Clio or Janus? Historians and the stolen generations

The Stolen Generations: competing histories

“…According to this essay, a key reason behind this continued high rate of removal of Indigenous children from their families is a failure to come to terms with the complexity of the Stolen Generations. This conclusion builds on the work of Bain Attwood (2001) and(2008), Robert Manne (2001), Heather Goodall (2002), Peter Read (2002) and Partick Wolfe (2006).…”

Bringing the Truth Home: the role of oral history and testimony in building and fragmenting Australian collective history and the Stolen Generations

“…The issue of Australian collective history and memory has been difficult since stories of the Stolen Generations began to emerge. The 'central truth' of child removal policies has since been littered with 'small truths', personal and localised accounts from those who experienced such policies (Read 2002). For the most part, the evidence gathered from the Bringing Them Home Inquiry, the largest study of the separation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children from their families, were oral testimonies.…”

Stolen hearts, Stolen Generations

“…Such themes become central to the collective memory of Aboriginal experiences of assimilation policies, and work to support the legacy of Stolen. In a sense, the experiences portrayed in Stolen resemble the small truths that augment the 'central truths' that define the parameters of historical reporting (Read 2002). Having undergone the generational reverberations of Aboriginal storytelling in theatre, what has remained fixed is the play's broader socio-cultural context.…”