English

Proper noun

Stolen Generation

1. (Australia, mass noun) Collectively, those Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people who as children who were removed from their families by government agencies or church missions, between approximately 1869 and (officially) 1969.
   • 2006, Gary Bouma, Australian Soul: Religion and Spirituality in the 21st Century, page 116,

     This loss of trust probably extends to welfare agencies tarnished by paternalism, patriarchalism and association with the Stolen Generation.

   • 2006, Helen Calvert, Jenny Herbst, Ross Smith, Australia and the World: Thinking Historically, page 198,

     Marge Tucker′s 1970 autobiography, If Everybody Cared, was the first by one of the Stolen Generation.

   • 2009, Michelle Pieper, Chapter 16: Sharing My Strengths and Winning against Obesity, Catherine A. Marshall, Elizabeth Kendall, Reva Mariah S. Gover, Disabilities: Insights from Across Fields and Around the World, page 211,

     I remember the stories grandma used to tell us around the fire or when it was bedtime of how she was a part of the stolen generation and how she made her way back home again.

   • 2009, Charles Rawlings-Way, Sydney, Lonely Planet, page 24,

     Around 100,000 children comprised the stolen generation, who were separated from their mothers and fathers in this way, causing untold stress and damage to the nation′s indigenous community.

   • 2010, Jennifer Master, Nicola Yelland, Changing Learning Ecologies: Social Media for Cyber-citizens, Shaheen Shariff, Andrew H. Churchill (editors), Truths and Myths of Cyber-Bullying, page 237,

     While most of the children reacted with sympathy for the Stolen Generation, they also appreciated the significance of the event, with comments such as “I′m glad that they made a sorry day and are saying sorry like good people and not protenting (sic) it never happened.”

Alternative forms

• stolen generation

Noun

Stolen Generation ‎(plural Stolen Generations)

1. (Australia, chiefly in the plural) Collectively, those Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people who as children who were removed from their families within a given generation (average amount of time before a child takes the place of its parents).
   • 2004, Felicity Collins, Therese Davis, Australian Cinema After Mabo, page 145,

     On one level, this image of the reunification of three generations of Aboriginal women offers a satisfying resolution to the story, effectively assuaging social anxieties about past race relations, in particular the issue of the Stolen Generations.

   • 2005, Ken Isaacson, Stephanie Ford, 19: Looking forward—looking back: shaping a future, Claire Smith, H. Martin Wobst (editors), Indigenous Archaeologies: Decolonizing Theory and Practice, page 333,

     Ken′s mother is not the only member of the Stolen Generations to see the need to look back before looking forward.

   • 2010, John Bond, 21: Saying Sorry to the Aborigines: How the media played such a crucial role, Richard L Keeble (editor), Media Values, page 151,

     In many places, radio stations invite Stolen Generations people in the neighbourhood to tell their stories. […] Some of the Stolen Generations sought redress through the courts.

Alternative forms

• stolen generation