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Torres Strait Islanders

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Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders are the Indigenous people of Australia who have lived on this land for thousands of years. They have a strong spiritual belief that closely ties them to their homeland of Australia. As Europeans settled on their homeland and started to gain control over the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders, they started to view the Indigenous people as inferior to them which gathered an opinion for them to either accustom to the white community or to die out. This outlook towards the Indigenous communities resulted to families being torn apart as children were taken away and put into missions that would teach them behaviours acceptable in the white society which had a great impact on individuals in the future. …show more content…

The mass removal had also quite an impact on Indigenous communities as many of their traditions and cultures were disrupted. In the missions, they should have experienced some level of respect but it was the opposite, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children experienced abuse, neglect and mistreatment in the camps. An example of this is a testimony from Bill Simon who was a part of Kinchela Boys Home in New South Wales, “So, we were just little kids who were flogged, beaten, sent up the line, everyone had to hit you, about 100 guys had to hit you” (The Stolen Generations’ Testimonies, n.d.). Many children had developed many psychological issues after their time in the missions and institutes as they experienced many physical and sexual abuse in their homes. They feel out of place and shameful of their heritage, and were never experienced any parenting affections that they would have had if they were not taken away (Australians Together, n.d.). Their life in those missions had affected them greatly that members of the Stolen Generation had turned towards alcohol and drug abuse. Many Aboriginal women had offsprings and they were most likely taken away to be put in the systems since of their mother’s inability to take care of them properly due to the fact that they did not witness any type of parental caring behaviour during most of their early life (Read 2006, p.25). A quote from an anonymous (??) mentioned in the Bringing Them Home: Report, explains how much damage was made to the many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children’s sense of identity and

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