Next week 13th February marks the 19-year anniversary of the National Apology.
Between 1910 through to the 1970s, up to an estimated one third of all Indigenous children in Australia were forcibly removed from their families and country sanctioned under government assimilation policies of the day. In 1995, the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commissions investigated government policies and practices that forcefully separated many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children from their families into white Australian culture.
When the report Bringing them Home: Report of the National Inquiry into the Separation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children from Their Families was presented in Parliament in 1997, the Children became known as the Stolen Generation. The landmark Bringing them Home report demonstrated to the Australian public the extent of intergenerational trauma being transferred from first generation survivors to the next and the next, and how the suffering, grief and harm continued (and still continues) to be unresolved. The report sparked significant and swift public response, calling for a national apology and also notably a huge protest in the year 2000, in which more than 250,000 Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians walked across the Sydney Harbour Bridge to protest the lack of a national apology to the Stolen Generations.
It was not until a decade later that the then Prime Minister Kevin Rudd issued a formal public apology on February 13th, 2008. The official apology underlies a national recognition of the trauma, abuse, loss, and grief inflicted on the Stolen Generations, their families, and communities.
At Tetra Tech International Development Indo-Pacific, we embrace National Apology Day as it acknowledges the inflicted profound grief, suffering and loss experienced by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children who were forcibly removed from their families, their communities and their country by the Australian government. As an organisation, we support an environment where employees of all backgrounds can work together, to ensure a shared future, where our commitment towards learning and reconciliation enables communities to thrive.
On 13th February, communities across each State and Territory will come to remember the National Apology and show solidarity with the survivors of the Stolen Generation.
Events taking place around the country are listed below.
Australian Capital Territory – The Healing Foundation Livestream Apology event
- Date and time: Sunday 12 February 2023
- Location: Online
- Contact: [email protected]
New South Wales – Link Up NSW Apology Anniversary
- Date and time: 13 February 2023
- Location: Mt Druitt Community Hall – 87 Mount Druitt, Old Mount Druitt
- Contact: (02) 9421 4700 & 1800 624 332 (Free call, not available for mobiles)
- Learn more: linkupnsw.org.au/event/15th-anniversary-of-the-national-apology/ or linkupnsw.org.au/
South Australia – Nunkuwarrin Yunti Apology Day 2023 – Peaceful walk from Victoria Square to Veale Park
- Date and time: 9:30am – 2:00pm, 13 February 2023
- Location: Veale Park, South Terrace, 5000
- Contact: www.nunku.org.au
Western Australia – Sister Kate’s Home Kids Aboriginal Corporation National Apology Day Anniversary Livestream
- Date and time: 13 February 2023
- Location: Online
- Contact: www.skhkac.org.au
Queensland – Link-Up Queensland 15th Anniversary of the Apology
- Date and time: 10:00am to 12:00noon, 13 February 2023
- Location: Concert Hall Foyer, Queensland Performing Arts Centre, Corner Grey and Melbourne Streets, South Brisbane
- RSVP: [email protected]
- Contact: 07 3638 0411
- Visit: https://www.link-upqld.org.au/apology-2023-15th-anniversary/
For those outside of Australia, other ways to observe this day through peaceful actions are:
- Read out the history of the National Apology day, here: https://nationaltoday.com/national-apology-day/
AND about the National of Sorry Day (May 26th; also referred to as National Day of Healing, which commemorates the date of when the ‘Bringing them Home’ report was presented to Parliament in 1997) - Check out the updates on the Bringing them Home report via the Australian Human Rights Commission https://humanrights.gov.au/our-work/bringing-them-home-report-1997
https://bth.humanrights.gov.au/ - Become familiar with other significant events for Australia such National Reconciliation Week (27 May – 03 June, celebrated annually)
