Australia's most senior aboriginal politician, Northern Territory Education Minister Marion Scrymgour (pictured here) is calling for the construction and use of missionary-style dormitories to make sure children in remote areas of the country are fed, clothed and clean.
She is not alone.
For example, several members of an aboriginal community justice group, led by Martha Koowarta, widow of a local land rights hero, are also urging outsiders to take children from age nine from the community for their safety and education.
In addition, former Australian of the Year Galarrwuy Yunupingu agree. He said, "The missionary days were good. The missionaries looked after the kids much better than the Government does today."
Many other indigenous Australians, however, have denounced the idea for obvious reasons and find Yunupingu's comment outrageous. Even Scrymgoursome dismissed the suggestion Aboriginal children received a better education in missionary days, saying her parents had only basic skills after growing up in the system.
Former school principal Leon White says, "Quick solutions like lets move all the kids into a dormitory are problematic and don't really show the investment in time and in resources that's actually need to fix up the problems that people in communities face." He said the proposal would disempower parents. "Dormitories, I believe, don't have a place in most communities," he said.
Barbara Shaw from Tangentyere Town Council in Alice Springs told the Sydney Morning Herald removing children from their parents would be "going backwards" and she was surprised such a proposal would surface so soon after the apology to the Stolen Generation.
"This is talking about taking the kids, moving them out of their home environment and away from their families," said Shaw, who is also a member of the Intervention Rollback Working Group.
"Everybody knows that missionaries did not work well for people ... I wouldn't want them days to come back...
"I support helping the mothers become more responsible ... not chuck the kids into homes again."
For 60 years, until 1970, the Australian government took mixed-race Aboriginal children from their families and put them in dormitories or industrial schools, claiming it was protecting them.
As a result of the policy, "stolen" children lost contact with their families and heritage, received poor education, lived in harsh conditions, and often endured abuse.
By the way, The Intervention Rollback Working Group mentioned above was formed to protest the Commonwealth's Indigenous intervention in the Northern Territory and wants:
The group says there is an urgent need for delivery of essential services, infrastructure and programs genuinely targeted at improving the safety and well being of children and developed in consultation with communities.
The following is from the National Indigenous Times (Australia)
Dorm call a backwards step
DARWIN, March 27, 2008: Stating the obvious today, an Indigenous activist has responded to calls for dormitories in remote Aboriginal communities saying a move is such a direction would be "going backwards."
Barbara Shaw, from Tangentyere Town Council in Alice Springs, said such a policy had failed in the past.
She opposes a call by former Australian of the Year Galarrwuy Yunupingu for government authorities to urgently build boarding accommodation for Aboriginal children.
Yunupingu said thousands of children were living without proper cooking, showering or sleeping facilities.
"The missionary days were good. The missionaries looked after the kids much better than the government does today," Fairfax newspapers quoted him as saying.
The prominent Aboriginal leader has called for the federal intervention taskforce, set up to combat child sexual abuse in Northern Territory Aboriginal communities, to urgently build boarding accommodation.
But Ms Shaw, who is also with the Intervention Rollback Working Group, said the mission model did not work well for people.
"The government just said sorry to members of the Stolen Generation for taking their kids away from their families."
"This is talking about taking the kids, moving them out of their home environment and away from their families.
"It would be going backwards. If Galarrwuy is talking about missionary days, everybody knows that missionaries did not work well for people ... I wouldn't want them days to come back."
Ms Shaw said a Catholic School in Alice Springs was already working on a more progressive model.
"They (school buses) pick them up, they take them to school, they make the kids have a shower and put the school uniform on them and, at the end of the day, the kids put their own clothes on and go home," she said.
"I support helping the mothers become more responsible ... not chuck the kids into homes again."
Ms Shaw said Aboriginal people should be working together on educating parents and providing a safe environment for children.
"They should be staffing the schools with mothers and parents, making jobs for them, and they can still feed their kids and be close to them," she said.
"Aboriginal people need to work together and help their own people ... I would want to see my kids go to school at home and rather they stay in a family house than a dormitory."
The former principal of Yirrkala School in Nhulunbuy, Leon White, agreed that a mission-type education disempowered parents.
"Quick solutions like: `Let's move all the kids into a dormitory', are problematic and don't really show the investment in time and in resources that's actually needed to fix up the problems that people in communities face," he said.
She is not alone.
