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National Sorry Day - ABC Education

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander viewers are advised that this resource contains images of people who have died.

Civics and Citizenship, History

9–10

While many individuals, groups and activists had endeavoured to reconcile relationships between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians, it wasn't until Prime Minister Paul Keating's Redfern Park speech that the government acknowledged "the test which so far we have always failed" – the recognition of past wrongs in Australia.

1. 1.Paul Keating's 1992 Redfern speech
2. 2.ABC 7.30: Sydney Harbour Bridge walk
3. 3.Radio National: PM John Howard's view in 2007
4. 4.PM Kevin Rudd 'Apology to the Stolen Generations'
5. 5.National Sorry Day: One Sydney story
6. 6.The Making of Modern Australia: A voice from the Stolen Generations
7. 7.Tom Calma's response to the Apology to the Stolen Generations

In 1992, PM Paul Keating delivered a speech in Redfern Park to launch Australia's program for the International Year of the World's Indigenous People.

The Redfern Park speech was significant as it was the first time a prime minister had spoken in such terms. In this extract of the speech, Keating says of the reconciliation process:

'It begins, I think, with that act of recognition. Recognition that it was we who did the dispossessing. We took the traditional lands and smashed the traditional way of life. We brought the diseases. The alcohol. We committed the murders. We took the children from their mothers. We practised discrimination and exclusion.'

1. 1.Keating's Redfern Park speech was a defining moment in Australia's reconciliation with its Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. Why do you think this is? In your response, consider who made the speech, who he represented and what other significant historical decisions were being made at the time.
2. 2.During what parts of the speech does the audience react? Why do you think this is?
3. 3.Why do you think some people at the time might have reacted negatively to what Keating said? Can you find evidence of negative reactions to his speech? A good place to start is to look at newspapers and television footage from the period. Trove is a good place to find this information.

The 1997 Bringing Them Home report, together with many stories and documentaries, exposed the physical and mental pain of the Stolen Generations.

Their accounts struck a nerve with Australians, as many people were unaware such practices took place. Afterwards, many public acts of reconciliation took place, such as the walk on Sydney Harbour Bridge on 28 May 2000, where 250,000 people, Indigenous and non-Indigenous, walked together.

1. 1.Why do you think people in Australia did not previously know about the Stolen Generations or forced removal of children from their families? 
2. 2.The Bridge walk inspired many other Australian cities to organise similar events. Do you know about reconciliation events that have happened or are happening in your community? What sort of impact or effect do you think these sorts of events have towards reconciling relationships between Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples?
3. 3.Do you think walks and protests like this help inspire social change such as reconciliation? What are three ways your community could assist in the act of reconciliation between Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples?

Prime Minister John Howard held the opposite stance to those who believed an apology to the Stolen Generations was necessary.

In this clip he explains:

'I have never been willing to embrace a formal national apology, because I do not believe the current generation can accept responsibility for the deeds of earlier generations. And there's always been a fundamental unwillingness to accept, in this debate, the difference between an expression of sorrow and an assumption of responsibility.'

Debates over whether the government should officially apologise to the Stolen Generations hit fever pitch around 2007. Language formed an interesting part of this debate, and there seemed to be much discussion about the differences between feeling regret, being remorseful and the act of apologising.

1. 1.What do you know about Prime Minister John Howard and his government? What do you know about Opposition Leader Kevin Rudd, who is also interviewed?
2. 2.There seemed to be much discussion about the differences between feeling regret, being remorseful and the act of apologising. What do you think the differences are?
3. 3.What were the practical policies Kevin Rudd focused on to improve the treatment of and relationships with Indigenous people in this country?

In 2008, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd formally apologised on behalf of the government to the Stolen Generations.

One of the first official actions of the newly elected Prime Minister Rudd was to formally apologise on behalf of the government to the Stolen Generations, and he did this through a motion to the Parliament.

'We apologise for the laws and policies of successive Parliaments and governments that have inflicted profound grief, suffering and loss on these our fellow Australians.'

The speech received was by a crowd of thousands who had assembled outside Parliament to hear it, and it was televised widely. It was seen as a watershed moment for reconciliation in Australia.

1. 1.The apology was seen as a "watershed moment" for reconciliation in Australia. What does this mean?
2. 2.Kevin Rudd said his apology was without qualification. What does this mean, and why do you think he said this?
3. 3.Why do you think this formal apology was important to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people? Is there evidence that some Indigenous people did not see the value of a formal apology? You might refer to newspapers and television material from the period to help with your answer.

The process of reconciliation is an ongoing one.

Reconciliation is an ongoing process. The year following the apology, Australia signed the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples — an important act to show commitment to reconciliation.

Years on, some people feel Australia has a long way to go. Moving forward, it's important that current and future generations of Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians continue the dialogue to ensure meaningful reconciliation continues. This video features an interview with Aunty Sandra Lee, an elder of the Darug people of Sydney.

1. 1.Do you know where Darug Country is in News South Wales?
2. 2.Have you ever heard of the Blacktown Native Institution? What do you think it was? Who was Lachlan Macquarie, and what were the land grants Sandra mentions in the video?
3. 3.As a society, how do you think we can ensure meaningful reconciliation continues into the future?

The Bringing Them Home report (1997) brought attention to the Stolen Generations.

The Stolen Generations refers to the Indigenous or part-Indigenous children who were taken from their families and fostered by non-Indigenous families or institutions, like state orphanages or the church. Some who participated in and implemented this practice believed they were improving the lives and opportunities of those children.

This clip features an interview with a Gamilaroi woman Donna Meehan, who was taken from her family in 1960 and adopted by a white family. She explains how confused and isolated she felt as a teenaged Aboriginal woman growing up in a non-Aboriginal family and community.

1. 1.Have you ever felt like you don't belong? What is it like to feel different from those around you? In 2008 the then prime minister of Australia, Kevin Rudd, made an apology to the Stolen Generations. What was the purpose of this speech?
2. 2.Donna says she feels like a fish out of water. What does she mean by this? List the reasons Donna gives about why she felt like an outsider.
3. 3.How do personal accounts help us to develop greater understanding about the Stolen Generations? Look again at the family photographs chosen to illustrate this clip. How do they reinforce what Donna says about her experience of growing up?
4. 4.Research the national organisation Link-Up to find out more about how Australian society is addressing the effects of the Stolen Generations. What other organisations exist to assist people affected by this period in Australian history?

The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner Tom Calma delivered a speech in Canberra at a morning tea after the National Apology in 2008.

He said,

"By acknowledging and paying respect, Parliament has now laid the foundations for healing to take place, and for a reconciled Australia in which everybody belongs. For today is not just about the Stolen Generations, it's about all Australians. Today's actions enables every single one of us to move forward together with joint aspirations and a national story that contains a shared past and a future."

Watch and listen as he addresses the needs of the Stolen Generations, and his ideas for what government could do to implement the recommendations of the Bringing Them Home report.

^{Metadata © Australian Broadcasting Corporation and Education Services Australia Ltd 2012 (except where otherwise indicated).Digital content © Australian Broadcasting Corporation (except where otherwise indicated).Video © Australian Broadcasting Corporation (except where otherwise indicated). All images copyright their respective owners.Text © Australian Broadcasting Corporation and Education Services Australia is licenced under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License (CC BY-SA 4.0).}

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