Key aspects of Parramatta Girl's Home
The Parramatta Girl's Home was a training home for Aboriginal girls. In the 1990s, the home provided training to girls that were forcefully removed from their homes and families. The girls could be taken from their parents from the ages of six months and 3-4 years and could be released at the age of 18 where they could work as servants (Sullivan 2017). These were girls who were considered to be at risk of moral danger, ones who were seen to be troublesome, or were orphaned. The girls were not allowed to see their families ever again after they were taken away from them. The home had a history of incarcerating Aboriginal girls while pretending to be educating and training them.
Parramatta girl’s home was a place where children were abused, raped, and beaten by the people who took care of them. Some of the girls were raped even at the age of 14 and it happened multiple times. Girls could be locked in dark, dusty rooms while naked for days. The girls would queue to the shower room naked while being watched by officers (Fife- Yeomans 2014). Some of these girls were only guilty of being poor or for being an aboriginal and had to undergo all this emotional, physical, and mental abuse in the name of training.
Critical race theory
Terror, violence, and racism in the Parramatta girl’s home event were executed by the early colonizers and successive governments of Australia. These governments permitted the abuse and exploitation of the Aboriginal people. The government of Australia had made official policies to remove by force the Aboriginal children from their families to assimilate them into the white culture (Funston 2013). These experiences left many of the children and parents in trauma. The trauma highly contributed to the intense fears about the child protection system for the Aboriginal people. The Parramatta girl’s home was an event that the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people were oppressed, degraded, dispossession since the very first days the European occupied Australia. The Europeans were racial powerful and felt they had the right to kidnap and exploit innocent Aboriginal girls and families. Because of their superiority, and wealth, they displaced the rights of parents to their children.
The Aboriginal people were controlled in everything they did and were largely segregated especially the pure black people. They were not identified as Europeans no matter how much European blood they had. Contrary to the white children who entered in the control of the states, the Aboriginal children never saw their parents and families again. They even made sure that they changed their names such that they could not be traced. The chief protector had the powers to remove children as young as 4 years old from their mothers and put them in dormitories far from their families and later send them to work from the age of 14. The governing culture in this event used their power and privileges to oppress, control, and dictate the lives of the Aboriginal people (Herring, Spangaro, Lauw & McNamara 2013). They used their culture and privileges to get girls that would satisfy the demand for cheap labor and work for long hours. This ended up to girls being molested, raped, and even endured mental health problems.
Critical lessons
The Parramatta girl’s home event makes me reflect on the value of focusing on the dignity and worth of a person. As a developing social work practitioner, my main objective is to be mindful of others, respectfully treat every one of them despite their cultural and ethnic diversity. If the children and parents of Aboriginal could have been treated with dignity and respect, they could have come to a consensus on the things that caused emotional torture. As a social worker, I am bound to engage a lot of different people and from different diversities and I want to approach every person and situation with no discrimination.
On behalf of the oppressed people, I want to pursue social change and in particular to the most vulnerable groups of people. I want to ensure that I get the required information, services, and resources to assist these groups of people. Social justice is an important aspect of the lives of the minority who may face issues such as discrimination. The Aboriginals had no voice or anyone to help them fight for their rights. I will work to ensure that every individual gets the justice they deserve. Mental health care is crucial for individuals who have undergone violence, sexual harassment, and torture. This gives me the mandate as a social worker to ensure that the affected individuals get the help they need to restore their psychological well-being. This means getting them to facilities and the necessary help which includes counseling to will ensure their safety. This event has given me the lesson of being self-less, use my professional skills and knowledge as a social worker to make sure that those that need help get it and live normal and comfortable lives as they should.
References
Fife-Yeomans J. (2014) Exclusive look into the dungeon of Parramatta Girls School where children were
abused, raped and beaten by their carers. Retrieved from: https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/nsw/exclusive-look-into-the-dungeon-of-parramatta-girls-school-where-children-were-abused-raped-and-beaten-by-their-carers/news-story/3ae6d6037330cdb017f8863ab0adc936
Funston L. (2013). Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander worldviews and cultural safety transforming
sexual assault service provision for children and young people. International journal of environmental research and public health, 10(9), 3818–3833. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph10093818
Herring, S., Spangaro, J., Lauw, M., & McNamara, L. (2013). The intersection of trauma,
racism, and cultural competence in effective work with Aboriginal people: Waiting for
trust. Australian Social Work, 66(1), 104-117.
Sullivan, C. (2017). Aboriginal inmate experiences of Parramatta girls home. Australian
Aboriginal Studies, (2), 84.
