enpodynic
10-19-2006, 12:30 AM
More crimes committed by white people. Transcribed from today's Australia
First payout deal for stolen children
Matthew Denholm
October 18, 2006
THE national debate on the "stolen generations" will be reignited today by the unveiling of the nation's first compensation package for Aborigines taken from their parents under assimilation policies.
Tasmania will today announce a government apology and a $4 million compensation scheme for members of the stolen generations.
The Australian understands the scheme will involve the appointment of an independent assessor, who will judge individual cases against set criteria.
The assessor will consider individuals' testimonies and examine government records to test claims of wrongful removal by welfare agencies, mostly from the 1930s to the 1950s.
A compensation funding pool - to be capped at about $4million - will then be distributed among those found to have genuine cases.
While the number of potential applicants is unknown, the Tasmanian Aboriginal Centre has already identified 40 individuals with "solid claims" for compensation.
The scheme - hailed by Aboriginal leaders yesterday as a model for other states to follow - will be advertised nationally to invite applications from those who may have left the state.
Premier Paul Lennon will sell the package as lifting a key barrier to reconciliation between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal Tasmanians. Yesterday, Aboriginal leaders praised Mr Lennon's "leadership" and "courage" and expressed hope it would rekindle national debate on the issue.
It is nine years since the release of the Bringing Them Home royal commission report into indigenous children removed from their families.
TAC legal adviser Michael Mansell said he hoped other states would examine and adopt the model and that the Prime Minister would reconsider his opposition to an apology for the stolen generations.
"This is a very groundbreaking decision and not just the other states but John Howard also should ... take a very close look," he said.
Official reasons for the removal of Aboriginal children to institutions or foster homes included maternal "neglect" or "waywardness". However, many Aborigines believe these were often groundless excuses to suit a policy of assimilating black children into white foster families wherever possible.
Some claimants told The Australian the scheme would allow them to "begin to forgive". Eddie Thomas, 70, believed to be the oldest surviving member of the stolen generations in Tasmania, was taken from his grandmother when he was six months old. He and his brother and sister had been placed in her care when his mother died after his birth on Cape Barren Island, northeast Tasmania, in 1936.
He believed his grandmother was duped into signing a consent form. "She couldn't read or write, so she couldn't have been in agreement," he said. His life with white foster families on mainland Tasmania was unhappy and his grandmother was prevented from visiting the children, he said.
"There used to be this old lady come to the gate and our foster mother would say, 'That's just a silly old black woman', and take us inside," he said. "It wasn't until I was old enough to go to work that I met up with an uncle who told me that was my grandmother. She wanted to talk to us, to cuddle us, but she wasn't allowed. She died of a broken heart.
"I've felt for a large part of my life so much anger, but this (an apology and compensation) will allow me to move forward and to forgive those people."
Heather Brown, 63, broke down as she recalled the day she and six other children were taken from her family home.
"Those people just came through our home and got me - I ran, there were children running everywhere," she said. "It happened all at once. I was dazed. I didn't talk for months afterwards."
She still does not know why she was taken from her parents at Wiltshire Junction, northwest Tasmania, or why she was not allowed to see them or her siblings while she grew up in a succession of foster families. "I'll never forget," she said.
Annette Peardon, 57, said she and two siblings were taken from their mother on Flinders Island, because of maternal "neglect". She disputes this, remembering a clean home with sufficient food.
The childhood that followed was marked by "physical, emotional and sexual" abuse at institutions and foster homes, she said. While she found her mother after turning 21, her sister and brother were never reunited with her.
"It broke her spirit - she had three children taken away and only one went back," Ms Peardon said.
Many of those affected have since died, but the TAC has identified 27 individuals it believes have an "extremely strong" case for compensation.
The scheme fulfils a commitment first made by Mr Lennon in The Australian two years ago and repeated at the March state election this year.
First payout deal for stolen children
Matthew Denholm
October 18, 2006
THE national debate on the "stolen generations" will be reignited today by the unveiling of the nation's first compensation package for Aborigines taken from their parents under assimilation policies.
Tasmania will today announce a government apology and a $4 million compensation scheme for members of the stolen generations.
The Australian understands the scheme will involve the appointment of an independent assessor, who will judge individual cases against set criteria.
The assessor will consider individuals' testimonies and examine government records to test claims of wrongful removal by welfare agencies, mostly from the 1930s to the 1950s.
A compensation funding pool - to be capped at about $4million - will then be distributed among those found to have genuine cases.
While the number of potential applicants is unknown, the Tasmanian Aboriginal Centre has already identified 40 individuals with "solid claims" for compensation.
The scheme - hailed by Aboriginal leaders yesterday as a model for other states to follow - will be advertised nationally to invite applications from those who may have left the state.
Premier Paul Lennon will sell the package as lifting a key barrier to reconciliation between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal Tasmanians. Yesterday, Aboriginal leaders praised Mr Lennon's "leadership" and "courage" and expressed hope it would rekindle national debate on the issue.
It is nine years since the release of the Bringing Them Home royal commission report into indigenous children removed from their families.
TAC legal adviser Michael Mansell said he hoped other states would examine and adopt the model and that the Prime Minister would reconsider his opposition to an apology for the stolen generations.
"This is a very groundbreaking decision and not just the other states but John Howard also should ... take a very close look," he said.
Official reasons for the removal of Aboriginal children to institutions or foster homes included maternal "neglect" or "waywardness". However, many Aborigines believe these were often groundless excuses to suit a policy of assimilating black children into white foster families wherever possible.
Some claimants told The Australian the scheme would allow them to "begin to forgive". Eddie Thomas, 70, believed to be the oldest surviving member of the stolen generations in Tasmania, was taken from his grandmother when he was six months old. He and his brother and sister had been placed in her care when his mother died after his birth on Cape Barren Island, northeast Tasmania, in 1936.
He believed his grandmother was duped into signing a consent form. "She couldn't read or write, so she couldn't have been in agreement," he said. His life with white foster families on mainland Tasmania was unhappy and his grandmother was prevented from visiting the children, he said.
"There used to be this old lady come to the gate and our foster mother would say, 'That's just a silly old black woman', and take us inside," he said. "It wasn't until I was old enough to go to work that I met up with an uncle who told me that was my grandmother. She wanted to talk to us, to cuddle us, but she wasn't allowed. She died of a broken heart.
"I've felt for a large part of my life so much anger, but this (an apology and compensation) will allow me to move forward and to forgive those people."
Heather Brown, 63, broke down as she recalled the day she and six other children were taken from her family home.
"Those people just came through our home and got me - I ran, there were children running everywhere," she said. "It happened all at once. I was dazed. I didn't talk for months afterwards."
She still does not know why she was taken from her parents at Wiltshire Junction, northwest Tasmania, or why she was not allowed to see them or her siblings while she grew up in a succession of foster families. "I'll never forget," she said.
Annette Peardon, 57, said she and two siblings were taken from their mother on Flinders Island, because of maternal "neglect". She disputes this, remembering a clean home with sufficient food.
The childhood that followed was marked by "physical, emotional and sexual" abuse at institutions and foster homes, she said. While she found her mother after turning 21, her sister and brother were never reunited with her.
"It broke her spirit - she had three children taken away and only one went back," Ms Peardon said.
Many of those affected have since died, but the TAC has identified 27 individuals it believes have an "extremely strong" case for compensation.
The scheme fulfils a commitment first made by Mr Lennon in The Australian two years ago and repeated at the March state election this year.