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A didgeridoo for Lincoln's Inn Fields

20 May 2005 - ENIAR Media Release - An annual day when Australians remember the 'stolen generations' of Aboriginal children forcibly removed from their families will be commemorated in London for the first time next week.

Geoffrey Robertson QC photo © Jobe Bail

Sorry Day UK 2005 photo courtesy Jobe Bail

The first 'Sorry Day' event to be held outside Australia will take place on Wednesday 25 May at the bandstand in Lincoln's Inn Fields from 12.00 to 2.30 pm.

Sorry Day UK 2005 will be a gathering of Aboriginal storytelling, music, dance and poetry to remember the 'stolen generations' and to tell their stories. It will also be a day for healing between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians.

All welcome, free, bring your friends, bring your lunch.

Aboriginal participation will include stories from Chris Robinson, stories, poetry and dance from Francis Firebrace and poetry from Rikki Shields. Non-Indigenous participants will include didgeridoo player Philip Jackson and singer songwriter Brigitte Anderssen. (Francis Firebrace, see www.newagemultimedia.com/firebrace)

The event will also highlight issues still facing Indigenous peoples in Australia, including:
- continuing Aboriginal deaths in custody
- life expectancy 19 - 20 years less than non Indigenous Australians
- stolen wages - Aboriginal wages compulsorily confiscated by State agencies and never repaid

Event organisers are the European Network for Indigenous Australian Rights (ENIAR) with the full backing of Australia's National Sorry Day Committee.

Sorry Day 2005 in Australia takes place on 26 May. It will follow the launch on 25 May of a National Day of Healing at the Great Parliament Hall in Canberra.

'This is a day to open up the whole relationship between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians', said Ray Minniecon, Co-Chair of the Committee. 'We are amazed and delighted that Sorry Day will be marked in UK too.'

Pictures and interviews with Aboriginal participants and ENIAR volunteers available

Note to Editors
Sorry Day commemorates the 'stolen generations' of Aboriginal children forcibly removed from their families from the first days of European occupation until the 1970s. Most were brought up in State and Church institutions, denied contact with their families, the use of their languages and the practice of their culture. Up to 100,000 children were removed between 1910 and 1970, between 10 and 30% of all Aboriginal children.

'Sorry Day' was launched in 1998, after publication of a report 'Bringing Them Home' by the Australian Human Rights and Equal Opportunities Commission, on the history and repercussions of the stolen children. The report concluded that not one Indigenous family had escaped the effects of the policy and that forcible removal was an act of genocide. It also made 54 recommendations including opening of records, tracing family, counselling and reparations. Few have been implemented. More about the report and its findings can be found at http://www.hreoc.gov.au/social_justice/stolen_children/

The first Sorry Day, on 26 May 1998, saw some of the biggest marches in Australia's history. Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians in towns and cities across the country joined in recognition of the 'stolen generations' and in support of reconciliation and a formal apology from the Australian government.

This year the National Sorry Day Committee have decided that the day should be a National Day of Healing, not only for the stolen generations but for all Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians.

Aboriginal deaths in custody continue at an unacceptable rate. The recommendations of the 1991 Australian Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody have been largely ignored, and the number of Aboriginal deaths in gaol and police custody has risen.

The Australian Medical Association has forcibly stated that the health of Indigenous Australians remains of serious concern and needs more Government funding:
- Indigenous life expectancy is 18 - 20 years less than for non-Indigenous Australians (and considerably worse than Indigenous peoples in USA, Canada, and New Zealand)
- the Indigenous infant mortality rate is over three times the national average
For more information see the Australian Medical Association website http://www.ama.com.au/web.nsf/doc/WEEN-5N5UHZ http://www.ama.com.au/web.nsf/doc/WEEN-65G9SJ

Stolen wages. Until the 1970s, State agencies in much of Australia compulsorily took the wages of Aboriginal workers into notional 'trust accounts'. These were never repaid and workers and their descendants are trying to reclaim the money owed. The Queensland Government has offered maximum compensation of A$4000 per person (c£1600) for over 20 years work. Aboriginal organisations, the Australian Council of Civil Liberties and the Queensland Council of Unions have declared this unacceptable. Other States are dragging their feet on the issue.

ENIAR is a small voluntary group committed to promoting human rights for Indigenous Australians. More info at www.eniar.org

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples are the Indigenous inhabitants of Australia. They now number over 460,000, 2.4% of the population. Evidence of Aboriginal inhabitation goes back over 60,000 years, making them probably the world's oldest peoples in the world's oldest land. They suffered violence and dispossession after British colonisation and their full rights to citizenship were not legally recognised until the 1960s. Various forms of discrimination persist today.

Source: ENIAR

Further information: stolen genarations issues page - includes news index and external links