Sorry seems to be the hardest word.
Kelley has addressed this day with far more eloquence than I ever could.
In a few short words she has captured the tragedy; the unspeakable atrocities, the pain. She has done it in a way that only a mother could.
I can only imagine the gut wrenching pain a mother would feel when she loses her child. The emptiness, the sorrow… the type of pain that never goes away. Or the pain a child would feel; taken from his or her mother’s arms, thrust into a culture that is alien to them, never quite belonging.
Dressing little indigenous Australian girls up in a starched white dress, white gloves and putting them in a mission did what for them? The sheer fucking audacity of the white man! We took them away from their ‘primitive’ ways and offered them something more? We created a stolen generation.
We gave them loss, despair, alienation, grief.
We wonder why they have problems with grog.
Our politicians stuck their heads up their backsides for years, pushing this issue under the carpet, hoping it would go away. It will never go away for those who were assaulted by white man’s ways. But we can acknowledge and hold out a hand in unity to those who have been hurt. We can say, sorry.
On this day, that word was said - sorry.
Not that this word can ever make up for the ethnic cleansing that took place, but it’s a start. It is now part of history, and a reminder that we are ALL one people. We’re not black, brown, yellow or white - we are Australians.
We take great pride in the mateship that is associated with Australia, as we should. This is a fantastic country, we kick ass, but we do have our dirty past.
Today we have acknowledged the wrongs and said to those who were hurt SORRY.
Hopefully today’s events will be imprinted on everyone’s hearts and minds and we never forget.
February 13, 2008 at 11:25 am
HERE, HERE!
First I heard this well overdue news my first thought was “AND ABOUT BLOODY TIME!”
It has always astounded and horrified me how blatantly racist my fellow mainstream Australians can be. This has become even more obvious to me since I’ve been on secondment here across the ditch.
NZ has never put there indigenous people on reserverations etc. And it blows me away just how accepting Kiwis are, and tolerant of others not of the same race as them.
We often look down on our downunder cousins (in jest or otherwise?) across the ditch, we of the so called Lucky Country. IMO, we could learn some huge lessons from them regarding tolerance and inclusiveness in society.
*Steps off soapbox*
February 13, 2008 at 1:28 pm
A few years back while studying social justice, I had to interview various peoples, one of them being the local aboriginal social worker. Asking him why he does what he does was life changing for me. I learnt things about australia’s past that horrified me. Stories of the settlers in our local area taking infant aboriginal children, burying them in the ground up to their necks and seeing how many kicks it took to snap their heads off. Sickening, sickening treatment that NO person should have been subjected to. Our government first trying to wipe out the aboriginal people, then trying to assimilate, stealing generations of children, then abandoning these people to deal with decades of abuse and hurt on their own while trying to stick bandaid’s on or cover the whole thing up. It’s shameful.
February 13, 2008 at 2:21 pm
If the Germans could apologise for the Holocaust, then it was well and truly time for us to say the word.
It’s beyond belief that this type of behaviour happened in the relatively recent past.
One step forward. Hopefully that’s what today is about.
February 13, 2008 at 7:30 pm
Seconded.
February 14, 2008 at 11:45 am
I wouldn’t have called my post eloquent! *snigger*
Great post babe.
February 14, 2008 at 11:54 am
Great post, great comments!
February 14, 2008 at 5:56 pm
Sadly these events won’t be imprinted on everybody’s hearts. I can;t recall an issue where people are either so for or against. Normally ignorance would play a part and when people learn more about something they come around.
But in this case racism is a big factor in forming opinion and no amount of lecturing or beating people about the gead with a copt of the Bringing Them Home report will change negative attitudes to the apology.
All these people saying “I won’t say sorry” don’t realise the irony that it’s attitudes like there’s that we are apologising about.
February 14, 2008 at 8:12 pm
It was long overdue. Kevin Rudd has showed more leadership in a few months than the former PM did in 11 years. I hope now that all Australians get on board with the apology and accept that it was needed.
February 16, 2008 at 7:23 pm
great post - it is exactly what I feel and can relate too - losing a child and the grief that it is but I knew where my daughter was and she wasn’t stolen. I can’t imagine the mothers crying for their stolen children and the poor children crying for their mums. Too tragic.
I am so sorry … Bettina that is so sad . I never knew people coudl be that callous and cruel.