Moore River Native Settlement
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| “ | Some called it home, some called it hell on Earth. It was that bad… the way they were treated. | „ |
| ~ Kevin Barron, a former Moore River inmate. |
The Moore River Native Settlement was an aboriginal institution and concentration camp in Western Australia. It was established to assimilate the Stolen Generations into western culture, a group of children who were removed from their aboriginal families.
History edit
In 1917, the settlement was established under A.O. Neville, the Chief Protector of Aborigines in the state of Western Australia. It was originally created to serve as a farming facility for aboriginal families, but the land was unsuitable for cultivation. The settlement changed its purpose to assimilate aboriginal children into western society under the Aborigines Act of 1905. The vast majority of the children that were taken from their aboriginal families to be integrated into white society against their will were of predominately mixed races, which were referred to as half-castes. These policies were made to "breed out the color" of the Stolen Generations through biological absorption, so the aboriginal race would be "forgotten". Many children at the settlement often died of diseases, while others were abused by their masters. The most infamous example of the Moore River staff abusing the children is the superintendent A.J. Neal, who would whip and rape the children and put them in a shed called "the Boob". Those who were adopted by white families would often be chained and impregnated by their owners after being raped and taken back to Moore River, where their newborn children would be taken away two years later.
After Neville's retirement in 1940, there were frequent changes with the superintendents at Moore River and the settlement was later changed to the Mogumber Native Mission. Aboriginal people were later given equal citizenship in the 1960's and the settlement was shut down in 1974.
Videos edit