THANKS AGAIN TO THOSE WHO ARE GIVING THEIR SURPORT FOR THE FORGOTTEN AUSTRALIANS , I WOULD LIKE TO LET YOU ALL KNOW THAT I HAVE ALSO BEEN PUTTING COMMENTS ON THE FORUM THAT IS IN ON THE CHANNEL TEN WEB SITE IT IS UNDER DAVID AND KIM ,BECOME A MEMBER OF CHANNEL TEN ITS AS THE SAME AS BECOMING A MEMBER OF THIS WEB SITE ,AT LEAST YOU DONT
;T HAVE TO WAIT 24 HOURS TO HAVE YOUR TOPIC POSTED IVE WROTE A LOT IN ON THAT SITE YET THEIR HAS BEEN A FEW WHO SURPORT THE FORGOTTEN AUSTRALIANS YET THE MORE THAT GET ONTO THAT SITE THE BETTER A LOT OF US WILL BE AS WELL , AS I HAVE SAID IVE WROTE TO ALL THE NEW PEOPLE IN CABNIET STILL AWAITING THEIR REPLYS AND PLEASE ALL JUST CLICK ON MY NAME AND YOU WILL SEE WHAT IVE WROTE IN EVERYTHING ON THIS FORUM AS A LOT OF YOU WILL BE SEEING I AM NOT A PERSON TO GIVE UP ,AND WHY SHOULD I AS THIS IS REAL TRUE THINGS THAT HAPPEND TO US VICTIMS LEAST IM TRYING MY BEST , TO GET THE FORGOTTEN AUSTRALIANS SOME ATTENTION ,BUT HOW MUCH IS YET TO BE SEEN , TAKE CARE ALL ,WE ARE THE FORGOTTEN AUSTRALIANS AND SHALL NOT BE FORGOTTEN ANYMORE ,ALSO IM NOT STUPID I KNOW THE GOVERMENT IS RESPOSABLE FOR WHAT HAPPEND TO US WHEN WE WERE CHILDREN AND IT WAS BOTH GOVERMENTS AT DIFFRENT TIMES , , THAT WERE RUNNING OUR COUNTRY WHEN THESE THINGS WERE HAPPENING TO US WHEN WE WERE CHILDREN REGARDS MICHEAL

huffnpuff,

You're keeping up the good fight. And you have so much support on OLO.

Your question: "Why is the australian goverment willing to say sorry to the stolen generation while they are still covering up the rapes and abuse that we FORGOTTEN AUSTRALIANS suffered whilst in institutional care?" needs unravelling.

The first part - the apology - is answered in terms of the amount of pressure Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians have put on various governments over many years. I guess Rudd wants to appear to be making a new start too.

I don't think the government can cover up rape and abuse any more. The accounts of hundreds of Forgotten Australians were published in the Senate Report of that title. What the (previous) Commonwealth government said about an apology was it was up to the states, churches and charities which ran the institutions where rapes and abuse took place. In other words, it wasn't willing to take a leadership position on the issue.

We don't have to accept that mealy-mouthed response and CLAN (Care Leavers of Australia Network) and others are working on the new government to get the position changed.

But we also need to lobby state governments to issue apologies - several, but not all, have already. But just as important we also need the states to provide redress schemes - WA, Queensland and Tasmania have already - and other forms of tangible support for Forgotten Australians. There are still many Forgotten Australians who didn't get to tell their stories to the Senate Inquiry, and CLAN is asking all the states to mount state inquiries where that hasn't happened.

Many Forgotten Australians still suffer physical and emotional problems caused when they were incarcerated, and a government gold card for medical services is essential to meet their ongoing needs.

As you indicate, many of the Stolen Generation children were also Forgotten Australians too. In Ballarat Orphanage where I was incarcerated during the 40s and early 50s more than 10% of the kids were Kooris. We should show solidarity with them and ask them to support our cause too.

I'd like to think I'm with the good guys and folks on this issue. However, a whole generation of kids whose fathers returned from war, changed by experience or trauma descended into depression, trauma and violence on their families. There are laws covering familial abuse but how often do we hear about them unless Channel 9 picks up on a really nasty story. All you who have suffered whether because of Aboriginality or institutionalisation deserve our respect and sympathy. And I'm sorry for you but I was a victim too!

perikles

You had a tough time no doubt, and you have my sincere sympathy. As do all kids whose parents were abusive or alcoholics or neglectful.

CLAN has recently completed a survey of its members and you might be interested in some of the results (291 respondents). The main reasons CLAN members were put in institutions as children were:

- father alcoholic (57 cases of whom at least 22 were alcoholic war veterans)
- parents divorced or separated (49)
- mother dead (32); father dead (10); both parents dead (5)
- parents too poor to keep them (31)
- mother mentally ill (30); father mentally ill (9); both parents mentally ill (7)
- unmarried mother (23).

A further 24 CLAN members reported that they did not know the reasons they were put 'in care'. Forgotten Australians have only recently been able to access their files - and not all have been able to do so yet.

So you can see, the trauma of war and its relationship to alcohol can have a devastating effect on family life and the capacity of parents to look after their kids.

While there can be no doubt that many kids who stayed with their families did it really tough especially when dad was drunk, the documented evidence of rape, abuse and neglect in children's institutions is overwhelming. The states, churches and charities had a strictly legal, as well as moral, duty of care which they failed to carry out.

Huffnpuff,
You are right in that the forgotten Australians are the same as the stolen generation. I doubt that any on OLO would not support you. When I read about the lives of some kids it makes me appreciative of my upbringing.

How can we help you in your endeavours?

My grammar, punctuation and spelling leaves a lot to be desired, but I think you also could do with some help in this regard. I know from my political experiance that the simplier and easier you make it for editors, the more likely your releases/statements will be published and the more notice politicians will take of your representations.

I hope someone here on OLO who is a former teacher, journalist will offer to give you some professional tuition in writing skills.

It is important that your messages receive the widest, and best, possible publicity.

Will you post an email address or arrange a way a person can contact you?

Keep on fighting. Do not give up. Best of luck.

I would like to refer to huffnpuff's comment about the apology from the Rudd Govt. There is one thing that you are neglecting to comment on here and that is that we as a nation were STOLEN from our mothers, fathers, families, tribe, culture and traditions. We were taken from all that we knew and made to conform to a foreign way of life - for our benefit. This of course was deemed from a white person's perspective. My grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins and family's were flogged, patronised, demeaned, abused and defiled all in the name of assimilation - again from a white man's perspective. My people were taken from all that we knew in the name of white supremacy, domination and assimilation. This was so the white man could wipe out my culture, tradition and race.

I would like to share with you a comment made by one Donald MacDonald 1893, from "A Clash of Cultures" by Heather Wearne (1980), Part A p.5,
"We are indeed a civilising race...when we came here the Aborigines covered these wide plains in thousands. Where are they today? We have 'civilised' them - they are dead".

I am sorry for your obvious sorrow huffnpuff however, you still have your culture, family, language, identity, acknowledgement and acceptance of mainstream Australia.

This apology is not about who should get what, where, when - this is about acknowledgement of the raping of a race of people, a denigration of people. My people were raped and abused because we were/are deemed unworthy of air. So if you are looking for a race, we win.