Anglais

...

development of the eugenics and the social darwinisme theories (which said that the mix

between settlers and aborigines led to the end of the settlers race because of the

development of métis) led to a law adoption.

Indeed, this law adopted in 1869 concerned the Aboriginal kids and said that Aboriginal kids

could be taken from their families in order to be placed in white families. As we saw in the movie «

Rabbit-Proof Fence » the aim of the government was also to marry young Aboriginal or métis

women with white men in order to make disappear any traces of interbreeding. In 1901 Australia

became a federal State but, they did not stop this policy before 1969. In his testimony (document 5),

Bill Simon said «they told Mum to pass the kids up and pass the little baby up and give him to me

so that I could go out in the car and sit in the car and wait for them...And see, that was the last time I

ever, ever seen Dad». His testimony could make people understand the impact and the pain that

Aboriginal kids felt. However when Bill Simon said in his testimony «I lost everything» an other

Aboriginal said «The love was mutual ... I know my foster parents were the type of

people that always understood that I needed to know my roots...» (document 4). The testimonies

were widely varied, some showed a real trauma and other showed they were happy but, the long

term impact was and still is today the breakdown of parental links. In her autobiography, Sally

Morgan related her life as an Aboriginal woman. She related for example the moment when she

discovered that she was aboriginal and the fact that her sister said when they were young she was

Indian because she was ashamed. This autobiographical novel allow us to understand the rejection

that Aboriginal suffered during the 1960s. This sentence «The end result is a deep sorrow in the

psyche or spirit for many Aboriginal» (document 5) summarized perfectly the serious consequences

of this policy yet forgotten by many.

To conclude, as Shakespeare said « Nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so ». Some

people believed that the British colonisation was good for Australia and other believed that it was just a

proof of the British imperialism. These colonisation had a real social impact because it they imposed the

eugenics and the social darwinism theories as the truth. However, Aborigines gained their citizenship during

the 1960s and in 2008, the Australian government admitted the facts and publicly apologized. Today, the

Aboriginal people total only 270 000 out of a population of 18 million and they still at the bottom of the

social ladder.

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