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Stolen Generations

(Status : Public)
Coordinated by BlackWords Team
  • Children's Stories

    Stolen Generations can be a difficult subject for children. However, there are several books that capture the experience of the removal of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and have been especially designed for children.

  • Sister Heart, by Sally Morgan

    image of person or book cover
    Image courtesy of publisher's website.

    'A young Aboriginal girl is taken from the north of Australia and sent to an institution in the distant south. There, she slowly makes a new life for herself and, in the face of tragedy, finds strength in new friendships. Poignantly told from the child’s perspective, Sister Heart affirms the power of family and kinship.' (Publication summary)

    (...more)
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  • Pilawuk : When I Was Young, by Janeen Brian

    image of person or book cover
    This image has been sourced from Author's website
    'Pilawuk was born on the coast of Northern Territory to an Aboriginal mother and a white father. At an early age she was taken from her mother, sent first to a mission in Northern Territory and then later to Adelaide in South Australia where she lived with different families. She explains that she was one of the Stolen Generation, and describes her life growing up with non-Aboriginal families and her search for her surviving relatives.' Sources: www.erapublications.com/ and https://products.schools. (...more)
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  • Unsung Hero, by Trish Albert

    image of person or book cover
    This image has been sourced from online.

    'Written for upper primary students this book tells the story of Eddie Albert who joined the Army in 1940, enlisting in North Queensland. Eddie gives an account of a battle he was in, was captured by the Germans and taken to a number of prison camps in Italy. He returned home safely in 1945, married and had children and was reunited with his brother. Eddie’s story is contextualised in the social history of the time, both before and after the war, including the story of his removal from his mother.

    (...more)
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  • Home to Mother, by Doris Pilkington Garimara and illustrated by Janice Lyndon

    image of person or book cover
    Image courtesy of UQP
    Molly, Gracey and Daisy are on the run, determined to escape the confinement of a government institution for Aboriginal children removed from their families. Barefoot, without provisions or maps, tracked by Native Police and search planes, the girls follow the rabbit-proof fence 1,600 kilometres north, knowing it would lead them home. Source: Publisher's blurb. (...more)
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  • Malanbarra, by Romayne Weare

    Image courtesy of Magabala Books

    'An action packed novel set in North Queensland, based on a true story. A boy and girl are on the run, chased by the police who want to take them from their mother. Their father, escaped from prison, is rallying local tribes for full scale warfare. An excellent account of the interactions between Indigenous people and white settlers.' (Source: TROVE)

    (...more)
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  • Idjhil : And the Land Cried for its Lost Soul, written and illustrated by Helen Bell

    image of person or book cover
    This image has been sourced from online.
    The story of an Aboriginal boy who, at the age of nine, is taken from his family in accordance with official government policy at the time, based on the memories and experiences of people still alive in 1996. Source: Libraries Australia (Sighted 08/04/2009). (...more)
    See full AustLit entry
  • Mission Times, by Dolly Loogatha, and compiled by Cassy Nancarrow, with illustrations by students at the Mornington Island State School

    image of person or book cover
    This image has been sourced from online.

    'In the 1940s Dolly was a girl in the dormitory on Mornington Island. Then as a teenager she was sent to the mainland to work as a domestic on several stations. She tells of some of the things that happened - some funny, some shocking, some sad.' (Source: Online)

    (...more)
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  • Down the Hole, Up the Tree, Across the Sandhills : Running From the State and Daisy Bates, by Edna Tantjingu Williams and Eileen Wani Wingfield, illustrated by Kunyi June-Anne McInerney

    image of person or book cover
    Cover image courtesy of publisher.
    'In the stark desert mining town of Coober Pedy when the government people came to take the fair-skinned Aboriginal children away they didn't always find them. They were down the hole up the tree across the sandhills . . . running from the State and Daisy Bates. This beautifully illustrated children's picture book is a true story. Includes informative historical and cultural supplementary material.' Source: Publisher's blurb (...more)
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  • Bush Games and Knucklebones, by Doris Kartinyeri and illustrated by Kunyi June-Anne McInerney

    image of person or book cover
    This image has been sourced from online.
    "Bush Games and Knucklebones is a very special collaboration between best-selling author Doris Kartinyeri and well-known artist Kunyi June-Anne McInerney, who both spent time at Colebrook Childrens' home in South Australia in the 1950s." (Magabala Books website) (...more)
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  • Stolen Girl, by Trina Saffioti and illustrated by Norma MacDonald

    Courtesy of Magabal Books

    'The story of the nameless fictional character in Stolen Girl, carefully and cautiously points out through text and images, the differences between life in the home she removed to (dorm life, routines, no family) to the family life she misses and dreams about (storytelling around the campfire, mornings with her mother on their verandah, fishing and swimming in the river).' Source: Heiss, Anita. Anita Heiss Blog, 14 March 2011. Sighted 16/3/2011)

    (...more)
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  • Who Am I? : The Diary of Mary Talence : Sydney, 1937, by Anita Heiss

    image of person or book cover
    Cover image courtesy the Author.
    Mary was taken to Bomaderry Aboriginal Children's Home when she was only five years old. Now she's ten years old and living with a white family in Sydney. She doesn't fit in and starts to question why. We live Mary's emotional, psychological and physical journey through her twelve months of diary entries, explaining the collective story of the those members of the Stolen Generation removed under policies of Protection in NSW. The diary format helps to transport readers back through time to 1938 and the lead up to the Sesquintennary and the Day of Mourning Conference and protest in Sydney. (...more)
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