strong decline in the indigenous population. The indigenous population was declared a ‘dying race’ by anthropologists, who claimed that the best they could do was to segregate the indigenous in reserves where they would be protected from exploitation. 68 Following the segregation of the indigenous population, British colonisers systematically removed indigenous children, particularly those with mixed parentage from their families, placing them in institutions or with white parents, in an attempt to raise them as lower class white children. These children were referred to as the Stolen Generations and these acts continued well into the 20 th century. As outlined in the introduction to the essay, I will focus on the cultural genocide that took place in Australia. The Stolen Generations and cultural genocide Between 1910 and 1970, thousands of indigenous Australian children were forcibly removed from their families as a result of various government policies, in particular the 1897 Aboriginal Act. The trauma faced by many indigenous families during this time continues to affect many communities, families and individuals. The idea of forcibly removing indigenous children from their families followed the ideology of Assimilation. Assimilation was an ideology founded on the assumption of black inferiority and white superiority, which proposed that the indigenous population should be allowed to ‘die out’ through a process of natural elimination or where possible they should be assimilated into white society. 69 68 Dirk Moses, Genocide and Holocaust Consciousness in Australia , 1st edn (Sydney: University of Sydney, 2016), pp. 1-2 <http://www.dirkmoses.com/uploads/7/3/8/2/7382125/moses_genholoconsau stralia.pdf> [accessed 28 April 2016]. 69 Australianstogether.org, "The Stolen Generations ", Australians Together, 2016 <http://www.australianstogether.org.au/stories/detail/the-stolen- generations> [accessed 29 April 2016].
26
Made with FlippingBook HTML5