Friday, November 5, 2010

My brown skin baby they take him away


My brown skin baby they take him away
As a young preacher I used to ride
A quiet pony round the country side
In a native camp I’ll never forget
A young black mother who’s cheeks all wet
My brown skin baby they take him away
Between her songs I heard her say
Police’s been taken my baby away
From white man, boss, the baby I have
Why he let him take baby away
My brown skin baby they take him away
To a children’s home a baby came
With new clothes on and a new name
Day and night he would always say
Oh mummy, mummy why they take me away!?
My brown skin baby they take him away
The child grew up and had to go
From a mission home that he loved so
To find his mother he tried in vain
Upon this earth they never met again
My brown skin baby they take him away.....

Bob Randall, is a member of the Stolen Generations and former Indegenous person of the year. He is credited with bringing to light the issue of forced removal of Aboriginal children from their families, in 1970. His song, "My Brown Skin Baby They Take Him Away," written at the time, is described as an "anthem" for the Stolen Generations.
Uncle Bob Randall was born around 1927 in the bush of the Central Desert region of the Northern Territory (NT), Australia. He is a“Tjilpi” (special teaching uncle) of the Yankunytjatjara Nation and one of the listed traditional keepers of the great monolith, Uluru. At about age 7, Bob was taken away from his mother and family under government policy which forcibly removed all half-caste (half-Aboriginal) children from their families.
He was one of thousands of Aboriginal children who were placed in institutions throughout Australia and came to be known as the “Stolen Generation.” Like so many, he grew up alone, away from his family, and never saw his mother again. He was taken to a receiving home for indigenous children in Alice Springs, NT, then later was moved to Croker Island Reservation in Arnhem Land where he, like the other children, was given a new identity and birth date.
No records were kept of the Aboriginal nation, family name, or identity of the Aboriginal children who were stolen. Young Bob was kept in government institutions until he was twenty when he, with new wife and baby, was banished for questioning white authorities. He moved to Darwin and later to Adelaide,South Australia, working, studying, and looking for his family and country of belonging. After many years of heart-wrenching searches, he found his roots and returned to his mother’s country where he lives today at Mutitjulu Community beside Uluru (Ayers Rock).

In 2006, Uncle Bob co-produced and narrated the award-winning documentary, “Kanyini.” “Kanyini” was voted "best documentary" at the London Australian Film Festival 2007, winner of the “Inside Film Independent Spirit Award”, and winner of the Discovery Channel Best Documentary Award in 2006. Uncle Bob continues to write and teach throughout the world, presenting teachings based on the Anangu (central desert Aboriginal nation) “Kanyini” principles of caring for the environment and each other with unconditional love and responsibility. His tirelessdedication calls indigenous people to reclaim their Aboriginal identities and re-gain lives of purpose, so that the relevance of ancient wisdom to modern living is understood. Uncle Bob Randall is a living bridge between cultures and between world nations, creating lines of understanding so that indigenous and non-indigenous people can live and learn together, heal the past through shared experience in the present, sharing a way of being that allows us, once again, to live in oneness and harmony with each other and all things.

For this catastrophe, Kevin Rudd Says SORRY to the ABORIGINES for stealing their children and trying to isolate them.

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