Major Recent Developments & Achievements

The Harbour Bridge Reconciliation Walk

The Reconciliation Walk took place on the 28th of May, 2000. Over 250 000 people walked 4 kilometres from North Sydney over the Sydney Harbour Bridge to Darling Harbour to support reconciliation. The Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation organised the event to launch their document “Australian Declaration Towards Reconciliation” which was made freely available and sent to politicians. It asked that the government say “Sorry” and acknowledge the ‘Stolen Generation’. Those who participated in the walk were asked to sign the declaration, and to place a handprint on a giant canvas.

Pictures by: sydneydawq2006, published June 15, 2007.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3090/2681547659_fbc5af36fc.jpg?v=0

Pictures by: hopkinsii , published June 9, 2006.
www.flickr.com/photos/hopkinsii/163606333/in/set-72157594160433693/

Symbolic multi-coloured hands were used in the Botanical Gardens to represent the gap between the ‘Stolen Generation’ and their families, and the gap between Australians of all races that needed to be reconciled. Similar walks and demonstrations were held in major cities all across Australia.

Pictures by: Just for fun - Jason , published August 8, 2008.

www.flickr.com/photos/q15928/2745038467/

There were performances by many celebrities including aboriginal TV personality Ernie Dingo, and activist turned politician Peter Garrett with his band Midnight Oil. Overhead a skywriting plane wrote the word “Sorry”, re-writing it every time it faded.

Source: NSW Parliamentary website, Hansard, Corroboree 2000, last modified 5th December 2007.
www.parliament.nsw.gov.au/prod/PARLMENT/hansArt.nsf/V3Key/LC20000524046

The Aboriginal Tent Embassy
The Aboriginal Tent Embassy is a campsite on the lawns of old Parliament House in Canberra. It was formed by Aboriginal activists in 1972, and although the government removed them many times, the Tent Embassy has been a permanent site since Australia Day, 1992.

Picture by: Superciliousness, June 10, 2005.
www.flickr.com/photos/superciliousness/24868870/

Originally a response to the government refusing to grant land rights, it has become a legendary centre of Aboriginal activism. The Embassy stands for Aboriginal Sovereignty – the right to be legally considered a community that is independent from colonial Australia. Embassy activists want a legal treaty to be negotiated and signed between the Embassy and the government.

Picture by: Pierre Pouliquin, June 19, 2007.
www.flickr.com/photos/pierre_pouliquin/855987344/

The symbolism of the Tent Embassy continues today. “We often feel like aliens in our own land, so we need an Embassy.” Gary Foley, an Aboriginal activist recalled. Early reactions to the Tent Embassy included annoyance because the tents were an “eyesore” at Australia’s capital city – but the Embassy activists say the tents, humpies and sheds are a political reminder of how many Aborigines today are forced to live.

Picture by: Superciliousness, June 29, 2005.
www.flickr.com/photos/superciliousness/29587087/

Source : The Parliament of Australia’s website, The Parliamentary Library, Aboriginal Tent Embassy: Icon or Eyesore by Coral Dow, published on the 4th of April 2000.
www.aph.gov.au/library/Pubs/chron/1999-2000/2000chr03.htm

The Government Says Sorry
On the 13th of February 2008, at the first sitting of Parliament, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd apologised on behalf of the government to indigenous Australians. Hundreds of people travelled to Canberra to hear the speech. Others gathered in their state capitals and watched the speech on huge screens in public places.

Photograph by: arndbergmann
www.flickr.com/photos/arndbergmann/2261353417/

Prime Minister Rudd consulted with Aboriginal groups to make sure the wording of the speech was acceptable to Indigenous Australia. He apologised not only for injustices of the past, such as the ‘’Stolen Generation’, but made promises to address future issues such as Indigenous health and education.

Photograph by: Tilly Dog Fauxtografix
www.flickr.com/photos/keithspics/2261691859/

For the first time, the Australian government officially said:

“We apologise for the laws and policies of successive Parliaments and governments that have inflicted profound grief, suffering and loss on these our fellow Australians. We apologise especially for the removal of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children from their families, their communities and their country.”


Photograph by: Kelbel83
www.flickr.com/photos/kelbel83/433134137/

“For the pain, suffering and hurt of these Stolen Generations, their descendants and for their families left behind, we say sorry. To the mothers and the fathers, the brothers and the sisters, for the breaking up of families and communities, we say sorry. And for the indignity and degradation thus inflicted on a proud people and a proud culture, we say sorry.”

Source: The Prime Minister’s official website, Apology to Australia’s Indigenous Peoples, published on the 13th of February 2008. www.pm.gov.au/media/speech/2008/speech_0073.cfm

Important Achievements of Aboriginal People
-Ongoing Aboriginal Cultures and Languages
-Ongoing connections to land, plants animals and waters
-Individual excellence in sports, creative arts, politics, law, medicine and many other areas
-Successful indigenous organisations and campaigns
-Participation in international bodies such as the United Nations including the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Populations, World Intellectual Property Organisation, Convention on Biological Diversity