It wasn't until I did research for 'Follow the Rabbit Proof Fence' that I read how Government policies were implemented, how children were removed under ministerial warrants and their mothers had no say in the matter. While my sister and I didn't come under ministerial warrants, the Government did it in a rather cunning sort of way. My mother had been suffering with appendicitis for many months and in those days Aboriginal people weren't admitted into public hospitals. They were taken to hospital if there was a medical problem and [only] if there was a 'Native Ward' attached to that hospital. Otherwise they were sent to Royal Perth Hospital and that's what they did with my mother. On the way they said that after the operation she'd be able to take us back with her, but the Government had already arranged to keep us, particularly my sister who was lighter-skinned than I. They didn't consider feelings at all, they just wanted to take the children away. They had decided as soon as my sister was born, they would focus on her.
