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The tragedy of the "stolen generation" Stolen, directed by Wesley Enoch, written by Jane Harrison By Gabriela Notaras 25 July 2000 Use this version to print Stolen is an honest and compassionate work that traces the lives of five Aboriginal children removed from their families in the 1960s under official Australian government policy. Written by Jane Harrison, the play dramatises the fear, persecution and desolation felt by the children and their families, and demonstrates the ongoing physical and psychological impact of this policy on generations of Aboriginal people. Harrison and all the cast are of Aboriginal descent. Pauline Whyman, one of the actresses, is the last of 11 children who were stolen from her family of 15. Following Britain's colonisation of Australia in 1788, Aborigines were hunted like animals from their tribal lands and by the early part of the 20th century reduced to desperate poverty. Considered to be a race that served no useful purpose, the government sought to eliminate all traces of Aborigines and their culture. Aboriginal children who were “half-caste” would be removed from their families and placed in mission or welfare homes, ostensibly to provide them with a better standard of living and an education. These children, it was hoped, would then assimilate and intermarry into mainstream society. As A.O. Neville, Western Australian Protector of Aborigines, declared at a 1937 conference: “Are we to have a population of 1,000,000 blacks in the Commonwealth or are we going to merge them into our white community and eventually forget that there were any Aborigines in Australia?” This process was assisted by the church, which ran the missions where, it has now been revealed, many children were subjected to physical, psychological and sexual abuse. The children were given little or no education and often went hungry. They suffered the same fate at the hands of employers, who put them to work as farm hands or domestic helpers. The policy of removing children continued until the 1960s. Stolen, which is set in a welfare home for stolen children, opens with the five characters, each holding a suitcase and standing on a sparse, half-lit stage, with a didgeridoo droning ominously in the background. After several minutes, the lights brighten and the characters, as children, begin unpacking and talking, while taking in the drab surroundings of their new home. The play proceeds through a series of episodes rather than a straightforward linear plot. This helps to provide a concrete picture of each individual whilst demonstrating how being separated from their families has affected their lives. The only props are five iron institutional beds and a green filing cabinet. Letters are taken from the cabinet during the play and read aloud.
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