So the first part of this is going to be academic-ish (will sort of help me study for my Australian History Exam) and then I'll finish up Day 2 :) They are related though!
The Stolen Generations refer to the removal of Aboriginal children from their families legally in the early 1900s - really not all that long ago. They theory behind the removal of the children was to create one, white, Australia that shared the same culture. The genes for Aboriginal characteristics are recessive when in competition with European genes. Once they figured this out they felt that they could 'breed out' the Aboriginal peoples and eventually they would have a white Australia. The kids who were taken were known as 'half-castes'. Children who had one parent that was white. (They also took other light skinned children who were 1/4 or 1/8 etc Aboriginal.) They thought that the Aboriginal people would just kind of die out (they'd been there for thousands of years, clearly this was not a really bright idea...). The Europeans were looking to 'save' the white half or 2/3 etc. of the child that they took from their families in the bush. Depending on age and color the kids were taken to camps run (usually) by missionaries and taught english and assimilated as best as they could. These kids often never saw their parents again and often became house maids and servants. It wasn't until recently that an official apology was given to the stolen generations (by Prime Minister at the time, Kevin Rudd). At the risk of sounding like a documentary or something - to learn more I would recommend watching Rabbit Proof Fence. It is really good and based off of a true story and is very historically accurate. Okay, now, onto the final part of Day 2.
After dinner we got to talk to Nana Laurel, Gary's (main host guy) mother. She was a part of the Stolen Generation. She told us her story. For a long time her parents (mom and step-dad) would hide her in a sack whenever the white men would come looking for children to take to be 're-educated'. Eventually she got too old/too big to hide. Her mom had a choice. At the time the law said something to the effect of if you turn in half-caste children then we will keep them at a location near you so that you could sometimes see them. This confuses me because letting them occasionally see their parents (even through a fence for a limited time) doesn't help with 'getting rid' of their culture. Anyway, her mom gave her up (I think more so that no one would get hurt if she was to be taken). She eventually was moved away from her mother but many years later found her again and reestablished contact up until she died.
It was really cool listening to Nana Laurel tell us about this time in her life and it was certainly a privilege but it was hard to listen to because it was like midnight, I didn't feel very good (remember that water thing?) and we'd been up since 6am moving around all day in the sun. I wish we had gotten to talk to her during the day, I think all of our questions would have been better and we would have been able to take even more away from it. As it was, I still feel really lucky because many white Australians have pushed this out of their minds and haven't wanted to or had the chance to talk to someone who experienced it first hand and learned how it impacted their family.
After this talk/presentation/conversation we all went to bed. Everyone was too tired to shower but we did wash our hair in the sink because we wouldn't be able to shower again until we got back to Freo on Friday!
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