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key indigenous australian issues
| home | news lProminent Australians to launch 'Sorry Book'24 March 1998 - ENIAR media release - This week a group of prominent Australians will formally apologise for the injustices done to Aborigines - because the Australian Government refuses to do so. Former 'Big Breakfast' presenter Mark Little, radio personality Jonathan 'Jono' Coleman, 'Mad Cows' author Kathy Lette, investigative journalist John Pilger, gay rights activist Peter Tatchell and top lawyer Geoffrey Robertson QC will write their own apologies in a "Sorry Book" at a special ceremony outside Australia House at 12 noon on Thursday 26 March 1998. The ceremony is a rebuff to the Australian Government who last year refused to formally apologise to the "Stolen Generations" - the tens of thousands of Indigenous Australians who were forcibly separated from their families when they were children. "A humanitarian cry has gone up around Australia to publicly apologise to the Aborigines," explains Mark Little. "Disgracefully, the Australian Government refuses to do so." Mark argues that an apology is an important step in the process towards racial reconciliation.
"Naturally, a heartfelt 'sorry' is not the solution to reconciliation, but it is a beginning. So get off your bums and come and sign the Book." The 26 March ceremony marks the launch of the Sorry Book campaign in Britain. For 6 weeks, members of the public will be invited to come and sign the Book at a number of popular Australian venues around London. The Book will then be flown back to Australia where it will be presented to indigenous leaders on National Sorry Day, 26 May 1998. The London ceremony has been organised by Australians for Native Title and Reconciliation (ANTaR). Although ANTaR has already co-ordinated the launch of over 200 Sorry Books in Australia, this is their first venture overseas. 'The main reason Indigenous Australians are so disadvantaged today is that past Governments stole their land and children," says ANTaR spokesperson Sue Mathieson. "If we're serious about reconciliation then we have to say sorry and make reparations for what our forefathers took. The Sorry Book is the first step." The National Inquiry into the "Stolen Generations" estimated that between 1910 and 1970 up to I in 3 Indigenous children were forcibly removed from their families and communities. The Inquiry concluded that, "Forcible removal was an act of genocide contrary to the Convention on Genocide ratified by Australia in 1949". Although the Inquiry recommended that the Australian Government make a national apology and proper reparations, Australian Prime Minister John Howard has refused to do so. Text from the 'Sorry Book'
You can use the 'Sorry Book' to record your own apology or to sign the following one: By signing my name in this book, I record my deep regret for the injustices suffered by Indigenous Australians as a result of European settlement and, in particular, I offer my personal apology for the hurt and harm caused by the forced removal of children from their families and for the effect of Government policy on the human dignity and spirit of Indigenous Australians. I would also like to record my desire for Reconciliation and for a better future for all our peoples. I make a commitment to a united Australia which respects this land of ours, values the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander heritage, and provides justice and equity for all. related links:
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