Joe,

I can see that you're not really taking any of this
seriously so I shan't waste any more of my time.
Suffice to say that as someone who supplosedly has studied
Aboriginal history I am surprised that you are not
familiar with Margaret Tucker and her background.
She was one of the many Aboriginal children forcibly
separated from their parents. In her case, at the age
of 12. police took her from her mother at Moonaheulla
Mission, near Deniliquin.

I find your flippancy rather offensive to say the least.

Thank you for the links particularly the Robert Manne one. He really does hit the nail on the head.

The conversation with Loudmouth is certainly emblematic of this malaise. Note the victimhood claims which are so typical of the mindset.

“Just one verifiable 'fact', please ! I don't like being out here in the cold, I want to be part of the mob, like you fellas.”

This is despite the the majority of posters in this thread are taking his side.

Here ia a 1930's picture of the children interned at Moore River in the 30s. Quite confronting. No wonder there were so many escape attempts. Of course if you escaped more than once both boys and girls were sent to prison instead which must have been terrifying for these youngsters.
http://www.slwa.wa.gov.au/images/pd226/226,017PD.jpg

“Children in the barred dormitories slept two and three to a bed on bug-infested mattresses of coconut straw, frequently soaked with urine. The diet consisted of sour bread and fat, watery stew and unsugared black tea. There were no toilets and only a few buckets, so many used sinks and toilet floors (which were covered with sand for the purpose).”
http://thealtitudejournal.files.wordpress.com/2008/07/43.pdf

Dear Loudmouth,

Why are you asking “I would be grateful if someone could point out ONE person who was 'Stolen'. Just one.”?

Are you saying the children who were taken from their mother in this case were not stolen from her? Okay mate, you had better give us your definition of stolen then.

Hi Foxy,

A few snippets of the times in which these girls were living.

“In a certain district in the Kimberley a half-cast was shot dead by a white man, allegedly in self-defence. The jury of three local residents at the inquest returned a verdict of accidental death at the hands of the accused in a scrimmage in which the victim was the aggressor. Consequently upon the Department's own inquiries into the matter steps were taken to prevent the white man concerned from again having anything to with the working of native labour, and the persons mostly concerned in that regard were warned accordingly.”

“A native was badly assaulted in Kimberley by a white man against whom there were other previous complaints, including the wilful murder of a native, of which he had been acquitted at Wyndham. The offender quickly disposed of his property and quitted the state before action could be taken against him.”

“Proceedings were taken against the part owner of a station in the East Murchison district and convictions secured for the supply of liquor to aborigines. Although there were 6 quarter-caste children on this property alleged to be fathered by the white man in question, the case against him under Section 43 of the Aborigines Act was not successful. In this instance the whole of the natives were removed from the station, which was after the trial granted permit to employ only single men.”

“In January last it was decided to investigate reports concerning the alleged murder of natives in the vicinity of Rawlinson Ranges. A police party left in March to investigate matters but although the inquiry was very thorough sufficient evidence could not be obtained justifying action being taken against anyone.”

When you sit down and look between the lines of all these incidences it makes for confronting reading. All this was in the mid 30s.

Tiny audiences but still drawing a crowd to this day. All because there was no conclusion to the story. People are in two minds if it was fiction or fact. A very clever piece of work.

Dearest Foxy,

A bit of a high horse :) I honestly don't know what you mean by 'flippant': I meant every word.

It's 'Moonahculla'.

I liked this bit from Margaret Tucker's book, on page 15: her mother and aunts worked on a farm, and ' .... when my mother and her younger sisters got sick of the farm work, they ran away to a neighbouring Aboriginal Reserve, Warangesda .... " And who was the farmer they were working for ? Her mother's father, i.e. her Aboriginal father.

And this (page 29): "The missionaries were very kind, when you think that life for them was pretty rough too."

By the way, in those days, kids - even in the cities - could leave school at twelve. In the country, if they were on a farm more than a few miles from a school, they didn't have to go to school at all.

Margaret Tucker was perhaps fifteen, (see pp. 17 & 91) when she went to Cootamundra Girls' Home, the one with the swimming pool.

Hi Steele,

Glad to. My very broad definition of 'stolen' would involve children who were taken but who were NOT neglected, or orphaned, or - after their mother had died - whose father was unable, for work or other reasons, to care for them, or - after their father had died and mother remarried - whose family circumstances (especially of young girls) made it very difficult or impossible for them to stay in the home.

So what's your definition, now that you've raised the issue ?

Whether or not parents willingly sent their children to schools on missions and government stations can be checked from various records, if one had the patience.

Anything else ?

So let me ask you: why do you believe the RPF story, when you have not a single bit of evidence to back it up ? If you do have, let us know it and put us out of our misery. Do you usually believe without question ? Isn't that a sort of religious approach, Steele ?

Joe

Hi Foxy and Steele,

No matter what evidence you provide, extremists with an alternate agenda will simply dismiss it as unacceptable, inappropriate nonsense. When those of the extreme right can deny the Holocaust occurred, despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary, how do you expect others with a similar mindset towards Aboriginal people accept anything detrimental to the cause of white supremacy. It ain't going to happen! Shameful things happened to Aboriginal people, and still do, we know that. That is enough evidence.

Thanks to you both for trying.