Hi OTB,

If anyone can find the slightest evidence for the Rabbit Fence story, apart from 'story', I would be very interested. There was no mention of it in the 1934 Moseley Commission evidence, nor any reference by Mrs Mary Bennett, nor by Paul Hasluck, who both were very committed and would have picked up any trace of the story if it had really occurred.

There is no mention in any newspaper articles of the time, i.e. the 'West Australian' which was fiercely anti-government and pro-Labor, and would have found out from rural contacts if anything remotely like the Story had been actually happening.

Thanks for bringing it up, OTB :)

Cheers,

Joe

Hi Loudmouth,
I honestly don't know whether or not the stolen generation history as we are lead to believe is true or not.
I've never even had any sort of stories passed down to me and I didn't even know I had native heritage until recently.
The book is well detailed though, about 100pages of family history, I'll have to go through it properly when I find the time.

What it does say is that of her 11 children only one set of consecutive babies were born at the same place. That she stayed constantly on the move because she was afraid her children would be taken from her. It talks a little about electoral enrollments and of not wanting to keep a fixed address and that she did not want to draw the attention of police (as agents of the Aboriginal Protection Board) to her large family.

I'll have to spend some time going through it and I'll let you know if I find anything else interesting if the thread still going.

I remember when I was young my Dad mentioning the rabbit proof fence, but it may have been just after watching an episode of the Leyland Brothers.. It was a long time ago, but I'm sure it was on one episode.

There's some stuff on wikipedia about it but I don't know how useful or reliable the info is.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rabbit-proof_fence

Found this for the rabbit proof fence:
http://www.nla.gov.au/anplan/heritage/images/NPLANDEC07Dcomp.jpg
Tried looking up the newspaper archive but could not find page 11.
http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/title/30#

Armchair Critic, it seems that some people on this forum pick and choose what Australian 'history' stories they want to believe, and those they don't.
And surprise surprise, they choose to disbelieve Indigenous people's historical stories.

I found an interesting website that does show a timeline of government policies, and witness stories from Aboriginal people, through the past 200 years or so.

https://www.humanrights.gov.au/timeline-history-separation-aboriginal-and-torres-strait-islander-children-their-families-text

Most contributors to this thread will disregard proof like this due to ignorance.
I don't need this sort of site as proof about the Stolen Generation though, because I have worked amongst the Aboriginal communities in both rural and metro areas, in both WA and the Northern Territory, for years.

I have spoken to many people who have related similar stories from their childhood about how they were taken from their mother or parents, raised in 'white' households, or taken to children's homes run by religious groups. Yes they received an 'education' of sorts that allowed some of them to do quite well in the wider Australian society as adults, but they remained overwhelmingly sad about the loss of their families.

Some of these people eventually found their lost families, and the reunion stories were very sad. Often their parents had already died, still mourning the loss of their kids.
Overwhelmingly, these children were of mixed race and were considered 'worth saving' by the governments of the day, due to the 'white' part of their heritage.

I can't imagine how there would be many thousands of similar stories amongst the many Indigenous communities in Australia if it were all just one big lie?
Anyone suggesting it is a lie have never met any of these Indigenous people and are just ignorant racists.

You all ant a solution to the problem of child/girl/women abuse and all other abuses in Aboriginal communities?

Treat all Australians the same under the Law.

Hi Suse,

Of course people have stories. But not every story is accurate or true. Surely we know that from watching 'Who Do You Think You Are ?' Usually the back story is more interesting than the received version.

Presumably cases of children taken into care would have records, files, to provide some background reasons. Of course children may not understand about their neglect or destitution, if such occurred. And we all colour our early stories in the most favourable way. I certainly have tended to romanticise my ancestors and their histories in favourable ways, often contradicted by actual evidence, to the point where I'm not sure about any of it. Some of them, by the way, were raised in care. It happened to white kids too, you know :)

You mention that "Overwhelmingly, these children were of mixed race .... " Yes, for a host of reasons which have been gone over many times on OLO. Children in the NT taken down South at the beginning of the War ? Children taken to homes during droughts, 'temporarily, until the drought is over', which didn't happen soon. If people cared to look, there would be files on them which under FOI, they would have access to.

Thirty-odd years ago, I did a quick study of infant mortality, decade by decade, at one mission/settlement where records went back to 1860. I was amazed and puzzled to find that the decade with the highest infant mortality there was the 1950s.

I didn't realise until much later that that was also the decade when working families left to find work an better schooling, leaving the more 'casual' families behind to fend for themselves. Which they didn't do so well.

It was also the decade with the highest rate of kids being taken into care - almost all of whom, by the way, later returned to their families. Again, there would be documentation if people took the trouble to look for it.

Joe