1 Introduction

From 1910s to 1970s, the Australian government applied assimilation policies intending to remove thousands of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children from their families. Known as the Stolen Generations, this dark period witnessed the separation and disconnection of indigenous children from their original culture. Many children were forcibly placed in foster homes or institutions where they were prohibited from speaking their native languages. Apart from breaking family and community ties, these assimilation polices also disrupted indigenous cultural identity, which emphasized the urgent need for its reconstruction and modern reconciliation.

Over the years, researchers have focused on the cultural impacts of the Stolen Generations and efforts to reclaim indigenous identity. Robert van Krieken believes that the Stolen Generations history indicates the interconnection between communal identities and individuals and “that we are by no means not out of the woods with the introduction of the factor ‘liberalism’” (Krieken, 1999, p307). Rosanne Kennedy focuses on how individual testimonies from the Stolen Generations have been used to challenge dominant historical narratives in Australia and he believes that “the testimony asks for us to become critically conscious of our own subject-positions in the ongoing practices of the denial of Aboriginal story” (Kennedy, 2001, p130). On the basis of previous studies, this paper intends to use collective memory theories and postcolonial theories to analyze the disruption of indigenous cultural identity and how the members of the Stolen Generations heal the trauma, and holds that collective healing, through its emphasis on community-based initiatives, is a critical way for reclaiming indigenous identity and promoting modern reconciliation.

2 Disruption of Indigenous Cultural Identity

During the Stolen Generations, the Australian government dismantled indigenous cultural identity through assimilation policies. These policies suppressed indigenous language and native traditions and disconnected community ties in an attempt to force indigenous children to abandon their cultural identity. The ultimate aim was not only cultural erasure but also to consolidate colonial control. This section discusses three key aspects: the cultural objectives of colonial assimilation policies, the mechanisms of cultural identity and the lasting trauma reflected in individual testimonies. It aims to analyze impacts of these policies on cultural identity and appeal for cultural reclamation.

2.1 Cultural Objectives of Colonial Assimilation Policies

Back in 1910, Australia implemented a policy that targeted at improving the lives of indigenous children and allowed authorities to remove indigenous children from their families arbitrarily. These children were sent to remote island areas to be raised under the authority of the government or they were placed in local families to receive white mainstream culture. Many of the removed indigenous children endured difficult living conditions and were abused physically and mentally. As a consequence of prohibition from speaking their native languages, these children continued to live under the shadow of their trauma even as adults. Until 1970s, this policy forcibly assimilated nearly 100,000 indigenous children into European culture. These children came to be known as the Stolen Generations. It is evident that all these assimilated policies were designed to erase indigenous racial and cultural identities with a brutal way of forcing indigenous children to abandon their traditional lifestyles and adopt the religious beliefs, values and cultural identity of white Australians. In essence, these policies could be regarded as cultural genocide.

Postcolonial theories provide a critical method to analyzing these policies. “Every empire, however, tells itself and the world that it is unlikely all other empires, that its mission is not to plunder and control but to educate and liberate” (Said, 1978, p10). We can see that Australian government defined the indigenous people as “the Other” and justified the assimilation policies by taking on the “responsibility” of freeing them from their primitive or backward culture and educating them civilized culture. However, the implementation of these policies failed to achieve their expected outcomes.

The objectives of these policies not only were limited to cultural disruption, but also they aimed to consolidate colonial control by diminishing the foundations of resistance. “A social group dominates antagonistic groups, which it tends to ‘liquidate’ or subjugate perhaps even by armed force; it leads kindred and allied groups” (Gramsci, 1988, p 57). With cultural erasure and ideological imposition, this dual strategy weakened the communities’ ties among the indigenous people which were critical when maintaining cultural identity and resisting oppression.

2.2 Mechanisms of Cultural Identity Disruption

Cultural identity, which consists of language acquisition, tradition practices and community ties, is foundational to indigenous people. With the assimilation policies implemented as explained above, the Stolen Generations endured insufferable trauma on both individual and collective level. Thus understanding the mechanisms once used is key to addressing long-term impacts and fostering cultural reclamation.

“Every collective memory unfolds within a spatial framework...Language remains one of the principal instruments for this perpetuation and transmission” (Habwachs, 1980, p52). The assimilation policies forbade the use of indigenous languages nearly everywhere. Indigenous children were forced to only speak English and were punished for using their native tongues, which resulted in the disconnections from their histories and collective memory.

