The Lost Children: Thirteen Australians Taken from Their Aboriginal Families Tell of the Struggle to Find Their Natural ParentsCoral Edwards, Peter Read 'I just remember coming home from school and Mum was at the door, and there was this car on the road outside. There was this white woman standing there and I can hear Mum saying, "Can't you give me time to get the kids ready?" And she said "No, they've got to go now"... We were whisked away really quickly and there was only Mum there. We were never told why we were taken.' JEAN CARTERIn Australia today there may be 100 000 people of Aboriginal descent who do not know their families or communities. They are the 'stolen generations'-- people who grew up in institutions or in white families, knowing nothing of their Aboriginal history or culture.THE LOST CHILDREN is a powerful and disturbing oral history in which thirteen people describe their early memories of being removed from their parents, of institutions and foster families. In compelling first-hand accounts we learn of their agonising search for their families, their feelings before the first reunion, the problems of trying to love and become part of two families and of their struggle to recapture their Aboriginality.Coral Edwards is the founding co-ordinator of Link-Up (NSW) in Canberra, an organisation which has helped reunite the people feature in THE LOST CHILDREN with their natural families. Coral met her family for the first time when she was 30 years of age, having been removed from them as a baby.Peter Read is a Research Fellow at the Australian National University in Canberra, a former Link-Up worker and the author of DOWN THERE WITH ME ON THE COWRA MISSION and A HUNDRED YEARS OF WAR.'We have to find a way of living together in this country, and that will only come when our hearts, minds and wills are set towards reconciliation... For those with time to read and patience to listen, I commend this book.' SALLY MORGAN'At long last the historians of Australia are beginning to look at Australian history through the eyes of the Aborigines... Coral Edwards and Peter Read have collected the stories of the victims in one of the many tragic moments in our history since 1788. This story is a message for our times.' MANNING CLARK |
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