of their corrugated-iron home, cooking damper and hunting goanna.
But each morning she is woken by the bell to the harsh reality of the children's home, until finally one day she puts into action her carefully crafted plan - unlocking the door and taking her first step back toward home.
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When Gracie, Daisy and Molly are taken from their mother and sent away to the Moore River Settlement, thousands of miles from their home country, they decide to escape. But when the only way home is along a rabbit-proof fence, and you're being chased by the police, escaping is just the start of your adventure.
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Younger readers' version of Follow the rabbit-proof fence.
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