The racial laws implemented by the federal government during the stolen generation had detrimental effects on the children and their families in the 1800s to the 1970s. The Stolen Generations refers to a period in Australia’s history where Aboriginal children were removed from their families through government policies. This took place during the mid-1800s to the 1970s. In the 1860s, Victoria became the first state to pass laws authorising Aboriginal children to be removed from their parents. Similar policies were later adopted by other states and territories – and by the federal government when it was established in the 1900s. For decades, thousands of Aboriginal children were systematically taken from their families, communities and culture, …show more content…
They were placed in over 480 institutions, adopted or fostered by non-Indigenous people and often subjected to abuse. The children were denied all access to their culture, they were not allowed to speak their language and they were punished if they did. From the beginning of white settlement great parts of the Australian society were convinced that a black child would not be able to survive in the high developed white society at all. Only to the mixed blooded children were given the chance to assimilate into white society. Many Australians thought that the problem's solution lay in the removal of mixed blooded children from home. The first law which regularised this was the Policy of Assimilation. The government wanted to give those mixed blooded children the chance to assimilate into the white and therefore European culture, religion and society. From their point of view, the problem was that the families of these children had a negative influence on them. Therefore the decision was made to raise these children among Europeans. The aim was that the children would forget their origin. The Whites did not know care or respect the traditions of the Aboriginal