Professor Fiona Stanley's speech at the National Day of Healing,
Parliament House, Canberra, 25 May 2005.

Peter Yu wrote about the stolen generation in The Australian in 2000 in response to suggestions that this wasn’t big enough to be called a ‘generation’ being stolen, ‘Ultimately, this is not an issue of numbers. It is an issue of what is right and what is wrong.’ He went on to mention the practices, policies that led to Aboriginal families being broken up and then went on to say, ‘Until Australian governments (and I add the majority of Australians), can accept the reality of the past and find a way to move forward in partnership with Aboriginal people, the pain in our communities will remain. There must be a dialogue with us.’

Our Telethon Institute for Child Health Research has been having a dialogue with our West Australian Aboriginal people and we have conducted, in partnership with them, the West Australian Aboriginal Child Health Survey (WAACHS). Peter Yu, we now have the numbers; we have now quantified not just the level of removal which was experienced by the carers and grandparents of today’s Aboriginal children in West Australia. We have measured very carefully and with as precise methods as possible, the effects on today’s children and young people. Thus it is the first objective evidence documenting the longer term, population level effects of the official removal of children from their natural parents by governments, missions or welfare in Western Australia.

The data are unique in quantifying the extent of the inter-generational effects of these policies for the health and well being of the children and grandchildren of those who were removed.

As researchers we have known that the pathways to health and wellbeing depend on parents providing a loving, nurturing, safe and educational environment for their children. As researchers we also know that one of the most powerful factors in being such a parent is how well your parents cared for you in the early years of your life. Parents who as children who did not receive the love and care they needed are much less likely to be caring parents themselves. Hence we knew, before doing this study, that the forced removal of children over the 70-80 years of the 20th century would have had a profound effect on the parenting of subsequent generations. BUT WE HAD NOT GOT THE DATA TO PROVE IT.

Aboriginal people knew about the effects of the stolen generation on their individual health, mental health and well being; they knew about the effect on their communities; on the feelings of despair and the need to drink away the pain, and even the impact that it had on the violence which they committed to their own people. The publication of the Royal Commission ‘Bringing them Home - the report of the national enquiry into the separation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children from their families’ by the Human Rights and Equal Opportunities Commission in 1997 was the first documentation of the stories of many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people who had been affected by these policies and it highlighted their devastating effects. But many remained unconvinced about the extent of the damage and this seemed to detract from the important implications of what needed to be done to heal the hurt and acknowledge the trauma.

The WAACHS is a random sample of one in six Aboriginal children and their families throughout all of Western Australia from urban centres to remote communities. It is so large (over 5000 children) and representative that population estimates of health and wellbeing can be reliably estimated and compared between those who were and were not removed AND other factors which protect or increase the resilience of these children can be studied. Because we had so many Aboriginal families agreeing to participate the data are very good.

I will describe very briefly what the survey found in relation to this important issue – of course it has lots of data and recommendations about this and many other aspects of the children’s lives - their health, emotional well being, education, family, community and living conditions and so on.

So how many of today’s 0-17 year old children and young people were affected by the forcible removal of their carers? Overall 12.3% of carers had been removed from their families – ranging from around 5-6% for parents aged less than 30 years, to 12.3% for those aged 30-34 years and going up to18.3% for those aged 35 years and over. Given that the practice of forced removal was supposed to have ceased by the 1950s, it is clear that the practice continued well into the 1970s and beyond in Western Australia.

Our survey found effects on the carers – with higher rates of alcohol consumption and gambling, twice as likely to have been arrested or charged, half as likely to have someone with whom they could share their problems, and much more likely to have contact with psychological/mental health services. The effects on the children – the next generation – were also profound. They are twice as likely to have emotional and behavioural problems, to be at high risk for hyperactivity, emotional and conduct disorders, and twice as likely to abuse alcohol and drugs.

