Angela Swindle is a proud Wiradjuri woman and is a team leader at Link Up Victoria where she has worked since 2005.
Link-Up Victoria provides support for Stolen Generations to find their family and for family to find those who were stolen from them. Link-Up Victoria assists the Stolen Generations to confidently reclaim their Aboriginal identity, to wholeheartedly embrace their Aboriginal heritage, to happily return back into the caring arms of their people and to proudly walk on their Country. In her different roles within Link-Up both here in Victoria and Interstate, Angela has been involved in hundreds of reunions of Stolen Generations with their families.
Deadly Story welcomes Angela as she shares her thoughts on 2019's NAIDOC theme of 'Voice, Treaty, Truth.'
What does it mean for the Aboriginal Community to have a voice in our modern society?
Voice is important. One of the things I’ve noticed about the difference in the way that we talk about ourselves as Aboriginal people and the way that non-Aboriginal people talk about us is that we connect personally with our past. Those stories make each and every one of us who we are today and we all have a personal connection to our past that has led us to our present – to who we are now, that we exist today because of those who have come before us.
We exist today because of those who have come before us
The majority of the time when I hear non-Aboriginal people speak about us, the word ‘history’ is used and this word has a different meaning and context. Words are important and language is important. Using this word places us and keeps us at a distance, as an intangible thing from ‘back then’ rather than seeing us as living, breathing people who are still very much here.
We are connected to our ancestors and for us that connection is important. I think when non-Aboriginal people talk about history it’s something they are separate from. We are not separate from our past, but we don’t only belong there.
We are connected to our ancestors and for us that connection is important
For Stolen Generations that I work with, many are still suffering today and feeling the impacts of that disconnection from family and Community. And that then has an impact on their children and grandchildren. I see our work at Link Up as trying to undo the impacts of the assimilation policies and practices. Those policies were designed to disconnect for future generations, and our work is to provide healing for families and to reconnect for future generations, one reunion at a time.
Link Up works to support and advocate for Stolen Generations to find their voice. An example is the events we hold for the Anniversary of the Apology to the Stolen Generations on February 13 and Sorry Day on May 26. Each year on both days we bring together Stolen Generations and invite them to be speakers and performers, so they can have a chance to tell their stories in their own ways and share what those days mean to them. I think that’s just one really important way for Stolen Generations to have a voice and for others to hear their voice.
Our clients have told us that they get healing out of connecting with other Stolen Gens Mob. They have told us that they feel, sometimes for the first time, they are not alone and someone else understands what it was like to be taken away and deliberately kept away from family, culture and community. That connection to each other is really important.
Our clients have told us that they get healing out of connecting with other Stolen Gens Mob
What does treaty mean to you?
Firstly, I want to say that Treaty is something that I’ve heard our Mob fight for since I could understand words. To me Treaty means finally getting the chance for government to formally acknowledge that they unlawfully took this land and for them to commit to making some sort of amends for that act of theft and everything they did during and after that act to disempower Aboriginal people.
Treaty is something that I’ve heard our Mob fight for since I could understand words
In terms of the current Treaty process and conversations in Victoria, I’m not a Traditional Owner in Victoria so I am unsure if I can have a say or can be involved. I’m unsure and I don’t know where I fit, but I am glad to see the conversations are taking place.
What is a fact or truth about Aboriginal history and current experience that you think should be widely known?
As I mentioned earlier when talking about 'voice,' I think people need to recognise that we are here, we are current and we are modern people. We’re not just a history lesson. As a people we should be respected for who we are now. That would give us a chance to share what our journey has been, what our stories are so people understand where we are coming from.
We are modern people, we’re not just a history lesson
I think there is an assumption that the Stolen Generations is something that happened in the past and that it refers to children being literally stolen from their families. While we have found in our work that some children were literally stolen from their mother’s arms, the National Inquiry into the Removal of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children from their Families looked at different government assimilation policies from 1910 to 1970 that made it legal for government, welfare workers and police officers to remove Aboriginal children from their families for no other reason that they are Aboriginal. As the laws changed and the intergenerational impacts of removals and colonisation affected our families, the practices remained the same and the institutionalised racist belief was that Aboriginal children are better off away from their Aboriginal families and culture. Our work has proven that our families and our culture provides healing and not one child was ever better off being denied their family or their culture.
Our work has proven that our families and our culture provides healing and not one child was ever better off being denied their family or their culture