(extract from SORRY - What's The Story? The Story of the First Sorry Book, Bowral 1997 by Sally Waterford, May 2007)
In May 1997 the Human Rights & Equal Opportunity Commission released the Bringing Them Home Report. This report recorded the results of its enquiry into the extent and effects of past government policies of removing part-Aboriginal children from their parents care and placing them in children's homes or with Foster parents.
These children have come to be known as the Stolen Generations.
These forced removals became common practice across Australia after 1900 when the Commonwealth government assumed powers to make decisions affecting the lives of Indigenous people. Over the next two decades, each State government enacted some additional legislation to allow forced separation of parents from their part-Aboriginal children - allowing police, church and welfare officials to come into any community when they wished and take who they wished.
Minimal administrative documentation gave legitimacy to the removals, and courts rarely intervened to protect parent's rights or the children's rights to remain with their parents. It is believed that there was not one Aboriginal community across Australia which did not have children taken away over the next 60 years. Many of these children were never again seen by their mothers, fathers, grandparents, aunts, uncles, brothers or sisters.
When the Bringing Them Home Report was released it was the first time that most Australians were made aware of the effect of these policies on the lives of Indigenous people. When the report was tabled in the Federal Parliament in May 1997, the Liberal Coalition government became defensive. Some Ministers questioned the accuracy of the report; others criticised the reports authors, accusing them of bias. Some denied the fact that generations of children were involved.
The Prime Minister, John Howard, refused to say Sorry on behalf of the Federal Government or the nation, and he quickly ruled out monetary compensation for the families affected. State governments, churches and welfare agencies were quicker to begin to admit complicity in the unjust practices, and offered statements of regret for their part in the removals, but the Federal Government refused to accept any blame.
A resident of Bowral, Helen McCue, invited a group of people to come together to discuss the report. They were all shocked by the stories in the report and resolved to do something. They knew that there were many people who wanted to express their deep sorrow. They decided to collect names on a petition - they named themselves The Southern Highlands Signature campaign for the Stolen Children. They gathered each week in Bowral's Corbett Plaza to collect signatures in support of the statement:
We, the undersigned citizens of the Southern Highlands, in the absence of national leadership, wish to express to the Aboriginal people of Australia, our deepest shame and sincere regret for the harm and distress caused by the policies and actions of governments, and religious and community groups in the forced removal of Aboriginal children from their family homes. We extend this heartfelt apology in a spirit of sincere contrition and national reconciliation.
The group started its signature campaign in the midst of a highly polarised national debate about wider Indigenous issues - the ongoing demand for a treaty with Indigenous people, and land rights. Every day the media had articles about Indigenous issues.
The group decided to organise a public meeting in Bowral in December 1997, to increase people's knowledge, and hear about issues related to the Stolen Generations.
Helen McCue organised two speakers, one, Barbara Nicholson, from Link-Up, the organisation which had been set up to help Aboriginal people to find their families, and the other, Mick Dodson, Social Justice Commissioner from HREOC and one of the authors of the Bringing Them Home Report. Three local youth were also invited to speak at the meeting.
An ABC TV camera crew filmed the meeting and interviewed Mick Dodson.
Barbara Nicholson spoke first about the many Aboriginal people who had come to Link-Up for help to locate family members. Then Sarah Donaldson, a High School student spoke from the heart and very movingly about the importance of having a loving caring family to support you as you grow up. Betty Little then played some of her songs, expressing the pain, loss and suffering of removal.
Then Mick Dodson spoke, explaining the process of travelling the country and listening to the on-going pain of people who had been affected by removal. He was clear, calm, and reasoned.
He said An apology acknowledges that a wrong has been done....And it's about saying Sorry. Saying Sorry is an act of compassion, it's an act of understanding, it's the path to healing.
Then two young men, Daniel Madden and Matthew Howard, spoke.
Daniel said I, Daniel Madden, acknowledge and apologise for all the heartache experienced by the Aboriginal community.
Matthew followed I, Matthew Howard, acknowledge and apologise for all the heartache experienced by the Aboriginal community.
Then before the Chairperson could move on with the meeting, a person in the audience stood up to offer their own apology ...then another..and another....
The speakers were stunned and overcome with emotion as one after another, people stood, named themselves, and said in their own words, sorry. Many in the hall were in tears, realising this was a sacred moment of reconciliation. It was probably 20 minutes before the apologies from the overcrowded hall slowed, and the book of 2000 signatures was handed to the Human Rights Commissioner.
This might have remained a significant event for locals only, had not the ABC TV aired their footage of the packed Bowral hall, the audience apologising individually, and the hand over of the Sorry Book to Mick Dodson. People from far and wide who saw the TV footage began asking where could they sign a 'sorry book'?
Australians for Native Title, a group which had formed in June 1997 around the issues of Aboriginal land rights, swung into action and arranged to have some books produced. One month later, on Australia Day 1998, Hazel Hawke, Bryce Courtney and other prominent Australians launched the Sorry Book campaign at Circular Quay, Sydney. Organisers estimated that over 5000 people signed one of the four books available on that first day.
Each Sorry Book contains the following apology:
By signing our name to this book, we are recording our regret for the injustice suffered by Indigenous Australians as a result of European settlement; in particular, the effect of government policy on the human dignity and spirit of Indigenous Australians.
We are recording our desire for reconciliation and for a better future for all our peoples.
By signing this book, we are demonstrating a commitment to a united Australia, which values Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander heritage, and promotes justice and equity for all.
From that day on, ANT, ANTaR and local reconciliation groups circulated 1000 official Sorry Books across Australia. A vast network of volunteers moved the books from community to community. They were displayed in local Council foyers, libraries, museums, churches, bookshops and schools. Many thousands of people wrote comments and added their signatures.
The Australian Institute of Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Studies (AIATSIS) now has 450 of these books in its archive collection. Many more books are held by Indigenous organisations in their local areas. It is believed that over two million people from all parts of Australia signed a book.