Forced Child Removal and the Politics of National Apologies in Australia

Abstract

In the years between 1992 and 2008 when a formal apology was finally delivered to the Indigenous Stolen Generations, the issue of Indigenous child removal cast a long shadow over Australian culture and society. In 2009 a further national apology -to former child migrants and institutionalised children -was delivered; and, in February 2012, a report of a Senate Committee of inquiry into past adoption practices recommended a national apology to the victims of past adoption in this country. The space of apology has been transformed from one focused on Indigenous-settler relations to a crowded space focused on the suffering associated with child removal. In this paper, we consider the unfolding politics of reconciliation in Australia, and its progressive de-Indigenisation. We conclude that the progressive universalisation of suffering in Australian apology politics, which comes at the cost of sustained engagement with the issues of race-and gender -based power, is damaging to the project of reconciliation and points to an immaturity in Australian politics which must be overcome if genuine reconciliation is to be achieved.

No-man's Land: Adoption Storied Through the Aotearoa/New Zealand Adoption Act 1955

“…The practice of secrecy was important to 'protect' the birth mother and her family from the shame of her weak moral character (Gediman & Brown, 1991;Murphy et al, 2009). The complete break strategy was maintained through the social power relations that constitute women's sexuality and reproduction as uncontrollable (Bartky, 1988;Cuthbert & Quartly, 2013;Kitzinger, 1992;Sawicki, 1999;Ussher, 1997). Mothers of illegitimate children were 'fallen' women who were unable to be contained within bodily contradictions: maternal and evil, weak and powerful.…”

“…At the same time, the Australian Government conceded its discriminatory adoption practices by offering an apology and compensation to unwed mothers for their immeasurable suffering, as they were coerced, bullied and terrorised into relinquishing their babies from the 1940s onward. Within the contemporary geopolitical landscape of Australia, there has emerged a climate of apology that sought to redress the abuses of government policies that produced what is known as the 'stolen generation' of aboriginal children and the national shame of breaches of indigenous rights (Cuthbert & Quartly, 2013;. By 2012, inquiries into the removal and mistreatment of children had extended into the culturally and legally constituted governance of the forced removal of children for adoption and led to the inclusion of adoptees and their birth mothers into 'the space of national apology and regret in Australia' (Cuthbert & Quartly, 2013, p. 179).…”

No‐man's Land: Adoption Storied Through the Aotearoa/New Zealand Adoption Act 1955

“…The practice of secrecy was important to ‘protect’ the birth mother and her family from the shame of her weak moral character (Gediman & Brown, ; Murphy et al, ). The complete break strategy was maintained through the social power relations that constitute women's sexuality and reproduction as uncontrollable (Bartky, ; Cuthbert, Murphy, & Quartly, ; Cuthbert & Quartly, ; Kitzinger, ; Sawicki, ; Ussher, ). Mothers of illegitimate children were ‘fallen’ women who were unable to be contained within bodily contradictions: maternal and evil, weak and powerful.…”

“…At the same time, the Australian Government conceded its discriminatory adoption practices by offering an apology and compensation to unwed mothers for their immeasurable suffering, as they were coerced, bullied and terrorised into relinquishing their babies from the 1940s onward. Within the contemporary geopolitical landscape of Australia, there has emerged a climate of apology that sought to redress the abuses of government policies that produced what is known as the ‘stolen generation’ of aboriginal children and the national shame of breaches of indigenous rights (Cuthbert & Quartly, ; Murphy, Quartly, & Cuthbert, ). By 2012, inquiries into the removal and mistreatment of children had extended into the culturally and legally constituted governance of the forced removal of children for adoption and led to the inclusion of adoptees and their birth mothers into ‘the space of national apology and regret in Australia’ (Cuthbert & Quartly, , p. 179).…”

The link between improved mental health outcomes for Indigenous Australians and relationships: what is the role of mental health nurses?

“…One reason for these lower levels of health and social indices is the unresolved grief carried by many Indigenous peoples, a consequence of the multiple layers of trauma traversing numerous generations, experienced since colonisation (Burke ). Such traumatic events include genocide, forced removal from traditional lands, forced removal of children, and ongoing racial discrimination (Cuthbert & Quartly ). This, in turn, has led to a loss of identity or sense of belonging for many Indigenous peoples; as well as a loss of connectedness between Indigenous families, communities, social environments, and the culture or ‘Aboriginal world’ in which Indigenous peoples live (Mohatt et al .…”