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The Lost Generation
1910-1960. Seven-year-old Lorna Cubillo was seized by officials and put into a truck with 15 other Aboriginal girls. Lorna was taken to a church-run foster home. She never saw her mother again. She was one of 100,000 Aboriginal children who were removed from families and put in foster homes run by whites. The authorities wanted to 1. Cut the children from their culture 2.Assimilate them into white society 3. Provide cheap labor for white employees 4. Hopefully 'breed out the color'. -
Aborigines Claim Citizen Rights
The Aborigines made a national protest on Australia day. This was the first time Aboriginal people made a national protest. -
Changing Attitudes and Better Treatment
After WW2 White attitudes towards the aborigines began to change. During the 1950s the Indigenous Australians were allowed to 1. Enroll for voting 2. Drink in Hotels 3. Travel without restrictions. By the early 1960s Aboriginal adults received pensions and maternity benefits. But inequalities remained in pay, voting, access to facilities, control of children and land rights. -
Indigenous Australians take the initiative
Freedom Riders demand equal treatment in 1965. Gurindji people demand a better deal 1966. White voters demand a better deal for the first Australians 1967. Aboriginal tent embassy set up in Canberra 1972. Land rights to be granted to first Australians 1974. First Aboriginal Land Rights Act. -
Bringing Them Home
The stolen generation was one of Australia's worst secrets. Few white people knew about it and it didn't feature in the history books until the 1980s. In 1997 the Human Rights Commission report on this horror story made a no. of recommendations: Compensation for the people affected, a nation 'Sorry Day' each year, apologies from the government, police and churches, information about the stolen generation to be taught in schools. -
Lost Land, Stolen Children.
Eddie Mabo ends terra nullius. In the late 18th century Britain claimed the lands of Australia because they assumed nobody owned them. Some Torres Strait Islanders, led by Eddie Mabo, challenged this. Their people had inhabited Murray Island for thousands of year and so were the rightful owners. In 1992 the High Court agreed saying that 'Terra Nullius' was wrong and racist. So the 1993 Native Title Act allowed Indigenous Australians to claim land rights. -
The Awakening
People walked across . Marchers carried signs critical of the Prime Minister's refusal to say 'Sorry' to indigenous Australians for past wrongs. It involved people of all ages, and races. They showed increasing concern about the need to 1. Apologize for the past treatment of Aboriginal people 2. Improve their living standard. 3. give their culture more status, Aboriginal people had been the victims of deliberate policies of discrimination -
Hope for the Future?
The challenge for Australia in the 21st century is to restore Indigenous Australian's pride and nationhood. Positive steps could involve: (1) Giving them a fair deal over land rights (2) Providing compensation to the 'stolen generation' (3) Saying 'sorry' officially (4) Recognizing that possibly 20,000 died defending their land in 'Australian wars' (5) Providing more help to talented Aboriginal people in multiple activities (6) Educating Australians fully about their history. -
A Long Way to go
In the early 21st century the Indigenous Australians are caught in a culture trap. They are at the stages between their proud past and the modern life. "Much of the poverty and disease in the Aboriginal community is the result of the dispossession of their lands" by the Australian Medical Association. Although Aborigines now own some land, it is mostly desert and economically useless. The aboriginal population is now growing rapidly and the governments need to help people adapt to modern life. -
Modern day
Indigenous Australian leaders are gaining greater respect and the marches in 2000 showed that Australians of any race want the first people to get a better deal Some are national heroes and there was great pride when Cathy Freeman lit the torch at the Sydney Olympics and won the 400 meters. Cathy Freeman carrying the Australian and Indigenous Australians flags at the 1994 Commonwealth Games. On the Indigenous flag, the black stands for the people the yellow for the sun and the red for the land. -
Hope
There are still problems but hope still remains. "Look up my people the dawn is breaking, the world is waking to a bright new day when non defame us no restrictions tame us nor color shame us nor sneer dismay New rights will greet us new mate ship meet us, and joy complete us in our new dreamtime" From 'Song of Hope' by Oodgeroo Noonuccal.