Australian assimilation policies of the 1930's.
- Date: January 18, 2004
- Level: College, Undergraduate
- Grade: A+
- Length: 4 pages (952 words)
- Essay rating:
- Keywords:
aboriginal communities, assimilation, settlers, dangerous drugs, aboriginal children, indigenous community, ...alcoholics, cope, alcohol, tobacco, parents
Hide extra keywords
Subject > History Term Papers > Australian History
Australian assimilation policies of the 1930's.
The following statement, "The assimilation policies of the 1930's had a devastating effect on the Indigenous community, which is still being felt today. While promoted as protection for the Aboriginal children, the policy actually aimed at wiping out the Aboriginal race", is incorrect and unsupported.
It was not the actual assimilation policies that caused the devastating effects on the Aboriginal communities but the influence of the White Settlers. Before the white settlers came the aboriginal communities lived simple and satisfying lives. When the white settlers came they brought with them the complications of their own society and introduced the Aboriginal communities to it. Drugs such as alcohol and tobacco, along with other possibly more dangerous drugs ...

... The greater part of children that were taken away were either abused or abandoned, and the majority of aboriginal children in those times were far more literate than aboriginal children today. " "We were never referred to as the 'stolen generation'," Barnes' book begins. "I consider myself saved"" (Colebrook Home, http://www.southaustralianhistory.com.au/colebrook.htm, 25/08/2003)
It was the assimilation policies but drugs and alcohol, which had a devastating effect on the Aboriginal communities and is still being felt today. Factual information about "stolen generation" which is a result of the assimilation policies is so scarce and so uncertain, that it is hard to prove that the stolen generation really existed, let alone affected the lives of thousands of aborigines 
essay continues for another 100 words