Australia says "Oopsie!" for 60 year Eugenics Program
BBC
Mon February 11, 2008
A Welsh woman taken from her mixed-race parents as a baby by the Australian government has welcomed a planned apology for the "stolen generations".
Leonie Pope, 35, who was brought up in Cwmbran, Torfaen, was removed from her white father and Aboriginal mother when they took their daughter to hospital.
It was part of an Australian policy to force assimilation between Aboriginal and white communities.
Australia's prime minister is due to formally apologise to people affected.
During the policy, thousands of Aboriginal children were forcibly taken from their parents between 1910 and 1970 and given to white families or institutions to raise.
In that period it is estimated that 10-30% of indigenous children were forcibly removed from their families by government agencies in an attempt to "breed out" their Aborigine blood and give them a better life.
Under a motion proposed on Tuesday by Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, the country's parliament would apologise to Aborigines for "profound grief" and "the indignity and degradation" caused by the policies of past governments.
His administration has described the apology as a "first, necessary step to move forward from the past".
Mother-of-three Ms Pope, who lived in Cwmbran before moving back to Australia last year, said she was removed from her parents after they were tricked into believing she had died in hospital and her remains had been disposed of.
But she had in fact been adopted and taken to Wales where her adopted parents were told her biological mother had abandoned her at hospital.
Ms Pope said she found the discovery that she was one of the stolen generations "devastating".
"I still feel as dumbfounded as I did on the first day that I found out [about the stolen generations], as to why they felt that it would work," she said.
"I'm not sure [the apology] will bring me complete closure. It does create acceptance and healing but I think the fight for the stolen generation still has a long way to go.
Decade of refusals
"From a historical point of view, it will make a remarkable day in history."
But she said the planned apology was a welcome step by the Australian government.
"For me this does bring a sense of healing, an acknowledgement that the stolen generation did happen," she added.
The proposed motion was due to be put to a vote on Wednesday, and was certain to pass because it has the support of the government and the main opposition parties.
It would overturn a decade of refusals by the previous government to offer an apology.
It makes no mention of paying compensation for past wrongs - as some indigenous leaders have demanded.
Mr Rudd has said that instead of offering compensation his government will be determined to improve the living standards of all Aborigines.
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