Tasmania tries to right wrongs of 'Stolen Generation'

SYDNEY - Eddie Thomas was just a few months old when the white people came and took him away. They took his brother and sister, too. The children's grandmother had been looking after them, following the death of their mother after Thomas's birth.

The three young Aborigines were taken from Cape Barren Island, off the northeast coast of Tasmania, and placed in state care in Launceston, on the Tasmanian mainland. Thomas, now 70, was separated from his siblings and brought up in foster families, where he was beaten and "treated like a slave", he said.

His grandmother was prevented from visiting them.

"There used to be this old lady come to the gate and our foster mother would say, 'that's just a silly old black woman' and take us inside," he told the Australian newspaper.

"It wasn't until I was old enough to go to work that I met up with an uncle who told me that was my grandmother. She wanted to talk to us, to cuddle us, but she wasn't allowed. She died of a broken heart."

Thomas is a member of the "Stolen Generation" - one of thousands of Aboriginal children forcibly removed from their families and assimilated into white society under an policy introduced early last century and not abandoned until 1975. Australia's treatment of its indigenous people remains a running sore, and the plight of the Stolen Generation is a principal reason.

A landmark national inquiry nine years ago concluded that the policy amounted to genocide. Prime Minister John Howard, who had just come to power then, has yet to apologise on behalf of his predecessors. Survivors have not received a cent in damages.

That is about to change, in Tasmania at least, following the unveiling yesterday by the state premier, Paul Lennon, of a A$5 million ($5.7 million) compensation package.

For Lennon, it represents a vital step on the road to reconciliation between black and white Australia.

"It's about recognising that, in Tasmania's history, Aboriginal people were dispossessed from their land, severed from their culture and taken from their families," he said.

"It's about saying that we're sorry that this happened."

The funds will be made available to Tasmanian Aborigines who were separated from their parents, or, in the case of those already dead, to their children. An independently appointed assessor will judge each claim against set criteria. One-off payments of up to $5000 per person and $20,000 per family will be made to relatives. The rest of the fund will be divided among surviving members of the Stolen Generation.

Whether other states and territories, and more importantly the federal Government, will follow Lennon's lead remains to be seen. But it seems fitting that Tasmania, the island state separated from the mainland by the Bass Strait, should set an example.

Within 70 years of the first convict settlement being established on the Derwent River in 1803, much of Tasmania's indigenous population had been wiped out.

Between 40 and 125 people are expected to be eligible for compensation.

Nationally, it is thought that about 10,000 Aboriginal children were removed from their families by welfare agencies.

Shameful chapter of Australia's past

Stolen generation
Thousands of Aboriginal children were forcibly removed from their families and assimilated into white society under an official policy introduced early last century and not abandoned until 1975.

White Australia
The policy was conceived in response to the perceived threat to "White Australia".

Breeding out colour
Its aim was to integrate children into the mainstream and eventually "breed out" their colour.

State genocide
An inquiry concluded the policy amounted to genocide.

No apology
Prime Minister John Howard, who had just come to power then, has yet to apologise on behalf of his predecessors.

No compensation
Survivors have not received a cent in damages.

Tasmania acts
$5.7 million will be made available to Tasmanian Aborigines who have been affected by the policy.

Payments
One-off payments of up to $5000 per person and $20,000 per family will be made to relatives. The rest will be divided among surviving members of the Stolen Generation.

- INDEPENDENT