One Bright Spot

by Haskins, Victoria K.

• ISBN13: 9781403947444
• ISBN10: 1403947449
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2005-11-05
• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan

Summary

For every Aboriginal child taken away by the state governments in Australia, there was at least one white family intimately involved in their life. One Bright Spot is about one of these families--about "Ming", a Sydney wife and mother who hired Aboriginal domestic servants in the 20s and 30s, and became an activist against the Stolen Generations policy--the removal of Aboriginal children by the Australian government. Her story, reconstructed by her great-granddaughter, tells of a remarkable, yet forgotten, shared history.

Author Biography

Victoria Haskins is Lecturer in History, Flinders University, South Australia.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements	ix
List of Figures	xi
Introduction: More than my own mother to me	1	(12)
Part I Mary	13	(40)
My one bright spot	15	(10)
All girls shall leave the reserves	25	(16)
If I am coming back to you all again	41	(12)
Part II Alma	53	(26)
So desperately hard to understand	55	(9)
A better chance	64	(15)
Part III Del	79	(86)
Was fearfully shocked this afternoon	81	(12)
A perfect farce	93	(12)
She loves pretty things and knows how to wear them	105	(11)
You must not go against these people	116	(12)
There is a lot of dark girls that went through it	128	(8)
& so we are `slave-owners'	136	(8)
It makes me rage	144	(9)
A devotion I hope I may fully repay	153	(12)
Part IV Pearl Gibbs	165	(38)
Just ordinary justice	167	(12)
The stone of anthropology	179	(15)
Miss Pink wants my help	194	(9)
Part V Jane	203	(38)
A free Australian citizen	205	(12)
The bitter disappointment of trying to help	217	(11)
Then we must all be insane	228	(13)
Epilogue	241	(6)
She learnt her lessons well	243	(4)
A Note on Sources	247	(2)
Notes	249	(18)
Bibliography	267	(6)
Index	273