What was the 2008 Sorry speech?
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.
Which Prime Minister apologised to the Aboriginals?
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.
When did Australia apologize to the Stolen Generation?
In 2007, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd began consulting with Indigenous Australians about what form a national apology should take. On 13 February 2008, he offered a formal apology to members of the Stolen Generations on behalf of the Australian parliament.
What is sorry day Australia?
National Sorry Day is a day to acknowledge the strength of Stolen Generations Survivors and reflect on how we can all share in the healing process. The inaugural National Sorry Day was held on 26 May 1998.
Who started Sorry Day?
Australia’s Prime Minister Kevin Rudd tabled a motion in parliament on February 13, 2008, apologizing to Australia’s Indigenous people, particularly the Stolen Generations and their families and communities, for the laws and policies that inflicted profound grief, suffering and loss.
Who made the apology to the stolen generation?
On 13 February 2008, then Prime Minister Kevin Rudd made a formal apology on behalf of the Australian Parliament to Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. In particular to the Stolen Generations.
Why is National apology day important?
On this day, we commemorate Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people who were forcibly removed from their families under government policies during the Assimilation era (officially 1910-70). Those children stolen from their families have become known as the Stolen Generations.
Why is National Sorry Day celebrated in Australia?
National Sorry Day is commemorated in Australia each year on May 26 as an expression of solidarity with the justice and reconciliation agenda of the nation’s Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders, and in particular with the tens of thousands of Aboriginal children who were removed from their parents during Australia’s …
What is the history of Sorry Day?
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.
What is sorry day in Australian history?
On 26 May each year, we acknowledge Sorry Day to mark the anniversary of the tabling of the Bringing Them Home report in the Australian Parliament in 1997.
What was the reaction from Aboriginal peoples to the apology?
The apology was a symbolic act on a grand scale. Many who worked for years with the hope of hearing an apology felt that it might have been the beginning of a new era. Private Indigenous citizens also reacted to the apology, and their responses varied from awe to confusion, and from acceptance to apprehension.
Why did the Australian government take the Stolen Generation?
The forcible removal of First Nations children from their families was part of the policy of Assimilation, which was based on the misguided assumption that the lives of First Nations people would be improved if they became part of white society.
Why is National apology Day important?
What happened on Sorry Day?
Stolen generations refer to Indigenous Australians who were forcibly removed from their families and communities. The first National Sorry Day was held on May 26, 1998, which was one year after the tabling of a report about the removal of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children from their families.