Aborigines

1. The westerners and Aborigines began interacting in Australia around 1788 when the English first started to arrive.
2. The Australians were very cruel towards the Aborigines. Since the Australians felt that the Aborigines did not have a set government or a a dsesignated area of land, they told them to move. The English also brought them various diseases such as smallpox, measles, venereal disease, influenza, whooping cough, pneumonia, and tuberculosis, which the Aborigines were not used to. This lead many of them to die. The new Australian whites also decided to cut down forest and bring their own animals in order to take control of the land.
3. The Lost Generation is made up of about 100,000 Aborigine children who were taken from their parents and then given to white families in order to try and bring them into the white culture.
4. Being a part of the Lost Generation can definitely negatively affect you throughout the rest of your life. You will never know who your real parents are and that can often lead you to feel like you have been missing something since birth. Many people also feel like they have been mistreated since they were taken away and yet have not received an apology.
5.Many families still feel like they are missing something ever since they were taken away. Although the government did try and offer money, the stolen generation did not accept. People still know they have lost their lives and they will never get them back.
6. An official apology needs to be made simply because the Aborigines were here first. You cannot take someones land and then later when you realize what you did, hide and pretend like everything is back to normal. These people were hurt badly when they were taken from their families and although nothing will ever fully compensate them, an apology would help.