ABSTRACT
In 1983 the Aboriginal communities still had not regained their understanding of child separation as central to their history. A turning point was an address which Coral Edwards made to the National Aboriginal Consultative Council meeting in Canberra soon after the Labor government had been elected. Coral asked for a hearing by the Council, and Ossie Cruse, one of the senior New South Wales representatives, found her a place on the agenda. The effect on Koori children separated from their families and raised by whites talces many forms. A few-and they are the lucky ones-go on to lead happy and well-adjusted lives. More often as adults they experience curiosity, uncertainty, unhappiness, depression or permanent alienation. Children who grew up separated from their fellow Kooris took on the prejudices of the whites because there was no one to contradict them. One woman with whom Link-Up is currently working was put in the Parramatta Girls Home in the 1930s.
