Remembering the national apology

SUNDAY marked fourteen years since former Prime Minister Kevin Rudd formally said sorry to the Stolen Generation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.

His speech in parliament on 13 February 2008 acknowledged the hurt, pain, suffering, and humiliation experienced by First Nations families and communities, as a result of previous Federal Government policies.

National Apology Day was locally recognised with a service at the Art Gallery of Ballarat on Sunday.

Ballarat Koorie Engagement Action Group’s Nikki Foy hosted the morning, with a digeridoo performance from Peter Lovett, and speeches from Aboriginal elder Uncle Murray Harrison, and Ballarat and District Aboriginal Cooperative Stolen Generation worker Vicki Peart.

One of seven children, Mr Harrison was removed from his family, and culture, as a child in 1948. He travelled to Canberra to hear Mr Rudd’s apology in 2008.

The words, “Took away something that had haunted [him] for 60 years.”

“Today means that I am free, but the day also brings back sadness. Me and my sisters were dragged by the hair outside to the car. That is just as dramatic as it was 70-plus years ago,” he said.

“It still hurts, but the fact that a man had the courage to stand up and say to the Stolen Generation, ‘me and my government are sorry for what we’ve done to you over the years…’ that was not a political stunt.

“Everybody now, throughout the whole of the country, and the world, knows that there is a Stolen Generation, and these people are somebody. Am I a myth? No, I’m not. The country acknowledges that we were stolen.”

Ms Peart is the daughter of a survivor of the Stolen Generation, and supports members of the Stolen Generation, and their families, through her work at BADAC.

“At the time, they thought that what was in the best interest of Aboriginal children was to have them removed,” she said.

“Little did they know that by removing our children, some would endure horrific trauma, and this trauma would be passed down for generations to follow.

“Some children were subject to physical, sexual, or emotional abuse, where some would often turn to drugs and alcohol to erase the pain, or these children as adults would turn to crime and be placed back in jail, as the only life they knew was to be institutionalised.”

The list of speakers at the service also included Cafs’ inclusion and diversity lead Liz Hardiman who recognised, on behalf of the group, its involvement in the Stolen Generation

“As the successor organisation to the Ballarat and District Orphan Asylum, the Ballarat Orphanage, and the Ballarat Children’s Home, Cafs acknowledges the harm done and apologises to these children,” she said.

City of Ballarat mayor Cr Daniel Moloney said 13 February, 2008 is a “landmark day in Australia’s history.”

“It is important to take a moment to pause and remember the apology and what it meant to the Stolen Generation,” he said.