For example, several members of an aboriginal community justice group, led by Martha Koowarta, widow of a local land rights hero, are also urging outsiders to take children from age nine from the community for their safety and education.
In addition, former Australian of the Year Galarrwuy Yunupingu agree. He said, "The missionary days were good. The missionaries looked after the kids much better than the Government does today."
Many other indigenous Australians, however, have denounced the idea for obvious reasons and find Yunupingu's comment outrageous. Even Scrymgoursome dismissed the suggestion Aboriginal children received a better education in missionary days, saying her parents had only basic skills after growing up in the system.
Former school principal Leon White says, "Quick solutions like lets move all the kids into a dormitory are problematic and don't really show the investment in time and in resources that's actually need to fix up the problems that people in communities face." He said the proposal would disempower parents. "Dormitories, I believe, don't have a place in most communities," he said.
Barbara Shaw from Tangentyere Town Council in Alice Springs told the Sydney Morning Herald removing children from their parents would be "going backwards" and she was surprised such a proposal would surface so soon after the apology to the Stolen Generation.
"This is talking about taking the kids, moving them out of their home environment and away from their families," said Shaw, who is also a member of the Intervention Rollback Working Group.
"Everybody knows that missionaries did not work well for people ... I wouldn't want them days to come back...
"I support helping the mothers become more responsible ... not chuck the kids into homes again."
For 60 years, until 1970, the Australian government took mixed-race Aboriginal children from their families and put them in dormitories or industrial schools, claiming it was protecting them.
As a result of the policy, "stolen" children lost contact with their families and heritage, received poor education, lived in harsh conditions, and often endured abuse.
By the way, The Intervention Rollback Working Group mentioned above was formed to protest the Commonwealth's Indigenous intervention in the Northern Territory and wants:
- Reinstatement of the Racial Discrimination Act
- The immediate review of the NT intervention
- An end welfare quarantines, compulsory land acquisition and 'mission manager' powers
- The implementation the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples
- Aboriginal control of Aboriginal affairs
The group says there is an urgent need for delivery of essential services, infrastructure and programs genuinely targeted at improving the safety and well being of children and developed in consultation with communities.
The following is from the National Indigenous Times (Australia)
Dorm call a backwards step
DARWIN, March 27, 2008: Stating the obvious today, an Indigenous activist has responded to calls for dormitories in remote Aboriginal communities saying a move is such a direction would be "going backwards."
Barbara Shaw, from Tangentyere Town Council in Alice Springs, said such a policy had failed in the past.
She opposes a call by former Australian of the Year Galarrwuy Yunupingu for government authorities to urgently build boarding accommodation for Aboriginal children.
Yunupingu said thousands of children were living without proper cooking, showering or sleeping facilities.
"The missionary days were good. The missionaries looked after the kids much better than the government does today," Fairfax newspapers quoted him as saying.
The prominent Aboriginal leader has called for the federal intervention taskforce, set up to combat child sexual abuse in Northern Territory Aboriginal communities, to urgently build boarding accommodation.
But Ms Shaw, who is also with the Intervention Rollback Working Group, said the mission model did not work well for people.
"The government just said sorry to members of the Stolen Generation for taking their kids away from their families."
"This is talking about taking the kids, moving them out of their home environment and away from their families.
"It would be going backwards. If Galarrwuy is talking about missionary days, everybody knows that missionaries did not work well for people ... I wouldn't want them days to come back."
Ms Shaw said a Catholic School in Alice Springs was already working on a more progressive model.
"They (school buses) pick them up, they take them to school, they make the kids have a shower and put the school uniform on them and, at the end of the day, the kids put their own clothes on and go home," she said.
"I support helping the mothers become more responsible ... not chuck the kids into homes again."
Ms Shaw said Aboriginal people should be working together on educating parents and providing a safe environment for children.
"They should be staffing the schools with mothers and parents, making jobs for them, and they can still feed their kids and be close to them," she said.
"Aboriginal people need to work together and help their own people ... I would want to see my kids go to school at home and rather they stay in a family house than a dormitory."
The former principal of Yirrkala School in Nhulunbuy, Leon White, agreed that a mission-type education disempowered parents.
"Quick solutions like: `Let's move all the kids into a dormitory', are problematic and don't really show the investment in time and in resources that's actually needed to fix up the problems that people in communities face," he said.
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