Traditional practices, ceremonies and beliefs formed the spiritual and cultural foundation of the Stolen Generations.  “Sacred symbols function to synthesize a people’s ethos--the tone, the character, and quality of their life, its moral and aesthetic style and mood, and their worldview” (Geertz, 1973, p89). Like in religious institutions, children were instructed to adopt Christianity. The dismantlement disintegrated the spiritual roots for indigenous people and their social frameworks.

Communication systems are central to cultural supported networks and they provide the stable structure though which cultural values, kinship roles and traditions are taught. The breakdown of community ties during the Stolen Generations disrupted the transmission of traditional knowledge and caused a cognitive gap between generations.

2.3 Individual Testimonies of Trauma

Sheila Humphries is one of the thousands of children who have been into orphanages institution across Australia during the Stolen Generations. She recalled being taken from her mother at the age of four and sent to St. Joseph’s Girls’ Orphanage in New Norcia. Her mother firstly thought this would provide her a better education but she later discovered that they were being abused instead of being educated. At the orphanage, Shelia and other children suffered hard labour like washing clothes for the monastery. Her sister was seriously injured by a washing machine and didn’t receive medical treatment. Shelia described her life conditions as follows: wearing thin clothes in winter, eating porridge filled with maggots and suffering from frostbite and abscesses. She was informed by a nun coldly of her mother’s death and this left her emotional trauma at a very young age. Even as an adult, Shelia faced discrimination like almost losing her twin babies due to poor and unfair treatment at the hospital. Despite all these challenges and misfortunes, she put herself through college and was graduated with the residential child care certificate which enabled her to help more children.

This individual testimony illustrated the enduring trauma caused by the assimilation policies. The experience of Shelia presented the world the deeply rooted psychological trauma when she shared her story in a powerful TEDxPerth talk. As Shelia talked in her speech, “A lot of people ask me why do you go and work for these people in community services...My answer to them is if I could help one child make it in the world, it’ll be worth it all” (https://youtu.be/5V3SX0H7pHc?si=1wd6ZY7ksN7tDxuG). Her answer implied the urgent need for healing and reconstruction of indigenous cultural identity by Australian government.

The cultural assimilation policies during the Stolen Generations left enduring trauma on indigenous people and their communities by dismantling their language, traditions and social structures. This cultural disruption disconnected ties to heritage and left survivors with deep psychological trauma that continued to affect future generations. As analyzed through individual testimonies and systematic discussion, the lessons of these polices revealed the urgent need for cultural reclamation.

3 Reconstructing Cultural Identity

Reclaiming cultural identity among indigenous Australians involves both personal resilience and collective leadership. Personal efforts focused on the revival of languages and cultural practices through storytelling, art and education. At the community level, initiatives like Link-Up Services, the Bringing Them Home document and the Healing Foundation demonstrated indigenous agency in leading cultural reconstruction. All these efforts emphasized the importance of strengthening cultural identity to heal historical trauma.

3.1 Individual Efforts in Reviving Language and Preserving Cultural Practices

Reclaiming cultural identity often begins with the efforts of individuals to heal the personal wounds caused by the assimilation policies. As survivors of the Stolen Generations, it is crucial to discover traditional practices, learn native languages and pass on knowledge from generations to generations in preserving their heritage and restore their sense of belonging.

One of the most famous individuals who overcame difficulties when rebuilding indigenous identity is Ali Cobby Eckermann. As an Australian poet of Aboriginal Australian ancestry, she won the international Windham-Campbell Literature Prize. Eckermann, her mother and her grandmother were all members of the Stolen Generations. In her early years, Eckermann faced many challenges, like running away to central Australian as a teenager. But she didn’t give up reconnecting with her family and identity. Over the years, she reunited with her birth mother and wrote many books addressing the trauma of disruption of identity and the long journey to healing and reclamation. She said, “I learned to live in two ways over my life. I learned a good example of hard work and kindness... And I’m extremely grateful that my traditional family welcomed me back with such love and honesty”.

