We apologise, especially for the removal of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children from their families, their communities, and their country.Kevin Rudd
The removal of Indigenous children from their families was official government policy from 1906 to the 1970s.
It was instigated by a belief that Indigenous children of mixed ancestry would benefit from being brought up by white families.
The full trauma of this practice wasn’t fully expressed until historian Professor Peter Read published his research in the booklet ‘The Stolen Generations’ in 1981.
Over the following decades, a push for a formal apology grew until the new Labor Prime Minister Kevin Rudd made an apology, his first act of parliament, he gave his now famous 'Sorry' Speech on the 13th of February before members of the Stolen Generation.
For the pain, suffering and hurt, of these stolen generations, their descendants, and for their family left behind, we say sorry.Kevin Rudd
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