story is rife with example of flagrant human rights violations , and even picturesque Australia is not immune to the occurrent of these injustices : Between 1910 and 1970 , roughly 100,000 primordial children were forcibly removed from their home [ source : European internet for Indigenous Australian Rights ] . Known to many as theStolen Generation , these children , most under the age of five , were taken from their birth families because the Australian government decided that their race lack a solid future tense .
The regime believe that the tiddler would fare better if raised by white house [ author : The Independent ] . This rationale was due to the gruelling truth that theAboriginesare at a much eminent risk – even today – for alcoholism , infant deathrate , criminal behavior and drug addiction than other Australians . In fact , the medium Aboriginelife expectancytoday is 17 years forgetful than the rest of the country’spopulation[source : The Independent ] . But it was n’t just a few overzealous rulers who forced this remotion policy upon the land ; rather , legion state and Union laws were draft and passed with the express intent of " engender out " the color of Australia ’s autochthonic wash and helping the untried member fit into mainstream society [ source : The Independent ] . The hope was to phase out primordial refinement .
A variety of misleading means were used to whisk off Aboriginal babies and children from their families . Some children were merely take out from their homes by government officials . Too young to remember their menage histories , the child were told that they were orphan . One mother was turn over a consent form for what was purportedly a routine vaccination , when in fact she pass her baby , Leonie Pope , to be sent tofoster care . She was then narrate that Leonie had died ; Leonie was alert and well and residing with a white folk [ source : The Independent ] . Other nestling were taken for treatment to infirmary , never to be seen again by their families , who were also precede to believe that their child had died . The majority of them were placed in more affluent foster homes with white menage , or they were have to orphanage or church missions .
How were these unjustness finally brought to light ?
Making Reparations for the Stolen Generation
The organization andfoster familieswho took in Aboriginal shaver believed that they were being freehearted . Defenders of Australia ’s natural action claim that some children were saved from dreadful and destitute household lives [ generator : Times Online ] . Others , however , guide to the grieving birth category and numerous abuses inflicted upon the adopt children ( sexual and genial abuse , identity crises and other persist psychological problems ) as decipherable grounds that the government break down these children miserably [ source : Culture Wars ] .
It was n’t until 1995 that a interior probe was launch , culminating in the departure of the " Bringing Them Home " report by the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission in 1997 . The report detail more than 50 recommendations as to how the Australian regime could help remedy the pain triggered by the removal of native children from their homes . The reputation delineated that the four most critical steps were indemnification , rehabilitation of the wronged party , compensation and a warrant against succeeding violations [ source : Amnesty International ] .
Australian Prime Minister John Howard reject to make a courtly apology , quote his fear that it would start the Australian government activity tolawsuitsand demand for financial compensation . The consequence went mostly ignored until the election of Prime Minister Kevin Rudd , who made a courtly apology to the Aboriginal people on Feb. 13 , 2008 . The nationally broadcast apology , while long overdue , has help to begin the healing outgrowth [ source : Amnesty International ] .
Financial compensation to wrong individuals has yet to be delivered . Although Tasmania has established a reparations fund , no other state has – what ’s more , Rudd has resist outright the establishment of a national investment firm [ source : The Independent ] . The Australian government has refused reparations on the soil that the children were withdraw from their families with their good interests in mind [ generator : ENIAR ] .
To date , only one member of the Stolen Generation has been compensated for the injury inflicted on him . Bruce Trevorrow , who was taken to the hospital onChristmasDay in 1957 for stomach pains when he was just 13 months old , was falsely listed by the hospital as having no parents and suffer from neglect and malnourishment . Bruce was institutionalize to know with a white foster kin and never regard again by his Father-God , who died eight years later . He was n’t reunited with his mother until he was 10 long time sure-enough , after endure through a childhood fill up with ego - incertitude and discrimination at schooling . In 1998 , Trevorrow filed a lawsuit against the South Australian political science , allege that his alcoholism , depression and loss of ethnical identity were because of his double-dealing fostering .
While many otherAboriginescan make the same case , what helped Trevorrow win in his lawsuit was the composition lead left by the Aboriginal Control Board and his mother , who attempted legion times to find out how her Logos was fare in the infirmary . In gain , his sound counselor-at-law was able to equate Trevorrow with his three biological sibling who were n’t get from their family . They ’ve dwell successful lives , compared to his universe fraught with habituation and identity issues . In 2007 , nearly 50 years after being take from his family , Trevorrow was awarded A$ 525,000 ( tantamount to $ 447,000 U.S. clam ) in compensation for his hurt [ beginning : BBC News ] .
Several organizations , including Reconciliation Australia and the Australian Human Rights Commission , are currently in post to advocate for the autochthonous the great unwashed of Australia . The determination of these groups is to protect the rights of the Aborigines and other groups , ensure nothing like this widespread removal plan happen again and defend for the ongoing reparations summons .
