EDUCATION

Witnesses to the Inquiry removed to missions and institutions told of receiving little or no education, and certainly little of any value. What education was provided generally aimed at completion of their schooling at the level achieved by a ten year old child in the State education system. It emphasized domestic science and manual training, thus preparing the children for a future as menial workers within the government or mission communities or as cheap labor in the wider community.

The authorities said I was removed from my parents so I could receive an education but the fact is the nuns never gave me that education. I didn't receive an education. I was very neglected.

Quoted by WA Aboriginal Legal Service submission 127 on page 49.

I didn't have much schooling ... Now, thinking about it, we were told from the outset that we had to go to the mission because we had to go to school, but then when we got in there we weren't forced to go to school or anything.

Gertie Sambo quoted by Rintoul 1993 on page 89.

I was the best in the class; I came first in all the subjects. I was 15 when I got into 2nd year and I wanted to ... continue in school, but I wasn't allowed to, because they didn't think I had the brains, so I was taken out of school and that's when I was sent out to farms just to do housework.

Woman removed to Cootamundra, NSW, quoted by Hankins 1982 on page 4.2.5.

Placement Stability | Sexual Abuse | Bonds of Affection | Education | Work and Wages