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Summary

Harris, Mark (2007). A'Diminished Nation' - Australia's Response to Claims for Reparations by the 'Stolen Generations' In Max du Plessis and Stephen Pete, ed., Repairing the Past? International Perspectives on Reparations for Gross Human Rights Abuses. Oxford, UK: Intersentia. Pp. 389-409.

"...Without in any way diminishing the enduring horror of these government policies for Indigenous Australians, it is important to reflect that this is but one example of many historical injustices perpetrated against Indigenous Australians following white settlement. While the impact of this particular atrocity upon somewhere in the vicinity of 50,000 individuals and their extended families was profound, it is only part of a broader story of dispossession and appropriation...The destruction of aspects of Indigenous culture that commenced in the colonial period and continues to this day, has similarly remained unaddressed, with only limited protection afforded to Aboriginal cultural property, sites and objects. While these claims are no less valid, it has been the removal of the 'stolen generations' that has assumed particular significance. This atrocity has become the embodiment of the dispossession and abuse suffered by Indigenous Australians." (abstract)

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