Assessment Resource Centre (ARC)

June 22, 2003

Dear Sir/Madam,

I am writing to reply to the letter by J Smith that you printed on June 21, 2003 about the Stolen Generations.

The Stolen Generations are the Aboriginal people who were taken from their families by racist laws that controlled the lives of Aboriginal people. Between 1920 and the 1960s one hundred thousand Aboriginal children were taken away from their families. J. Smith does not understand the effect that being taken away from their family had on Aboriginal people. The Australian government had the policies of protection (they believed that Aboriginal people had to be looked after or protected) and assimilation (they believed that Aboriginal people should live like white Australians) in the 1920s until the 1960s. Children were taken from their families and sent to missions or worked for white families as servants.Some children were adopted by white families.

The children who were taken from their families lost their identity. This also meant that they lost their culture. Many of the children never saw their families again. In the report 'Bringing Them Home' there are many examples of this.'Bringing Them Home' explains how Aboriginal children were often abused and when they grew up they have high rates of depression and other problems. One person in the report says that it s like a hole in your heart that can never heal.

Yours Sincerely

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