"But it was not home”: Trauma and Reconciliation in Australian Children’s Literature about the Stolen Generations

Abstract

[eng] Postcolonial literature is concerned with denouncing historical injustices. In reference to Australia, many works denounce the Australian policies of the 1900s where a large number of children, known as Stolen Generations, were taken away from their families and institutionalised in government facilities. Today, the experiences of the Stolen Generations are shaped in children’s books. My dissertation focuses on three Australian children’s books, Anthony Hill’s The Burnt Stick (1995), Trina Safiotti’s Stolen Girl (2011) and Lisa Miranda Sarzin’s Stories for Simon (2017), which recall two critical aspects in the history of Stolen Generations: the loss of cultural heritage and the healing process. My main aim is to demonstrate how these children's stories can create an environment to be critical for the reader, regardless of their age, and reflect on past events. I conclude that children’s books serve as an important tool to revisit the past and handle traumatic stories and that these can become cultural stories of strength and resilience which contribute to both heal the past and bring about reconciliation in the country.