1. How did the Western Australia Assimilation Policy originate? - In 1931 the Western Australian Assimilation Policy was passed by the Australian Government. It stated that Aboriginal people of mixed ancestry were to be placed into white society whether they wanted to or not, until they are 16. -The concept was that once you breed a half-caste child with a white person and keep doing that for around 3 generations, then the Aboriginal blood would be purged out of the childs system. This process was called assimilation. -A fringe benefit for the government was that if you take a half-caste child and place it into white society then it may cut off the ties that the child has with their culture, their land and their parents. These …show more content…
Neville, Western Australian Chief Aboriginal Protector
2. How did the Western Australia Assimilation Policy impact the Aborigines, and how did they react? -Obviously, the Aborigines were not okay with this policy, as half-caste children were taken by the government and placed into reserves and into white societies. -The Aborigines were sad about the forced removal of their children, but they couldn’t do much about, as it was the law. They couldn’t protest against it, as that would involve leaving their tribe. So most just attempted to resist the removal of their children
-The movie “Rabbit Proof Fence” is a true story about three half-caste girls who escape from Moore River Camp in Western Australia. -Two of the three girls in the movie were successful in their escape, but many were not. Cruel and unnecessary punishments were used on attempted escapees. -Meanwhile, back in the Aboriginal tribes, the mothers of the half-caste children (most half-caste children were born because of sexual abuse from white men) were terribly affected. They had lost their children in a brash and useless attempt to purge the Aborigines from
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-The Western Australia Assimilation Policy was ended in 1970, 3 years after the introduction of the Aborigines Referendum.
- However, in todays world, the Aboriginal people and half-castes are still discriminated against by racists, white supremacists and other people of this type.
- The Policy was so ingrained in Western Australia that it had the lowest percentage of people voting for the Aborigines Referendum in 1967.
-Even though they were released in 1970, most half-caste people continue to feel inferior due to the forced removal of their identity and their culture.
-Molly, one of the girls that made it back in the Rabbit Proof Fence, had a daughter. One of them was taken away by officials and she was never seen again.
-In the reserves or white societies, half-castes learned white culture and had a lack of acknowledgement towards Aboriginal culture. If they were released and went into their tribes, they would feel inferior as they knew nothing of their own culture or racial identity.
-Half-castes who began to feel very inferior got depressed and turned to suicide as a