Backgrounder

Reconciliation Saying Sorry

Did you see Blue Heelers last week? You would have seen the story of a young Aboriginal woman taken away from her family when she was just a toddler. It seems that the local police thought that she was not being cared for properly and thought it was their duty to remove her from her family. Government policy of the day supported such thinking, giving police the power to take children from Aboriginal families against the wishes of their parents.

The young woman in Blue Heelers spent her childhood in unhappy and abusive foster homes, not knowing the whereabouts of her family, nor why she could not be with them. Her troubled life meant frequent contacts with the law, one of them resulting in a traumatic meeting with the policeman who had removed her from her family all those years ago. The meeting was an emotional time for both the young woman and Senior Sergeant Tom Croydon.

The young woman was reunited with some family members, but discovered that her parents had already died. An older and wiser Tom Croydon finally acknowledged that he had denied the woman her childhood He said, in hindsight, he wished he had spent time getting to know the local Aboriginal people rather than judging them from his perspective. He said that he had been wrong and the government, also, had been wrong. He said that he was truly, truly sorry.

This week Australia ´celebrates´ The Journey of Healing, which culminates with National Sorry Day on Friday, 26th May. The Journey of Healing is a call to support all who have suffered as a result of policies and practices which led to the forcible removal of Indigenous children from their families. Initiated by members of the stolen generation, the Journey of Healing has come about because of the extraordinary community response to the Report on the Stolen Generation in 1997: Bringing Them Home. Since then, thousands upon thousands of ordinary Australians have begun to recognise the wrongs of the past and want to say ´Sorry´ to Aboriginal Australians.

This week is not a time for hand-wringing or guilt-induced defensiveness. Rather it is a time for us all to acknowledge the wrongs that have been done, and to embrace possibilities for new understandings between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians.

GETTING INVOLVED

• Talk about the Blue Heelers episode
• Read excerpts of Bringing Them Home, the document (or watch the video - check local libraries ABC shops)
• Send a Sorry Message to local Indigenous organisations
• Invite a member of the Stolen Generation to tell his or her story (mindful of the sensitivities of people who have already suffered so much)
• Place a ´Sorry Statement´ in a prominent position in the School e.g. the foyer
• See Rabbit-Proof Fence
• Debate: Is saying sorry enough?
• Write a report called: What Kind of Compensation?
• Ask your local member of Parliament for his/her response to National Sorry Day
• Contact Caritas Australia for Reconciliation: Stories of the Heart Sounds of the Rock (CD costs $15 plus $5 for postage and handling, with free Study Guide)

LEARNING MORE

Visit these websites for more information.
• Journey of Healing: http://journeyofhealing.com
• Australians for Native Title and Reconciliation (ANTAR) http://www.antar.org.au/
• Caritas Australia: http://www.caritas.org.au/
• Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice http://www.hreoc.gov.au/social_justice/stolen_children/index.html
• Bringing them Home: Report of the National Inquiry into the Separation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children from Their Families http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/special/rsjproject/rsjlibrary/hreoc/stolen/
• Reconciliation Australia/Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation: http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/orgs/car/
• The Wik High Court Judgement: http://www.isis.aust.com/wik/

AND SINGING SONGS

Helen Moran, a member of the Stolen Generations and Johnny Huckle, well-known Wiradjuri singer/songwriter, wrote the widely-sung: ´Journey of Healing´, which launched the Journey of Healing at Uluru. Here is an excerpt from ´Journey of Healing´ Journey of Healing

They took the children, they took the land. We´ve learnt the truth now, we understand The day for Sorry, we´ve shared together And the promise to make things better.

Come join the Journey, Journey of Healing Let the spirit guide us, hand in hand Let´s walk together into the future, The time has come to make a stand. Let´s heal our hearts, let´s heal our pain And bring the stolen children home again. Come and join the Journey of Healing Together as one, across the land.