Sorry...

[Daft Bat]

Something that I had never heard of was the Australian National Sorry Day, which falls on today 26th May.

It is there to remind people descended from those who settled there to remember the mistreatment of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. During the 20th century, Indigenous children were forcibly removed from their families to be “assimilated” into white Australian culture and are known as the “Stolen Generations.”

Although these took place mainly between 1905 and 1967, some children were still being taken in the 1970s. It took several Australian government administrations before an apology was officially offered to the Indigenous Australians, but it was finally made official. However, actions are still being undertaken to this day to repair the damage caused by tearing native families apart.

 

[gillyflower]

I have never heard of it . That is horrible.

 

[Ma-dotcom]

Some things will never change. The superior types will not accept that we are basically all the same & everyone deserves respect.

 

[trlvn]

Sadly, Canada had its own version:

https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/residential-schools

I will note, however, that those in power were pretty much as awful to white children of poor families:

https://www.britishhomechildren.com

Craig

 

[Archie's Mum]

I have been holding back a little on this subject and while I feel genuinely sorry for the past misguided actions of the authorities, I will add that not ALL aboriginal children were stolen. Those mostly removed were children of mixed parentage, wrongly or rightly. Some children suffered because of this but some went on to become well educated, teachers, doctors and even lawyers. Married had children and got on with their lives. I was reading about Daisy Bates, if you don’t know who she was, she was an Irish born journalist and self taught anthropologist who after much sadness in her life went to live in an aboriginal settlement and became a great friend to these people. Before she arrived she states that three babies were born to women by white men. One baby was handed over to the mission, one was thrown down a hole and another was murdered with her mother by the Aboriginal husband (not the father of the child) pouring boiling water over them. So we see, some children were given up voluntarily for their own safety. (Daisy Bates was also the one time wife of ‘Breaker’ Morant.) There were many reasons why children were removed and many reasons why mothers voluntarily handed their children over. I am not disputing that some were removed wrongly.

 

[Murfomurf]

I feel strongly about National Sorry Day and the lives affected by removals over time. I am so glad the mother of my school-friend Cynthia Williams-Little was kept away from the social workers and allowed to grow up and be my friend. Also her little brother Stanley (Sputnik or Sputty), and her little sister- still alive. Unfortunately Cynthia only avoided "capture" by her mother moving hundreds of kilometres from the traditional tribal lands in Northern New South Wales and thus being deprived of her indigenous culture. Vale Cynthia and Sputty.

 

[Anthony J Corps]

Something that I had never heard of was the Australian National Sorry Day, which falls on today 26th May.

It is there to remind people descended from those who settled there to remember the mistreatment of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. During the 20th century, Indigenous children were forcibly removed from their families to be “assimilated” into white Australian culture and are known as the “Stolen Generations.”

Although these took place mainly between 1905 and 1967, some children were still being taken in the 1970s. It took several Australian government administrations before an apology was officially offered to the Indigenous Australians, but it was finally made official. However, actions are still being undertaken to this day to repair the damage caused by tearing native families apart.

Has happened in many places USA Canada Many British Areas of Influence It features in the film Australia