A Tear in the Soul

An honest and deeply personal story of how a privileged white woman deals with the realisationthat the children she grew up with were part of the Stolen Generation. Born into privilege and wealth in 1959, Amanda Webster is a sixth-generation Australian descended from white settlers and a third-generation resident of Kalgoorlie. When she turned five Amanda startedschool at Kalgoorlie where she met and befriended Aboriginal children from the nearby KurrawangMission, established in 1952 with the help of the Department of Native Affairs by Brethrenmissionaries. At that time the affairs of Aboriginal people were controlled by the Chief Protector, noneother than Websters very own grandfather. Forty years later, Webster returns to her hometown to reconnect with her former friends, and to piecetogether Kurrawangs story. Webster confronts her racist blunders, her cultural ignorance and her familyssecret past, beginning a journey of reconciliation that will take her well outside her comfort zone and into a world she hardly knew existed. A Tear in the Soul is a frank, beautifully written account of Websters personal journey towards the realisation that she, like generations of Australians, grew up with a distorted and idealised version of the past. This book, shattering many of the myths about modern Australias history, will shock, move and anger yet give a sense of hope for the future.