Who said sorry to the aboriginals

After winning the election, former Prime Minister Kevin Rudd delivered an official apology on 13 February He expressed regret for past government policies that resulted in the forced removal of Indigenous children from their families.

That today we honour the Indigenous peoples of this land, the oldest continuing cultures in human history. 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.

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.

See our classroom resource. Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, 13 February It read: trace the past laws, practices and policies which resulted in the separation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children from their families by compulsion, duress or undue influence, and the effects of those laws, practices and policies;.

Defining Moments: The Apology Submissions to the Inquiry The inquiry took evidence personally from Indigenous people and received hundreds of letters and testimonies from other people. She had tried to reunite her family after she herself married: After about 14 years my [eldest] brother came to live with us. In his submission to the inquiry, Paul noted: My Mother never gave up trying to locate me.

Holly Ransom on the National Apology First apologies The Western Australian Government was the first state government to act, issuing its apology on 27 May Dr Tom Calma, then Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner, in his formal response to the Apology stated: Through one direct act, the parliament has acknowledged the existence and the impacts of past policies and practices of forcibly removing Indigenous children from their families, and by doing so has paid respect to the Stolen Generations for their suffering and their loss, and for their resilience, and ultimately, for their dignity.

Curriculum subjects. Year levels. In our collection. Explore Defining Moments. Aborigines Protection Act. Sesquicentenary and Aboriginal Day of Mourning. Opposition leader Brendan Nelson's speech — which rejected calls for compensation for the stolen generations — was less popular. At Melbourne's Federation Square, onlookers turned their backs on his telecast, just as they did 11 years earlier at the Australian Reconciliation Convention. Home Explore history Learn skills For teachers Search.

Meant to be a public acknowledgement of the pain and suffering endured by the many Indigenous Australians who are part of the Stolen Generations , Sorry Day also recognises the mistreatment of Aboriginal people throughout Australian history: the word 'sorry' [is] not about monetary compensation or damages, nor about today's Australians taking personal responsibility [for past events], but about acknowledging that wrong was done and expressing sorrow about it.

Additional resources. An estimated 20, members of the Stolen Generations are alive today. Many have described the apology as a watershed moment. Michael Welsh told the Australian Broadcasting Corp : "It's made a big difference to me in my life, through my life, where I've journeyed.

A landmark report, titled, Bringing Them Home, estimated that as many as one in three indigenous children were taken and placed in institutions and foster care, where many suffered abuse and neglect. A government-funded survivors group, the Healing Foundation, said it had a "profoundly destructive" impact on those removed and their families, many of whom had carried lifelong trauma. On Monday, the government released an annual report showing that Australia is failing four of seven measures aimed at improving indigenous lives.

Mr Hamm said that much optimism about addressing inequality had not been fulfilled since the apology.