What was the effect on the Aboriginal Community?
Almost everyone was affected – those taken away, and the parents, sisters and brothers, uncles and aunts, left behind. Widely throughout the country, Aboriginal families lived, year after year, with the fear that their children would be snatched from them. When a Government patrol officer appeared, the children would scatter into the bush. Some families fled to isolated places or kept moving ahead of the authorities. This caused constant disruption to many Aboriginal communities, destroying any chance of the stability on which advances in health, education and economic development depend.
