NEXT UP! 1 180 The Stolen Generations Imagine that a visitor came to your doorstep and said, “I like your home, I think I’ll have that”. When the British came to Australia in 1770, they settled on the east coast and founded a British colony. The Aboriginal peoples, the indigenous people of Australia, had been living there for tens of thousands of years. This encounter started a dark chapter in Australia’s history. Aboriginal land and hunting grounds were taken from them, cutting their connection to their “country”. Eventually, many Aboriginal families also lost their children. “The Stolen Generations” is an expression used to describe the Australian Aboriginal children that British authorities stole from their parents. In the years between 1905 and 1969, thousands of Aboriginal children were taken from their homes by the government. They were brought up in institutions or taken to live with white foster families and taught to speak only English. Many never saw their families again. They lost their Aboriginal names and were punished if they spoke their own language. When the British arrived in Australia, the Aboriginal population declined very quickly. Many were killed and many died from European diseases. The popular excuse was that the Australian Aboriginal people were inferior to the Northern Europeans. They would naturally die out in modern Australia. But children of mixed race were a dilemma. These children had one white parent and one Aboriginal parent. What should the new Australian society do with these children? The solution was brutal: to take them away from their families and raise them in a European environment. In this way, the children would forget about their Aboriginal origin. They could be “white washed” into the Australian society. Before reading Read the introduction. Do you know of any encounters that have had a negative outcome for other groups of people? Give examples. further reading to settle – að nema land indigenous people – frumbyggjar hunting grounds – veiðilendur authorities – yfirvöld to punish – refsa
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