The Canberra Times
(7 April 1998)

A day to honour the stolen generations

Can the stolen generations forgive the hurt inflicted on them?

The reconciliation process hangs on the answer to that question.

Two weeks ago the Canberra Aboriginal Church held a service 'to acknowledge the apologies and the tremendous support given to us by Sir Ronald Wilson, church leaders and community groups over the past year.' Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians filled the church until there was standing room only.

In a message to the service, Sir Ronald said how humbled he was by this response, knowing how little has yet been done to implement the recommendations of the 'stolen generations' report, Bringing Them Home.

The report recommended that a Sorry Day be held - a day for all Australians to sorrow over the whole tragic history. This was suggested by people who had been forcibly removed as children. Since the report was published, those people have added another purpose for the Day - to celebrate the beginning of new understanding.

A vast range of Australians, Indigenous and non-Indigenous, have responded, and Sorry Day will be held on 26th May, a year after the report was tabled in Parliament. Now local communities all around the country are arranging events, under the patronage of former Governor-General Sir Zelman Cowen and Carol Kendall, Chair of the National Stolen Generations Working Group.

'This is not about guilt,' Kendall emphasises. 'If you go to a funeral, you say, "I'm sorry". It means you feel their pain and loss.'

Sorry Day will be a day to honour the stolen generations. It took us over 20 years to honour our Vietnam veterans, because we were ashamed of what we, as a country, had pushed them into. It is taking us longer to honour the stolen generations, because we are even more ashamed. But on Sorry Day we will celebrate them, for there is much to celebrate. Their struggle to overcome their tragic experience has given many of them qualities of resilience, humour, compassion. They are a source of strength for our country.

But the forced removal policies have also left many shattered, physically and mentally - both among those who were removed, and those who were left childless. We must show them that they are loved and valued members of our community. We all know how much that can do for a person's state of mind and health.

For those who wish to make an apology, Sorry Day offers a chance. Apology can be profoundly healing, both to the person who apologises and to the recipient. All over the country, Sorry Books are filling with messages and signatures. These will be handed to Indigenous leaders on Sorry Day, and will then be on display in central places where everyone can come and see them.

In South Australia, Avis Gale was one of a number of the 'stolen generations' invited to receive an apology from the Uniting Church of South Australia. She was taken from her mother at one week old. At the age of eight, in rebellion against the institution in which she had been placed, she threw every Bible she could find onto the Guy Fawkes bonfire. For this she was told she would go to hell and, to make the point, the letter H was branded on her leg. The Church's apology for its part in the removal policies moved her deeply. She realised that she also had apologies to make, and this she has been doing. 'One day they will have to meet their Maker,' she said, 'but so will I.'

Sorry Day is a day to unite in shared acknowledgement of the past and its continuing pain; and to build the friendships on which a new future can grow.

Bringing Them Home offers a path towards this future, and it will feature on Sorry Day. After a year's intense media exposure, no serious challenge to the report's credibility has emerged. This means that all sides can broadly agree on the story it tells, and agree that the Indigenous mistrust of white Australia has valid foundations. Whether or not we accept responsibility for creating that mistrust, the onus is on us to overcome it. One way we can do this is to work for the implementation of the report's recommendations.

State or Territory Governments, local government, churches and community groups can all play a part in implementing many of the 54 recommendations. Sir Ronald Wilson describes the frail, elderly Aboriginal woman who told her story to the Inquiry and then, when asked whether compensation could help, replied, 'I would love to see my country again.' A service club could raise the money for her to make that trip, with a carer, to her country.

That is the spirit of Sorry Day. As the statement of the national committee puts it: 'Sorry Day offers every community the chance to shape a ceremony which, by the frankness of its acknowledgement of past wrongs towards the 'stolen generations', and by the sincerity of its commitment to overcome racism, unites the community. Such a ceremony cannot be prescribed. It must come from the hearts of local people, Indigenous and non-Indigenous.'

In that spirit, we could see 'sorry' being met by forgiveness all over the country. Then we will truly be able to walk forward together.