The term stolen generations alludes to the native children of Torres Strait Islanders separated from their indigenous lineage in the middle of 1990 and 1970 (Menzies, 2019). This isolation was conducted by the state and federal agencies collaborating with the church commission using an assimilation policy. Native people, especially Children, were isolated from their lineage and coarsed to embrace foreign cultures. Some of the separated children were also adopted by white families and used in domestic work. The experiences of these stolen generations affect their lives and the well-being of the entire Aboriginal generation. These effects include Cultural disintegration, identity issues, intergenerational grief, and loss of community family connections, educational and socio-economic disadvantages that continue affecting the contemporary aboriginal generations. This essay seeks to discuss how the encounters of the Aboriginal people during the Stolen Generations era affect the modern native lives of Indigenous people, including their generations.
Intergenerational Grief and Trauma
The violent isolation of Aboriginal people and their offspring from their families led to multigenerational suffering and harm for the Torres Strait Islanders and Aboriginal lineage that is still felt by the contemporary generation (Menzies, 2019). The Torres Strait Islander cultural beliefs consider children sacred; hence, their kinship systems ensure that communities are closely integrated. The disintegration of children from their families and their subject to abuse was devastating for the Aboriginal and Torres Strait communities across Australia. This outcome led to intergenerational grief that is felt by the modern Aboriginal generation (Robertson et al., 2019). Most people, including children from these generations, experienced severe, physical, sexual abuse and psychological torture under federal and State custody. These treatments caused grief and trauma to the native generations and passed to contemporary families and children of the indigenous people who survived the assimilation policy. In addition, the violent isolation of native children from their lineage and native communities during the stolen generations period had adverse outcomes, including health disparities. Aboriginal people who survived this assimilation policy and their generations continue exhibiting grief and trauma of family and community disintegration, cultural disconnect, and loss of identity.
Loss of Community and Family Connections
Stolen generations removed from their families and communities under the assimilation policy were detached from their native families and their way of life. Separation from families and native communities made stolen generations denounce their norms and language and adopt new identities (Sivak et al., 2019). Sometimes, they were ashamed of their indigenous and Torres Strait Islander inheritance. Suppression of Aboriginal language, traditions, and cultural practices by removal led to cultural disruptions. Therefore, disruptions of families and community during forced movement continue affecting the lives of Aboriginal people; their descendants continue struggling with a sense of cultural, community, family, and identity connections (Gameon & Skewes, 2019). Disruptions of Aboriginal Families and community structures continue influencing social relationships. Often, children were misinformed that their parents had neglected them to die in foreign lands. Later, they could not locate their biological families since they were forced to foreign homelands. The family and community disconnect restricted the experience of a healthy family, and this continues to impact the contemporary Aboriginal generations.
Educational and Socio-economic Disadvantages
During the Stolen Generations era, the first-generation nation’s children who had been segregated from their families received very low wages and no education, they were subjected to work as domestic servants. Historical injustices and ongoing discrimination contributed to socio-economic disparities in Aboriginal communities (Dunstan et al., 2019). Violent removal of indigenous children from their communities and families by the government authorities triggered long-lasting effects on the socio-economic and educational well-being of native individuals and their generations. During this period, children were forcibly isolated from their families and, placed in institutions and received limited access to formal education compared to non-indigenous children. Low education attainment led to a low economic status felt by the contemporary generations of Aboriginal people (Gameon & Skewes, 2019). Separating children from their families interrupted the transmission of cultural knowledge, languages, and traditions. This loss of cultural education and interaction profoundly impacted native people and their sense of identity. Socially, children lacked emotional and social support despite the traumatic experience.
Conclusion
Experiences of the stolen generations have significant effects on the well-being of Aboriginals, those isolated from their parents, and the lives of their generations, including other relatives of the victims, in several ways. These ways include intergenerational trauma and grief triggered by the forceful separation of children from native families and communities and exposure to abuse. The native people lost family and community connections as the assimilation policy detached children from their families, forcing them to denounce their native culture. Disruption of families and communities through violent removal undermined access to social support and education of indigenous people, and this continues to impact the modern generation negatively. Isolated children were taken under state and federal control, and they were subjected to low wages, leading to low-income status and inequality that affected the lives of Aboriginal people. The forced removal of native people during the Stolen Generations created significant effects on the lives of Aboriginal people and Torres Strait Islanders, these impacts are still felt by the contemporary generation of Aboriginal people.
References
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Gameon, J. A., & Skewes, M. C. (2019). A systematic review of trauma interventions in native communities. American Journal of Community Psychology, 65(1-2), 223-241. https://doi.org/10.1002/ajcp.12396
Menzies, K. (2019). Understanding the Australian Aboriginal experience of collective, historical, and intergenerational trauma. International Social Work, 62(6), 1522-1534. https://doi.org/10.1177/0020872819870585
Robertson, F., Coall, D., McAullay, D., & Nannup, A. (2019). Intergenerational influences of hunger and community violence on the Aboriginal people of Western Australia: A review. International Journal of Critical Indigenous Studies, 12(2), 34-46. https://doi.org/10.5204/ijcis.v12i1.1183
Sivak, L., Westhead, S., Richards, E., Atkinson, S., Richards, J., Dare, H., Zuckermann, G., Gee, G., Wright, M., Rosen, A., Walsh, M., Brown, N., & Brown, A. (2019). “Language breathes life”—Barngarla community perspectives on the well-being impacts of reclaiming a dormant Australian Aboriginal language. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 16(20), 3918. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph16203918
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