Forced Child Removal and the Politics of National Apologies in Australia

Abstract

The article discusses Australian national apologies for the state's role in the forced removal of children from their families, with a particular focus on their implications for Indigenous-settler reconciliation. According to the authors, the focus on the Stolen Generations of Indigenous children removed from their families has obscured other Indigenous rights issues such as land tenure and has ultimately created opportunities for non-Indigenous groups with similar grievances to de-Indigenize the issue of child removal. It is suggested that efforts at apology and reconciliation must address the gendered, classed, and racialized structures of power which enabled past injustices as well as their continuing effects.