As part of the misguided policy of the NSW government to intervene in the lives of Aboriginal families to create a better life for their children, Aboriginal boys and girls were forcibly separated from their parents and placed in homes where they could be given a quality education and provided with nutrition, shelter and life opportunities that would provide them with better opportunities in (European) Australian society. The sad reality was that the children were subjected to physical and mental brutality and received a poor quality education in settings that were far from the support of family and friends. This source-based homework task is designed to assist student understandings of the NSW History syllabus for the Australian Curriculum Stage 5 Depth Study 4: Rights and Freedoms (1945-present) The sources deal exclusively with social isolation, educational malpractice and physical abuse. I have not included emotional or sexual abuse even though these certainly occurred. These issues may be better dealt with by individual teachers making the decisions of if and when the "teachable moments" for these sensitive issues best arise with their particular students.