Another remarkable example is Archie Roach, who is a famous indigenous musician and also a survivor of the Stolen Generations. His iconic song “Took the Children Away” narrated his personal experience and called for awareness and healing for indigenous people. In this song, he recalled, “Told us what to do and say. Taught us all the white man’s ways. Then they split us again” (Roach, 1990). Through his music, Roach shared his pain to the whole world and fostered collective healing and resilience as he wrote, “The children came back. Back where their hearts grow strong. Back where they all belong” (Roach, 1990). His story and music was a beacon of hope that encouraged members of the Stolen generations to gather strength and became untied for cultural reclamation.

As a Wakka Wakka descendant, Annalee Pope only knew a handful of her native words until she began her career in indigenous language work. Her grandfather established Jinjinburra (meaning “happy peaceful place”) Aboriginal Corporation because of the passion and love about preserving his culture. Being inspired by her grandfather, Annalee now works for First Languages Australia by supporting Aboriginal communities to relearn their language. She pointed out the reason why she was driven to do this work was because she believed that “Today my language is sleeping, in the future my language will be awake” (Pope, 2019). Through games, songs and activities, she taught language to children in local childcare centers. Annalee Pope is just one of the thousands of indigenous people who strive to revive their native languages, traditions and identity and advocate the importance of trauma healing. Maybe Annalee will never be fluent in her language, but she knows that “the future generations will grow up speaking and hearing” (Pope, 2019) their languages.

These individual efforts in reviving indigenous language and preserving cultural heritage demonstrated the world the resilience and determination of the Stolen Generation survivors. While individual efforts are powerful, they are a part of a larger movement where indigenous communities take the lead in reclaiming the cultural identity. This transition from personal healing experiences to community-based initiatives emphasizes the importance of the vital role of indigenous agency and collective healing.

3.2 Indigenous Agency in Leading the Cultural Reconstruction

Indigenous agency has always led the way in addressing the trauma of the Stolen Generations and reconstructing cultural identity. Over time, initiatives centered on indigenous people have expanded form reconnecting individuals with their families to fostering collective healing among communities. This progress demonstrated the resilience of indigenous communities and the increasing recognition of their control and leadership in cultural reclamation. The following paragraphs will trace the journey and point out key milestones in indigenous people centered efforts, from the establishment of Link-Up Services to the launch of the Stolen Generations Initiatives.

One of the earliest and most influential efforts was the establishment of Link-Up Services in the 1980s. They provided services to reunite Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people affected by the forced removal. Apart from carrying out research to identify and locate the separated family members, they also launched healing activities and gave social and emotional support. The range of activities available during their healing camps helped to bring a sense of peace and included yarning circles to share stories and passing on oral history through bushwalking, signwriting, painting and massage (“Link-Up Queensland”).

In 1977, the Australia government released the Bringing Them Home report, which was “the first time Australia had comprehensively documented and acknowledged the terrible harms done to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children, families and communities during the Stolen Generations era” (Healing Foundation, 2017). The report revealed both the physical and psychological abuse experienced by members of the Stolen Generations. They also suffered from labour exploitation, racial discrimination and mental breakdown during that period. This report also pointed out a noticeable fact that the impact of the removal seemed to last till the indigenous children grew up and was even then passed on to their own children in complex ways. Thus the trauma was passed down through various ways, like the loss of native languages, cultures and connection to traditions. Today, the high rate of domestic and community violence and substance abuse in indigenous residences can to a large extent be a consequence of these unresolved and ongoing grief and trauma.

The Healing Foundation, established in 2009. is a national Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander organization with a focus on building culturally strong, community led healing solutions (Healing Foundation, 2017). Collaborating with indigenous communities, the Healing Foundation designed personal healing approaches for individuals, supported children with education programs focused on trauma healing issues and gave local communities available resources for building cultural identity.

In July 2012, the Healing Foundation announced its first funding initiative specifically for members of the Stolen Generations with the purpose of catering to the special healing requirements and aspirations of Stolen Generations survivors. The report by the Healing Foundation in 2022 examined the outcomes and benefits of the first six funding rounds of the Stolen Generations Initiative. According to this report: There were total 42 organizations supporting over 90 projects. More than 8,700 indigenous people have participated in these projects and more than 600 of them have been employed.

Notably, four evidence are critical when creating suitable environment for healing trauma. Firstly, storytelling and sharing grief and hope together with other survivors are efficient and necessary when it comes to understanding personal loss and enhancing coping capacity. Addressing cultural recognition and reconnecting community ties can also build a sense of cultural belonging. By providing community services with the emphasis on facing trauma, the Healing Foundation can improve the outcomes of healing programs. It is worth mentioning that “Only Indigenous people themselves are able to comprehend the full extent of the effects of the removal policies. Services to redress these effects must be designed, provided and controlled by Indigenous people themselves” (HREOC 1997, p. 277). So developing healing solutions that are led and designed by Stolen Generations members is critically important for fostering approaches to cultural identity reconstruction.

