Newsletter: May 2008
Society for Medical Anthropology
Kathleen Ragsdale, Contributing Editor
The Stolen Generations: Why Saying Sorry Matters
Lenore Manderson (Monash U, Australia)
Like many of my compatriots, I have lived all my adult life with the unresolved racism directed at Indigenous Australians and reflected in poor outcomes in areas such as health, education and incarceration. Indigenous Australians endure disproportionately high rates of suicide, domestic violence, sexual abuse, child abuse, alcoholism, drug abuse and sexually transmitted infections. In Australia’s Northern Territory, the Indigenous infant mortality rate is 15.6 per 1,000, as compared to 5.0 per 1,000 for all Australians. Indigenous maternal mortality is almost five times higher than the non-Indigenous rate. Indigenous Australians live 17 years less than all Australians. Only 21% of Indigenous students in remote Australia have basic literacy skills, compared with 89% of all students. Although Indigenous Australians constitute 2.4% of the population, they comprise 22% of incarcerated Australians.
Behind these statistics is a history of brutality and racism. The term “Stolen Generations” refers to Aboriginal and Torres State Islander Australians who, beginning in about 1869, were forcibly removed from their families and made wards of the state. Between 1910 and 1970, an estimated 10-30% of Indigenous children were removed from their families by white health and welfare service workers. Until around the time of the 1967 Referendum—when Indigenous Australians were first counted in the Australian Census—the policy of forced removal was rarely questioned. People involved in Land Rights and other activist organizations battled the government’s sluggish responses and contradictory policies, and participated in painful negotiations with Indigenous Australians.
I made practical contributions when I worked in Queensland, where 30% of Indigenous people reside, but my most important work has been training and supporting Indigenous scholars to take the lead. Other anthropologists have played important sustained roles. Unfortunately, not all of them lived to see the tide begin to turn in 1995, when an enquiry was established by Australia’s Attorney-General. The report, Bringing Them Home (1997), precipitated calls for an apology to Indigenous Australians—a message of potential symbolic and practical significance. This was rejected by then Prime Minister Howard.
On February 13, 2008, Australia took an exceptional step forward when Prime Minister Kevin Rudd issued an official apology to all Indigenous Australians, and specifically to the Stolen Generations. Australia still ripples with the emotional aftermath of Rudd’s apology and speech, which were received with a standing ovation by thousands of Indigenous Australians and others gathered outside Canberra’s Parliament House. The apology was televised nationally to all remote Indigenous settlements and in all schools. I joined some 8,000 people who watched the televised proceedings in Melbourne’s Federation Square.
As Rudd emphasised, apologizing is only the first step. Rudd has promised to halve the gap in infant mortality rates within a decade and to close the 17-year life expectancy gap within a generation. What we saw and heard on February 13th from Rudd was an image of a totally different way to do politics: inclusive, considered and generous. Former Chairman of the Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation Patrick Dodson was equally magnificent, generous, and forward looking when he spoke at the National Press Club. Australia have taken an exceptional step forward, and it feels like we all now live in a different country entirely.
Excerpt from the Apology
Today we honour the Indigenous peoples of this land, the oldest continuing cultures in
human history.
We reflect on their past mistreatment.
We reflect in particular on the mistreatment of those who were Stolen Generations – this
blemished chapter in our nation’s history…
We apologise for the laws and policies of successive Parliaments and governments that have
inflicted profound grief, suffering and loss on these our fellow Australians.
We apologise especially for the removal of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children
from their families, their communities and their country.
For the pain, suffering and hurt of these Stolen Generations, their descendants and for their
families left behind, we say sorry.
To the mothers and the fathers, the brothers and the sisters, for the breaking up of families
and communities, we say sorry.
And for the indignity and degradation thus inflicted on a proud people and a proud culture,
we say sorry.
We the Parliament of Australia respectfully request that this apology be received in the
spirit in which it is offered as part of the healing of the nation.
For the future we take heart; resolving that this new page in the history of our great
continent can now be written.
We today take this first step by acknowledging the past and laying claim to a future that
embraces all Australians.
Please send contributions to the SMA Contributing Editor Kathleen Ragsdale (kathleen.ragsdale@ssrc.msstate.edu).