From the middle of the 19th century until the 1970s, children from Australian Aboriginal families were being systematically removed by state authorities. These children, known today as the Stolen Generations, were placed in institutions, missions and white families after they were taken away, in an attempt to integrate them into so-called white society and to distance them from Aboriginal culture, which the authorities considered inferior. The consequences of these removals proved to be profoundly negative for the individuals removed, many of whom are still alive today, as well as for their descendants and other relatives. These consequences thus remain strongly visible among the Aboriginal population today, and the traumatic memories of the policy of child removal continue to be faced by thousands of Australians every day, despite the efforts made by the Australian authorities to mitigate its effects over the past decades.
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