Stolen Generations

A portrayal entitled The Taking of the Children on the 1999 Great Australian Clock, Queen Victoria Building, Sydney, by artist Chris Cooke

The Stolen Generations (also known as Stolen Children) were the children of Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander descent who were removed from their families by the Australian federal and state government agencies and church missions, under acts of their respective parliaments. The removals of those referred to as "half-caste" children were conducted in the period between approximately 1905[1] and 1967,[2][3] although in some places mixed-race children were still being taken into the 1970s.[4][5][6]

Official government estimates are that in certain regions between one in ten and one in three Indigenous Australian children were forcibly taken from their families and communities between 1910 and 1970.

  1. ^ Marten, J. A. (2002). Children and War. New York: NYU Press. p. 229. ISBN 0-8147-5667-0.
  2. ^ "Indigenous Australia: Family Life". Australian Museum. 2004. Archived from the original on 5 February 2008. Retrieved 28 March 2008.
  3. ^ Read, Peter (2006) [1982]. The Stolen Generations: The Removal of Aboriginal Children in New South Wales 1883 to 1969 (PDF). Surry Hills, N.S.W: New South Wales Department of Aboriginal Affairs. ISBN 978-0-646-46221-9. Archived from the original (PDF) on 20 August 2006.
  4. ^ Bringing Them Home: Part 2: 4 Victoria (Report). Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission. 1997. Archived from the original on 6 May 2015. Retrieved 25 November 2016 – via AustLII. despite the apparent recognition in government reports that the interests of Indigenous children were best served by keeping them in their own communities, the number of Aboriginal children forcibly removed continued to increase, rising from 220 in 1973 to 350 in 1976 (Victorian Government final submission page 72).
  5. ^ Lewis, Wendy; Balderstone, Simon; Bowan, John (2006). Events That Shaped Australia. New Holland. p. 130. ISBN 978-1-74110-492-9.
  6. ^ "4704.0 – The Health and Welfare of Australia's Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples, Oct 2010 (final)". abs.gov.au. 17 February 2011. Archived from the original on 31 August 2016. Retrieved 24 November 2016.