School play on stolen generation shows children abusing others

A NORTHERN Beaches primary school is under fire for an Australian history play that left parents horrified after it featured some Year 6 students dressed as nuns to abuse “Aboriginal” children.

Forestville Public School staged the “Australia You’re Standing In It” ­concerts, which also featured younger students wearing “sorry” placards, over four days last week.

The school praised the content in its newsletter, saying: “We were pleased to see that at last the truth is being taught about Australia’s ‘discovery’ by Captain Cook as well as the ‘truth’ about our treatment of the stolen generation”.

The concert’s scenes ­included sections featuring Year 6 students dressed up as nuns “pretending to mentally and physically abuse the children playing the role of the stolen ­generation”.

Last night NSW Education Minister Rob Stokes said he was “aware of concerns in the community about content covered in a recent student concert” and requested a “full report from the Department of Education on what occurred”.

“While acknowledging the event was well intentioned, I wish to apologise to anyone who was offen-ded by any of the performance,” he said.

Parents at Forestville Public School, including Frenchs Forest father and former Socceroos star Robbie Slater, attacked the school for using “children as political pawns” in the concerts.

Mr Slater said he was “disgusted” when he saw the play last Friday at the school, where his five-year-old son Matthew is in ­kindergarten.

“It’s a great school but this was serious misjudgment; little children should not be exposed to that,” Mr Slater said.

“At certain stages I walked out, I didn’t want to watch it to be honest.

“It’s inappropriate to push a political agenda on children.”

He said one of the segments, dubbed the “Stolen Generation”, had children carrying placards saying sorry and other children crying to Simon & Garfunkel song The Sound of Silence.

“They are very impressionable young children,” Mr Slater said.

“It was bloody disgraceful. I don’t think using five, six or seven-year-old kids is appropriate to push your own political agenda.”

Other parents and grandparents rang the 2GB Ray Hadley show to complain about the concerts, saying they felt the school had “used their children politically”.

Hadley demanded NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian and Education Minister, Pittwater MR, Rob Stokes, take action.

“If these imbeciles want to do this at a five and six year old’s school concert, let them do it as themselves.

“But don’t use little kids carrying placards to do it and don’t put parents in the situation of having to clap for their own children even though they’re appalled by what’s happening,” he said.

A statement read by Hadley from the Department of Education said: “As part of the year six student presentation on the stolen generation, students reproduced placards they’d seen in source material. The Department of Education is currently looking at the circumstances of this particular activity.”

A spokesman later confirmed it was “currently looking into the matter.”

NSW Education Minister Rob Stokes said he was “aware of concerns” and added: “I have requested a full report from the Department of Education on what occurred.

“While the event was well intentioned, I wish to apologise to anyone who was offended by any of the performance.

“Schools should reflect on how best to deal sensitively with tricky or contentious issues that may divide communities.”

http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/newslocal/manly-daily/footballer-among-parents-...

from a personal point of view, this sort of nonsense excites me.

my children are already very confident and travelling up the narrow road to success.

its comforting to see that the education system is "wiping out the opposition" to my childrens advancement in the marketplace.

i could envision that the children of this school will graduate as thumb suckers who are only good for cowering in the corner and covering themselves with a sheet.

my kids should be able to scoop up all the opportunites that these poor "whipped dogs" miss out on.
its a shame for these kids that their parents (probably fat steve and his fat wife) didnt get them the hell out of there.
if my kids were part of such a play and i witnessed it, i would rise to my feet, remove them from the stage, remove them from the school and then take them home to watch a few hours of tony robbins "awaken the giant within".  on the trip home in the car we would discuss the awesome advantage they now have over these poor fellow students who have suffered systemic "child abuse".

It's our history irrespective of you wanting to bury it

Armchair_Politician wrote on Aug 17^th, 2017 at 8:20am:



Then why doesn't the Education Minister do something about it?   The Coalition have been in Government far more than the Labor Party over the past decades - they are the ones the have shaped the education system to what it is now.   I don't agree either with what this school have done but to just lump it on a left wing ideology is just wrong.

Sorry to say - it's not 'my' history, and my families going back to the 1850's have nothing to be ashamed of.

I do not accept the concept of corporate blaming of entire social groups for the wrongs perpetrated by a few... and such things as the 'stolen generation' have many facets to it, some of which are still around today in some communities, such as manipulation of power, abuse of children, control through use of drugs/alcohol by some 'king pins'.....

Any sign of 'intervention' these days is met with screeches of 'invasion', 'racism' and so forth.... meanwhile the kids there descend into early and lifetime poverty, early pregnancies and serial extended families, substance abuse,  revolving door prisons, systematic abuse then added to by abuse from the legal system (primarily for the boys), and a consequent lifetime of despair, crime and endless abuse of one kind or another.

Speaking with Aboriginal elders is very enlightening - they have some terrific ideas, often brought about by their own experiences, but they get little real say in anything.

I don't have the answers.... but blaming and clinging to the past in this distorted way is not one of them.  It helps nobody but certainly, as aqua says - it puts a spanner in the morale and motivation of young kids who are lumped with this kind of rubbish.

what the fkk has this to do with the left?

I know you'd never know with their performance, but the Libs are in government you more ons.

You are all a bunch of Pro-Trump, Pro-Nazi, Right wing, White supremist, haters.

Even now, your 'Confederate' statues are being removed from the history of the USA.
You history in Australia is being reminded to make you pay for your sins.
Your Anti-Black behaviour is failing both in USA and Australia.
The Media rules (Politics) and the Black Man rules with it.

Jasin wrote on Aug 17^th, 2017 at 9:47am:


I wasn't even born then, so what sins have I committed?