The reconstruction of cultural identity requires the resilience and agency of indigenous Australians in overcoming the lasting impacts of the Stolen Generations. While individual efforts aim to reclaiming languages and traditions, community initiatives pave the way for broader collective healing. Together these efforts lay a foundation for a more inclusive future that values cultural understanding.

4 Collective Healing in Cultural Identity Reclamation

The lasting effects of assimilation policies have left trauma on the cultural identity of indigenous people and have disrupted connections of community ties. While individual and family efforts have played a significant role in reclaiming identity, addressing the collective trauma requires a broader approach. Modern reconciliation requires an approach that not only focuses on personal injustice and abuse but also practices healing on a community level. This is where the application of collective healing is essential.

Collective healing broadens the scope for who does healing and who healing is for. It means moving from a model where expert professionals work with individuals, to a model where people are supported and empowered to develop the skills and capacity to enable healing in their communities, families, and in themselves (Healing Foundation, 2017). This approach emphasizes that healing is not just an individual process but a collective journey that encompasses cultural reclamation and community ties.

In On Collective Memory, Halbwachs analyzes memory from three perspectives: family memory, religious social memory and class-based social memory. He points out that memory is no longer restrained on the individual level and not a personal privilege. By controlling relational networks and individuals, society gradually constructs memory on a collective level. Halbwachs emphasizes the collective memory is reconstructed within different social frameworks at various stages. This reconstruction aims to interpret the past trauma in a way that consolidates the sense of identity and belonging on the collective level (Halbwachs, 1980). Based on this theory, conclusions can be made that the forced assimilation policies not only ruined individual lives but also dismantled the social structures that maintain collective memory. Rebuilding this kind of memory through storytelling, reshaping cultural identity and connections among different generations is critical for modern days reconciliation among the Stolen Generations. Sharing stories of pain and resilience among similar survivors allows them to connect and empathize over shared experiences. By doing this, the Stolen Generations are creating a collective narrative that showing individual trauma and cultivating community ties. The establishment of public services like Link-Up Services and the Healing Foundation mentioned earlier integrates cultural knowledge and community involvement. All the initiatives and programs focus on addressing trauma in a way that respects cultural values and local traditions. There are also many indigenous language schools, institutions or cultural camps needed, where elder and younger generations can both participate in discovering cultural heritage.

So the core of collective healing lies in the fact that indigenous people with shared past experiences are supported to get together in a safe space. Collective healing responses for Stolen Generations members need to understand the way trauma is felt by different groups of people in different places, alongside the local community needs and strengths, in order to provide effective place based and person centred responses (Glimour, 2013). Facing some significant challenges including ageing of the first generation survivors; high rate of staff turning over in healing organizations and having difficult in assessing whether indigenous members are ready to take a close look at the pain of separation and abuse, collective healing serves as a necessary and urgent method to address these obstacles. By connecting survivors from both young and old generations, collective healing ensures that the stories and resilience of the first generations are preserved and passed down. To address the high staff turnover issue, it is increasingly clear that indigenous people should actively take part in managing the healing programs and organizations.

5 Conclusion

The cultural disruption caused by the assimilation policies during the Stolen Generations period has left deep trauma on both aboriginal individuals and indigenous communities. These policies with their initial aims of saving indigenous people from backward cultures and forcing them to adapt to mainstream white Australian culture ended up disrupting indigenous cultural identity. Over the years, efforts to reclaim this identity have been made both on individual resilience and collective healing. Survivors and their communities have worked tirelessly to rebuild their identity through relearning native languages, practicing traditions and connecting community ties. At the same time, many organizations like Link-Up Services and the Healing Foundation have provided necessary support and created safe spaces for collective healing. Collective healing stands out as an innovative and effective approach to addressing the trauma and disruption. By bringing survivors together and empowering indigenous communities to lead their own recovery processes, it not only promotes cultural reclamation but also strengths community ties which are crucial in acknowledging cultural heritage. By continuing to addressing collective healing with individual efforts, a future rooted in understanding and reconciliation can be realized.

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