Dr Helen Milroy was one of the Aboriginal researchers involved in the survey –she is the only Aboriginal Child and Adolescent psychiatrist in Australia and we are very privileged to have her wisdom and experience in the team. She describes the trans-generational effects of trauma, including difficulties making the crucial attachments with primary caregivers, the impact of that on parenting and family functioning, the association with physical and mental illness, the alienation from family, culture and society. All these are further increased by the continuing levels of trauma and stress which many of the survey children suffered. And – I quote – ‘When children hear the stories of the mistreatment of their mothers and grandmothers, they may well despair at how the world stood by and watched the disintegration of their kin and the continuing denial of Aboriginal history.’

New research on chronic stress and its effects on brain development in the early years explains the biology of how the adverse treatment of parents has been passed on to their children with resulting mental illness, emotional and behavioural problems, crime and possibly even heart disease. Any of us in similar circumstances would have been likely to have similar outcomes.

However Aboriginal children and youth appear to be enormously resilient. Despite the level of historical and current stress and life problems, many appear to overcome these and achieve far better than expected. Helen reported from her own clinical experience of treating Aboriginal children – ‘As a child and adolescent psychiatrist I observe many psychological strengths even in some of the most traumatised children. These include children’s sense of autonomy early in life, their ability to understand psychological issues, their capacity for humour and their general creativity and playfulness evident in their love of drama, art and imagery. They have a strong sense of commitment to their siblings and family. The very fact that Aboriginal peoples are the oldest living culture and have survived the impact of colonisation is testimony to their resilience and the elders must have passed this on to the children of today.’

A recent Australian government monograph on the promotion of mental services said, ‘There is a special need for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander parents to recognise their vast collective and personal parenting resources, inherited from family and community across generations. These resources are all inclusive and not discriminating in their practice, and these are particular strengths on which to build.’ It is incredible, given the extent and impact of the stolen generation and other damaging circumstances that so many Aboriginal parents still have this capacity.

As Helen writes, ‘So many Aboriginal children not only have a wounded soul from the layers of grief and loss that have torn away at their connections in life. Yet so many of these children can still experience the joy in life and warm our hearts.’
The health and psychological burdens within the Aboriginal community are very large given the size of their population. Yet as so few Australians are Aboriginal the percentage is, and the numbers are, very small when viewed from the whole Australian population. This perspective should foster hope and determination in those responsible to prevent disease, promote health and treat disease.

Now that we have solid scientific data on the effects of the forced removal on today’s children what does that mean for us here in this hall gathered together to acknowledge and heal?

I believe that all Australians acknowledge that Aboriginal people have on average, worse outcomes in health and social situations. I do not believe that most acknowledge that the history of colonisation, and its aftermath including the forced removal of children, has been the most significant reason for today’s picture of health and other problems. I also believe that few Australians realise that an important part of the way forward and the solutions to today’s Aboriginal problems will come from acknowledging and managing the historical pathways to poor outcomes.

The evidence is overwhelming of the effects of losses of culture, land, voice, population, parents, children on current health, education, employment, substance abuse, mental illness, poor social participation and crime. The evidence is overwhelming of the impact of racism, discrimination, and marginalisation on self-esteem, substance abuse, domestic violence, child abuse and the reluctance to use mainstream services for health, family support, housing and legal issues which could help them with many of these problems. The evidence now is clear that there has been intergenerational disadvantage and poor health.

Solutions therefore must acknowledge these historical pathways and that is why today is such an important activity. Solutions must also acknowledge that whilst Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples were our First Nations, they are no longer the dominant or defining culture. How can we as Australians bring our two cultures together? How can we value Indigenous knowledge about land, children, families, development of life skills, to make our combined Australian culture better?

I would like to read you a paragraph from a magazine I found in a Sydney hotel which was describing what you could do in Sydney – this bit was the introduction to the Bangarra Dance Company.

