Should the government
say ‘sorry’?asked in 1997

AGB McNair (2,065 votes)

Yes

65% 

No

30% 

Newspoll (1,200 votes)

Yes

50% 

No

40% 

Morgan (522 votes)

Yes

37% 

No

57% 

Source: http://www.news.com.au

The apology

On the 13 ^th of February 2008, more than 10 years after the “Bringing Them Home Report was tabled, then The Prime Minister of Australia Kevin Rudd offered a broad apology to all Aborigines and the stolen generations.

What they especially apologise for

"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 apology read.

"We apologise especially for the removal of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children from their families, their communities and their country.

"For the pain, suffering and hurt of these Stolen Generations, their descendants and for their families left behind, we say sorry.

"To the mothers and the fathers, the brothers and the sisters, for the breaking up of families and communities, we say sorry.

"And for the indignity and degradation thus inflicted on a proud people and a proud culture, we say sorry."

Sources  

http://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/2012/05/25/factbox-what-sorry-day

http://www.nsdc.org.au/events-info/history-of-national-sorry-day

http://www.nsdc.org.au

http://www.nsdc.org.au/stolen-generations/history-of-the-stolen-generations/responses-and-outcomes-to-the-report

http://www.news.com.au/national/pm-moves-to-heal-the-nation/story-e6frfkw9-1111115539560

http://www.creativespirits.info/aboriginalculture/politics/sorry-apology-to-stolen-generations

Sorry Day 2014

Every year people gather in memory of the stolen generation and this year is no exception. 

This year, a number of events to mark Sorry Day will be held across Australia including:

• Northern Territory: Saturday 26 May- 2 June, Gagudju Lodge Cooinda National Park, Jim Jim will hold a weeklong program of cultural activities.
• Canberra: Sunday 27 May 12.30pm
• Melbourne: Sunday 27 May 2.30pm
• Adelaide: Tuesday 29 May 7pm
• Perth: Wednesday 30 May 10am
• Sydney: Thursday 31 May 7.30pm - I'm Not Racist But... talk and Q&A at the York Theatre, Seymour Centre, University of Sydney.
• Queensland: Saturday 2 and Sunday 3 June 10am-5pm - Townsville Reconciliation Festival - A festival

National Sorry Day activities and events take place all across Australia on National Sorry Day. They include:

▪   Concerts and barbecues.

▪   Festivals

▪   Walks or street marches.

▪   Sorry Day flag raising events.

▪   Morning teas or lunches.

The apology was needed, but was it too late?

We find that the apology by the Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd was needed. A lot of people probably needed to feel some closure after so many years of suffering. That the Aborigines were stolen was a horrible thing, that shouldn’t have happened, and we find that it was important to apologize for the pain and suffering the aborigines have been through. Unfortunately the apology came too late. Too many years went by until the Australian government realized, that they couldn’t ignore the history and they had to apologize on behave of the people who let it happen. Of course the apology will still make a difference for some Aborigines, but for others it’s too late. Some Aborigines didn’t even live to experience the apology, because it came in 2008 –many years later.

We will might be able to avoid that something like this happens again in the future, because the apology and the Sorry Day make people aware of the Australian history and what happened.  

National Sorry Day

Sorry Day is a day for all those who have been impacted by the government policies removal that have resulted in the Stolen Generation.

The 26th of May every year, ceremonies, marches, speeches and presentations are held around the country to commemorate Sorry Day.

The first Sorry Day was held in 1998 one year after the report 'Bringing them Home' was first tabled in the parliament.

The report “Bringing them Home”, from a Human Rights inquiry, documented the forced removal of many Aboriginal and children from their families, between 1910 and the 1970s. The children who were removed have come to be known as the Stolen Generations. In 1998, Prime Minister Paul Keating made a speech in Redfern and admitted for the first time that “we took the children from their mothers”. In this speech he never said sorry to the Aboriginals.

Because of the lack of a Government apology to the people for the Stolen Generations, more than 250.000 people participated the 28^th of May 2000, in the Bridge Walk across Sydney Harbour Bridge. This walk, was organized by the Reconciliation Australia, and was in support of real Australians.  

Five years after the walk in Sydney, the National Sorry Day Committee renamed Sorry Day as a National Day of Healing for all Australians and in 2008 the official apology was given.

The apology
On February 13. 2008 the Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd apologized to The Stolen Generation for the pain and suffering they have been put through. There was 360 words in his speech and 3 of them was the actual word "sorry".