Aboriginal grandmothers and the living memorial of oral history

In the last decade, the issue of the Stolen Generation has been central to much academic debate. In detailing life histories, it is generally acknowledged that these individuals were denied their 'place' in their families. We write from the position of those who were not removed, and had/have positive experiences being nurtured in an Aboriginal family. Our sympathy for the Stolen Generation is two-fold. We are distressed at the ramifications of their racialised oppression, but we are also truly 'sorry' at the denial of opportunities to experience family, an opportunity from which we have so richly benefited. In this paper, we attempt to explain what those benefits entailed for us and thus what may have been for others