IND/The Apology to the Stolen Generations

Key Idea

The Apology to the Stolen Generations provided important official national acknowledgement of the harm caused by government policies and practices.

Kevin Rudd on screen in Federation Square, Melbourne, apologising to the stolen generations.

The question of an apology to the Stolen Generations became a political issue in Australia after the Bringing them Home inquiry and report, with the former Prime Minister John Howard adamant in his refusal to apologise to the Stolen Generations on behalf of the Australian nation. With a change in government in 2007, the new Prime Minister Kevin Rudd made a national apology on 13 February 2008.

Required Reading/Viewing

Watch the Video and Transcript of the former Prime Minister Kevin Rudd’s Apology Speech to the Stolen Generations:

Watch the Video and Transcript of the response to the Prime Ministers Sorry Speech by Tom Calma, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice and Human Rights Commissioner, Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission (HREOC):

Learning Activity

The impacts of removal

Sorry Day poster

Look at your table from the previous learning activity for the topic Assimilation and ‘Biological Absorption'. What can you add in the Effects on people column from this week’s readings? Think about:

• structures of Indigenous kinship systems
• relations to country
• transmission of the Dreaming to future generations of Indigenous Australians

As well as the more personal impacts:

• loss of identity
• loss of family connection
• poor life circumstances

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