"This shows my great uncle George Latham, who always ran away from Native Welfare. He lived in the bush by himself from the age of 10 because many of his mates and family were put into 'care'. When he got older he stopped some kids from being taken for a time. He remembers the '50s like it was yesterday.
My great uncle George says that he must have run away at least 10 times from the authorities (the authorities being officers from the Department of Native Welfare, church groups and the Police).
During the 1950s, many children were taken away from their families and placed into non-Aboriginal families. This time was a conservative era where Indigenous knowledge was considered inferior and degeneration for the welfare of Indigenous children.
This painting shows children's faces placed over a faceless white couple as ominous figures of a childlike nightmare. The hands represent the sentiment behind Uncle George and his sense of futility in the face of this national campaign to 'civilise' and 'assimilate' another generation of children. Five generations of our family have had children taken away."
Julie Dowling
