Australian Trials of Trauma: The Stolen Generations in Human Rights, Law, and Literature

Abstract

A literary criticism of the novel Sorry by Gail Jones, in light of the psychic trauma inflicted by Australia's legal and social policies to remove indigenous children, termed Stolen Generations, from their indigenous families in the 19th and 20th centuries to assimilate them into white Australian culture is presented. In particular, an analysis is presented of the traumatic impact of the 2000 court case Cubillo v. Commonwealth that addressed the legality of the removal practices.