The Stolen Generation

The Aboriginal Protection Acts were legislation that declared ALL Aborigines wards of the state. It was under these Acts that an estimated 100,000 Aboriginal children were removed from their homes between 1910 and the early 1970's. These children were kidnapped from their parents, often to never see them again. Light-skinned children were given to white families for adoption and dark-skinned children were placed in orphanages. There are conflicting accounts of life in these orphanages. Gloria Ann Beckett was nine months old when she was taken from her parents. She remembers harsh treatment from the missionaries. She and the others in her orphanage were forced to spit-polish and scrub hardwood floors until their knees bled. They also went barefoot, even during the cold winter months. Although they recieved some education, they were basically trained as domestics.
Sally Morgan wrote of her mother, Gladys', experiences as a "stolen child" in her book "My Place".
The worst experience Gladys could recall was the early morning clean-up in the cool Perth mornings. She recalls that the girls did most of the chores while the boys looked on. The strongest punishment she mentions is occasionally missing their Friday night movie. Gladys says they didn't recieve much education, but it was more than they would have recieved.

author: Sarah E. Culbertson