‘You may have noticed that many tourist brochures feature some reference to Australia’s indigenous population. An Aborigine in traditional costume playing the didgeridoo against a backdrop of red sand, or a rock painting set off by a sunrise – from these portrayals you could be forgiven for thinking that Aboriginal Australians are only relevant to Australia’s history, not its present. Indigenous people and their culture are freeze-framed in the distant past, with a glossy coating of the noble savage applied and more modern complexities – like issues of land rights, displacement and the marginal position of Aborigines in Australian society – simply excluded from the picture-perfect view. But Aboriginal Australians have increasingly managed to escape the box into which they have been placed; one of the most noticeable ways that they have achieve this is through their presence in Australia’s thriving arts scene (some may disagree that it is thriving!). Using dance, theatre, music and cinema, Aboriginal people can reach a wide audience both at home and internationally. The very nature of such performances and the diversity of voices means that the concept of Aboriginality is allowed to be dynamic, complex, individual and multi-faceted. Through the arts, Aboriginal Australians can reveal their culture as healthy and vital, not a relic of the past.’

I was thrilled to read this as other aspects of Aboriginal culture and thinking are also alive, capable of adaptation and incorporation or to walk in parallel with other knowledge systems. I started to think about how much more we could, as a nation, value and appreciate our Aboriginal history and culture and both use it ourselves as well as showcase it positively to the world. In so doing we would be creating an Australia which in valuing our Aboriginal identity would be creating a healing environment which may start to improve the self-esteem and the mental well being of our First Australians.

Could we consider mandatory welcomes to country for all occasions, welcome signs in all airports and ports in Aboriginal languages with historical panels and Aboriginal paintings, bringing back the singing of a traditional song at the beginning of international rugby matches which we had from 1946 to 1967 (like the Haka in NZ), teaching all our children some Aboriginal songs as is done in New Zealand? And what about a national museum for the stolen generation like the museum of tolerance in Los Angeles?

And being committed to improving health I cannot but also plead for a major attack to reduce Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander deaths at all ages by applying what we know now to provide appropriate levels of medical care, by training many more Aboriginal health professionals (doctors, nurses and others), focussing on early childhood and improving infrastructure in communities including things like really good housing and swimming pools for communities.
I would like to finish by reading from Helen Milroy’s preface to the WAACHS, ‘Restoring life and spirit – recovery from trauma.’

‘Our country and people have suffered many traumas since colonisation, the magnitude of which is beyond words. Looking through trauma is like being trapped in the back of a mirror, there is no reflection of self. It is like being trapped in darkness, unable to see where to go or what is there, surrounded by “not knowing”, paralysed by fear.

‘When we are wounded, our story is disrupted and life becomes fragmented. We may not be able to find our way forward and may start to see life through warped mirrors. We have to understand that trauma is only a part of our story and our story is part of a much greater story that has a different beginning, is enduring and will continue well beyond our lifetime.
‘To have integrity of existence we need to have an integrated experience throughout so that we do not isolate pockets of our life, disconnected from present reality, and so that we do not live in two worlds but can maintain an essence of continuity throughout our existence on this earth. We cannot play parts without understanding the whole story of Australia.

‘Part of the problem in healing is being able to put all the parts together again as there are still too many of us missing. To survive as peoples distinct in culture, we have to restore the collective. The individual may not be able to carry the survival of the culture into eternity but the collective can.

‘We can return to the dreaming to heal, to rest for a while and have our spirit restored, to find our place on the serpent and recover our purpose in this life. We have to trust that we will be cared for until we can walk again, taking sustenance from the tree of life that has sustained us over generations. Our ancestors watch and wait patiently for our return. They are like the clouds that roll through the sky coming to greet us and shed tears for our wounds, holding us within a teardrop, soothed and bathed in this healing water.

‘Then a new day will dawn and our ancestral guides will once again set us on our journey through life. To recover, we have to allow the sun to shed light and warmth on dark places and assist our wounds to heal. We have to shatter these warped mirrors and find our true reflection of self, spirit and country. We have to stand together, united and proud.

‘We may not always have control over what happens to us in life, but we do have control over truth. The ultimate control we have is the coherence and continuity of our own story.

‘To live without spirit is to sleep without dreams and wake to oblivion.’