BY RUTH RATCLIFFE
Between Two Worlds
At the National Archives
Kelsey Crescent, Millner, Darwin
Tuesdays and Wednesdays 9am-noon, until May 31
Group bookings at other times by appointment
DARWIN — In 1939, the year Prime Minister John Howard was born, it was government policy to remove all children of part-Aboriginal descent from their families. Between 1912 and the early 1960s, it is estimated that this policy resulted in two out of three Aboriginal children being separated from their families for some time, if not forever.
As Alec Kruger, one of the stolen children who contributed his story to the Between Two Worlds exhibition presently running in Darwin, said: "A lot of people say to me, 'you should forget these things now, things of the past'. But to me it's not the past. I reckon this should be told to them about what happened in the past."
Between Two Worlds tells the story of the stolen generations in a comprehensive and very moving way, with collection of photos, personal testimonies and official documents, and sound recordings.
In 1911, Australia was firmly in the grip of racial paranoia. Public discussion of the so-called "half-caste problem" in the north was shaped by social Darwinism: the idea that Aboriginal children of part-descent were superior to full-descent children and had to be "rescued" from Aboriginal ways.
White researchers and journalists wrongly stated that these children were excluded from Aboriginal societies. In fact, children of part-descent were fully integrated into Aboriginal kinship networks and had access to healthy, stimulating and caring environments while they remained with their Aboriginal families. The policy of stealing and institutionalising Aboriginal children stranded them "between two worlds".
Institutions such as Kahlin Compound in Darwin and the Bungalow in Alice Springs were built in the early 1900s and a network of Aboriginal "protectors" (usually the local cop) raided Aboriginal camps and abducted the children. The racist inhumanity of this process is exemplified in an account by a police officer who stole children from Wave Hill station. He offered the mothers dress material and the children sweets to soothe the trauma of their separation.
The physical conditions of their new "homes" were abominable and they quickly became grossly overcrowded; there were not enough mattresses or blankets. The exhibition includes recordings of former inmates describing the meagre amount and quality of the food provided. They tell of being forbidden to ask for more and explain that they had the choice of crying themselves to sleep with hunger or stealing food and risking a flogging.
One horrifying illustration of the attitudes fostered by this policy is a photo of an advertisement from a southern newspaper displaying several Aboriginal girls "in need of homes". The particular copy of the advertisement was sent back with the following words written on it: "I like the little girl in the middle but if she is taken any will do as long as they are strong."
There is a series of publicity shots of several homes and missions that were used by the Australian government for international promotion during the 1950s. These glossy, stage-managed shots show healthy, smiling children in the latest fashions being taught football or learning cookery in a kitchen that looks like a TV set. These photos stand out, as they are some of the very few in which children in the homes are smiling. Appearing among the final exhibits, they seem like a sick joke.
It occurred to me that there might be a book of these photos in the cabinet meeting room that Howard and his minister for racism Philip Ruddock flick through to reinforce their white-blindfold view of history. Ruddock certainly wasn't prepared to take off his blindfold on his last visit to Darwin, which coincided with the opening of Between Two Worlds. Needless to say, the pace of the minister's schedule prevented him from attending.
Between Two Worlds has been on a tour of Australia since 1993 and has been seen by at least half a million people. It was created in response to one of the key recommendations of the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody — that information be made available which would allow indigenous people to re-establish links with their families.
However, the vast majority of that commission's recommendations have not been fulfilled. Government policy has gone in exactly the opposite direction — particularly the mandatory sentencing laws of WA and NT. These racist laws are creating another stolen generation — a "jail generation".
I left Between Two World's wondering if, in the future, there would be similarly distressing photo exhibitions documenting the horror mandatory sentencing is inflicting on indigenous communities.