On 13 February 2008 Prime Minister Kevin Rudd made a formal apology to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, particularly to the Stolen Generations whose lives had been blighted by past government policies of forced child removal and assimilation.
' In 2008, then-Prime Minister Kevin Rudd apologised on behalf of the Australian Government to the Stolen Generations – the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children who were forcibly removed from their families and communities by successive colonial and Australian governments.
For over ten years the conservative Howard government consistently rejected the call for an official government apology. Howard had made his position clear in his opening remarks to the 1997 Australian Reconciliation Convention, which repudiated any apology for past actions.
In this landmark speech, the Government called on all Australians to reflect on the past actions that form an important part of our history. The apology included a resolve to embrace new solutions to enduring problems where old approaches had failed, and a future based on mutual respect and mutual responsibility.
Under the laws of the Australian Government, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples were not included as citizens. Instead, in many cases they were treated as foreigners in their own land.
From the first federal electoral Act in 1902 to 1965, when the last state changed its law, tens of thousands of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people were subject to regulations which prohibited them from voting at federal and state elections.
Segregation was still common. Indigenous people could still be made 'wards of the government' if they were thought to be living in a non-similar manner to non-Indigenous people, were perceived to not manage their own affairs, have different social habits and behaviours, and personal associations.
Monday 13 February is the 15th anniversary of the Apology to Australia's Indigenous Peoples . Given by then Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, the Apology was a watershed moment for reconciliation in Australia.
The first National Sorry Day was held on 26 May 1998 by a coalition of Australian community groups. It marked one year after the 1997 Bringing Them Home report was tabled in Australian parliament. The report was the result of an inquiry into the government policies and practices which caused the Stolen Generations.
The Apology's profound symbolism has translated into few positive improvements in the economic, social, medical and educational outcomes of Indigenous Australians, who remain among the world's most disadvantaged people.
Peter Dutton was the only Opposition front bencher to abstain from the apology. A crowd in Canberra turn their backs part way through Brendan Nelson's apology reply.
The Stolen Generations
In Australia, between 1910 and the 1970s*, governments, churches and welfare bodies forcibly removed many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children from their families. These children became known as the Stolen Generations.
In the 1860s, Victoria became the first state to pass laws authorising Aboriginal children to be removed from their parents. Similar policies were later adopted by other states and territories – and by the federal government when it was established in the 1900s.
And if you are talking about both Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, it's best to say either 'Indigenous Australians' or 'Indigenous people'. Without a capital “a”, “aboriginal” can refer to an Indigenous person from anywhere in the world.
It's estimated that as many as 1 in 3 Indigenous children were taken between 1910 and the 1970s, affecting most Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities in Australia. This all took place under past Australian Government policies.
In an analysis by Guardian Australia based on the data, Aboriginal deaths were estimated to be 27 to 33 times higher than coloniser deaths. Between 11,000 and 14,000 Aboriginal people died, compared with only 399 to 440 colonisers.
National Sorry Day is held annually on May 26.
The first National Sorry Day was held on May 26, 1998, which was one year after the tabling of a government report about the removal of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children from their families and communities.
1969. By 1969, all states had repealed the legislation allowing for the removal of Aboriginal children under the policy of 'protection'.
Many schools Australia wide participate in Nations Sorry Day events by holding essay competitions, walks around their communities, learning the stories of the Stolen Generation and inviting local First Nations elders to speak to the students.
William Ferguson founded the Aboriginal Progressive Association and led protests at the 1938 National Day of Mourning. He would become one of the most famous and important Aboriginal rights activists in Australian history. 'To all you people of Aboriginal blood, I say… I am fighting for your freedom.
Sorry business is the Aboriginal English term used by the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community to describe the mourning period when a family member dies and all responsibilities that follow in accordance with traditional lore and custom.
Estimates of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians. As at 30 June 2021 there were 984,000 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, representing 3.8% of the total Australian population.
In addition to the required rejection of their language and culture, a range of other rights and freedoms continued to be denied to Aboriginal people during this time including where they lived, whom they married, and how they spent their earnings.
Of the 1 million Australians who served in Australia and overseas during World War II, we estimate that up to 3000, perhaps more, were Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander peoples. Important contributions to Australia's war effort by Indigenous Australians included: military service overseas in all theatres of the war.
It is true that there has been, historically, a small number of claims that there were people in Australia before Australian Aborigines, but these claims have all been refuted and are no longer widely debated. The overwhelming weight of evidence supports the idea that Aboriginal people were the first Australians.