Book review
It is rare to come across studies of important themes in the context of a national culture, such as the Australian, and think, why has this not been examined properly before? Fiona Probyn-Rapsey’s Made to Matter. White Fathers, Stolen Generations represents such a study. While stolen generations have been the subject of many studies in the wake of the Bringing Them Home Report released in the mid-nineties, the stolen generations’ white fathers have not attracted such scholarly attention. There are many reasons for this neglect, which could presumably include: the spotlight was on the direct victims of this atrocious and cultural-genocidal policy culminating of course in Kevin Rudd’s 2008 apology; as Probyn-Rapsey points out some white fathers would disown their “half-caste” offspring, others would own up to them at the risk of attracting attention from the white authorities, whose vigorous pursuit of white justice is mercilessly laid bare in the dramatized autobiography, Rabbit Proof Fence, and Baz Luhrmann’s fictional account Australia.
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