Aboriginal Children – Australia’s Stolen Generation

B2 – Upper Intermediate

For more than six decades since 1910, many children of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people were forcibly taken away from their families as part of the Australian government’s policy of Assimilation. This is a policy based on the misguided belief that these First Nations children would be better raised by a white family.

Read the lesson on Australia’s Stolen Generation below and be ready to answer the questions that follow.

https://www.english-online.at/history/aborigines/australias-stolen-generation.htm

Discussion Questions:

1. What is the Stolen Generation?
2. Why were Aboriginal children stolen?
3. Do you think this government policy is justified and humane? Elaborate.
4. Do you agree that the Australian government should compensate all families affected by this policy? Elaborate.
5. Do you think that the government should publicly acknowledge and apologize for this act? Elaborate.