The Assimilation policy
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Why did the Government think this was ok?
Why did the Government do this?
The Government didn't think that Aboriginal people were worth the same as white people. They didn't think that they should be allowed to follow their traditional ways or even live in Australia.
The Government wanted to get rid of those who wouldn't do as they were told and force the others to live in a different way.
What is it?
Why did the Government think this was ok?
Stories from the Stolen Children
The Assimilation policy was a way of “absorbing” aboriginals into a white society by removing children from their families. This had a huge impact on the aboriginal community, it brought about the Stolen Generation. The “Stolen Generation” describes the many aboriginal and Torres strait islander people who were forced to move from their homes and taken to either a work house or they were adopted by a non-indigenous family.
- http://www.creativespirits.info/aboriginalculture/politics/stolen-generations-stories#toc1
- http://stolengenerationstestimonies.com/index.php/testimonies/index.1.html
The 'Unwanted Third Race' scene in The Rabbit Proof Fence shows that perhaps the Government thought they were saving the Aboriginal children by removing them from their families. The white people didn't understand the Aborigine way of life and thought it wasn't healthy to live off the land in the bush. “For if we are to fit and train such children for the future they cannot be left as they are”, shows how it wasn’t honestly thought that they were helping the Aborigine children and thought that their current circumstances were unfit for children.
Quotes from the Stolen Generations
Removal from their families has far-reaching consequences for children of the Stolen Generations. All aspects of their lives are affected.
Some enter a lifelong search for their parents, others never succeed as parents themselves and turn to substance abuse.
Many feel that they are living a life surrounded by ghosts – people they don’t know but should.
Consequences that the victims of the Assimilation Policy include:
- Loneliness
- Low self esteem
- Loss of identity
- Legal Problem
- Mistrust
- Difficulties to find their religious beliefs
- Internal guilt