The 13th of February 2018 marks the 10th Anniversary of the National Apology to the Stolen Generations given by Prime Minister Kevin Rudd. This is a significant day for all people of Australia.
The National Apology to the Stolen Generations came about as a recommendation from The National Inquiry into the Separation of Aboriginal Children from their Families.
It highlighted the suffering of Indigenous families under the Commonwealth, state and territory Aboriginal protection and welfare laws and policies.
The National Inquiry then led to the "Bringing Them Home" report which was tabled in Parliament on 26 May 1997. It contained 54 Recommendations on how to redress the wrongs done to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples by the race-based laws and policies of successive governments throughout Australia.
Recommendations 5a and 5b suggested that all Australian Parliaments and State and Territory police forces acknowledge responsibility for past laws, policies and practices of forcible removal and that on behalf of their predecessors officially apologies to Indigenous individuals, families and communities...
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Image: Kevin Rudd embraces members of Australia's Stolen Generation. ABC News.
Apology Response
Given by Professor Thomas Edwin ‘Tom’ Calma an Aboriginal Elder of the Kungarakan people and a member of the Iwaidja tribal group whose traditional lands are south west of Darwin and on the Coburg Peninsula in the Northern Territory. At the time Professor Calma was the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner (2004 to 2010) and Race Discrimination Commissioner (2004 until 2009) at the Human Rights Commission of Australia.
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Bringing Them Home
Report of the National Inquiry into the Separation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children from Their Families.Download