“ it never goes away, just cause were not walking around on cruthches or with bandages or plasters on our legs and arms doesn’t mean we’re not hurting….i suspect ill carry these sorts of wounds til the

day I die. Id just like to be not quite as intense that’s all” bringing them home pg 178

Many non indigenous Australian's were aware of the removal but were certainly not aware of the how many indigenous people were affected by the past assimilation polices or the level of abuse that many children had suffered.

“there is no black or white, we are both of those. I am black and I am white. We were the product of white men raping our traditional women. We were an embarrasement. No one wanted us. They just wanted us

out of the way” zita wallace, taken aged eight years old

The Authorities thought that the Aboriginal Parents would neglect them

“I grew up feeling alone, a black girl in a white world, and I resented them for trying to make me white but they

couldn’t wash away thousands of years of dreaming” aunty Rhonda Collard, a member of the stolen generations.

The most lyrical and moving expressions of the sorrow and despair of the stolen generations has been given by the singer song writer Archie Roach.

Took the children away became an anthem for many aboriginal people who identify strongly with its story.

“We cant measure the depths of each others suffering

when you suffer, that’s the worse suffering in the world” Archie roach

“The welfare and the policemanSaid you've got to understandWe'll give them what you can't giveTeach them how to really live. “

Took the children away

In the early 20th century white Australians thought that aboriginal people would die out.

In three generations they thought, aboriginal genes would have been “bred out”, when aboriginal women had children with white men

• On the 13th of February 2008 the new prime minister Kevin Rudd officially apologised to the stolen generations on behalf of the government.