Oxonmoot 2024

"In Australian history since the arrival of the first fleet, the children of our first peoples have been taken and placed with families and in institutions of a different colonial culture, a genocidal crime.

This talk will briefly look at:
* the fostering or guardianship experience of Ronald Tolkien and his brother, Hilary.
* fostering in Anglo-Saxon England, the historical period that Tolkien studied in depth
* the institutional and foster experience of a member of Australia’s stolen generation, Jack Charles.
* and overview of lost children in Tolkien’s writing and, in particular, of Tuor, Turin and Aragorn.
The talk reveals how Tolkien wrote his personal experiences and medieval themes in to his works, and the authenticity of these writings. It helps us reflect on the dispossession and loss of Australia's first people and children.
This talk was originally presented at Ozmoot 2023 - ""Deep Roots"", the first moot of Hern Ennorath, the Australian smial of the Tolkien Society."