Zita Wallace's interview

The Guardian's Australia correspondent Barbara McMahon has met with some of the country's 'stolen generation' ahead of the government's apology.
Monday 11 February 2008

The Guardian

Journalist Barbara McMahon: I’m in Australia, near the Outback town of Alice Spring to find out more about the Stolen Generation. Tens of thousands of mixed-race Aboriginal children were forcibly removed from their families in a white-assimilation policy that only ended in the 1970s. Prime Minister Kevin Rudd will make a formal apology to those who suffered during this shameful episode in Australia’s history. I’ve been talking to 60 year-old Zita Wallace who was removed from her family at the age of 7 and who spent her childhood in an institution.

Zita Wallace: We had no family, we weren’t allowed to ask, even ask about our families, we were beaten for speaking our language ‘cos none of us could speak English, so we were… our language was beaten out of us, we lost our culture, we lost our identity, we lost our families, we lost our heritage, we actually lost everything and we were forced to learn the White Man’s way and this is by missionaries, done by missionaries.

Journalist Barbara McMahon: And how did that make you feel? You must have been very upset and very lonely.

Zita Wallace: Errr... I don’t think, I wasn’t lonely because there were lots of children around, I think there was over 200 children there so I wasn’t lonely in the sense that … errr for company because there was a lot of kids there. And, you know, kids are very resilient and we learnt because we were all Aboriginal children, part Aboriginal children, we all learnt to get on with each other. I had children that spoke the same language as myself and we came from the same culture. I, I, I sort of didn’t felt, feel too unsafe because I had them, but then, when we started to get beaten for speaking our language, we were told that we were pagans, that we had to learn their way. I think, then I realized that, you know, nothing was ever gonna be the same again.

Journalist Barbara McMahon: Many decades later, Zita made contact with her mother Nancy but too many years had passed and it was difficult for them both. After she died she remained close to her aunt Aggie Abbott who has helped her to reconnect with her Aboriginal culture. So how important to you is the fact that the Australian government and Prime Minister Kevin Rudd are going to make a formal apology in parliament?

Zita Wallace: For me, personally, it’s a really big thing because it means that my family and I can move on. All the hurt and the tragedies, I mean, we are broken people, you know, a lot of our people have no identity, they have no, they have no pride in themselves…  Now, with the recognition by the government that we were stolen and that they are apologizing, it’s admitting to a wrong that was done to us and that the government is prepared to move on with it. And we are very happy to start with the apology and yes, it’s a really big thing towards reconciliation that this happens.

Journalist Barbara McMahon: On Wednesday, the newly elected Labour government will finally say sorry.