Melbourne Australia apologised on Wednesday for the historic mistreatment of Aborigines, heralding a new era in race relations and moving indigenous people to tears as huge crowds cheered across the nation.
The parliamentary apology comes 11 years after a report into past assimilation policies found between one in three and one in 10 aboriginal children had been taken from their families between 1910 and 1970. The report urged a national apology to those affected, known as the Stolen Generations, but the then conservative government under prime minister John Howard rejected the finding and offered only a statement of regret.
Prime Minister Kevin Rudd led the parliamentary apology to members of the Stolen Generations of aborigines, who were forcibly taken from their families and communities when they were young children under old assimilation policies.
In unprecedented scenes for Australia's parliament, a huge crowd of more than 7,000 people gathered on the lawns outside to watch as the apology was broadcast live to giant screens, with Aborigines and supporters cheering as Rudd said "sorry".
"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," Rudd said on Wednesday in the Parliament.
There were emotional scenes in the Parliament, where Rudd delivered his long-awaited apology.
Rudd turned and applauded members of the Stolen Generations in the public gallery after delivering the emotional address to the House of Representatives. The House rose as one to applaud Rudd's speech.
"We the Parliament of Australia respectfully request that this apology be received in the spirit in which it is offered as part of the healing of the nation," he said.
Rudd said: "For the future we take heart, resolving that this new page in the history of our great continent can now be written. We today take this first step by acknowledging the past and laying claim to a future that embraces all."
"... A future where all Australians, whatever their origins, are truly equal partners, with equal opportunities and with an equal stake in shaping the next chapter in the history of this great country Australia," Rudd said, adding the apology is being made to "remove a great stain on the soul of the nation.
Rudd said he hoped this apology would open a new era in Australian history. "We have had sufficient audacity and faith to advance part way to that future, with arms extended rather than with fists still clenched," he said.
"The time has come, well and truly come, for all people of our great country ... those who are Indigenous and those who are not, to come together, to reconcile and build a future for our great nation," Rudd said.
Rudd spoke of the "sheer brutality" of separating a mother from her children, which he described as "a deep assault on our senses and our most elemental humanity".
Rudd also attacked former Howard government saying it had treated the Stolen Generations with a "stony, stubborn and deafening silence for more than a decade".
"(There was) a view that we should look for any pretext to push this great wrong to one side," he said. "To leave it languishing with the.... academics and the 'cultural warriors', for who the Stolen Generations are little more than an interesting sociological phenomenon," he said, adding "But as of today the time for denial is at last come to an end."
"For our nation, the course of action is clear ... and that is to deal now with what has become one of the darkest chapters in our nation's history. In doing so, we are also wrestling with our own souls. As Prime Minister of Australia, I am sorry. On behalf of the Government of Australia, I am sorry. On behalf of the Parliament of Australia, I am sorry.
And I offer you this apology without qualification," he said. Meanwhile, there were calls for Britain to join Rudd in saying sorry to the stolen generations.
According to prominent human rights lawyer Geoffrey Robertson, Britain should endorse the historic apology as it was behind the policies that led to thousands of Aboriginal children being taken from their families.
Robertson said he hoped the British government would be sympathetic to the Aboriginal families who had been devastated after their children were removed and placed in orphanages, internment camps and other institutions.
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Reactions
Australian leaders and Aboriginals sporting stars welcomed the historic apology made by Prime Minister Kevin Rudd in the Parliament.
"It's a powerful day for Australia," Tasmanian Premier Paul Lennon said. Similar thoughts were expressed by the chief minister of ACT state Jon Stanhope, according to The Age.
"Today is a really powerful, significant day for the nation. But the hard work does start now, we must build and leverage off today, I think it does give us an opportunity for a fresh start and we should take it," he said.
Three National Rugby League stars said the apology was a great step toward reconciliation.
"It's a great thing and it was good to see some of the eyes of the people sitting around, it meant a lot, definitely for indigenous people it's a step forward," Souths NRL player Dean Widders said and described the apology as a "starting block".
"Today's given me a tremendous boost personally and I think a lot of indigenous people feel the same way, we can go on and make a bigger difference in our communities and help with all the problems. Hopefully this is the revitalization and energy that we needed," he said.
Another leading figure Greg Inglis said he was "honoured to be invited down here to the House of Representatives" for the apology.
"It was the end of the whole sorry situation, it is the end of something but again it is the start of something," Inglis said.
"Kevin Rudd wants to start a relationship with the Aboriginal people so if he sticks to his promise I think it'll be the start of a good relationship between us and the prime minister," he said.
Ex-PM boycotts apology
John Howard was the only living former prime minister of Australia who did not attend the Parliament where Prime Minister Kevin Rudd delivered historic apology to the Aboriginal people.
Howard boycotted the historic apology and preferred to stick to his routine morning walk, according to The Australian.
Former prime ministers Gough Whitlam, Malcolm Fraser, Bob Hawke, Paul Keating and former governor-general William Deane attended the historic event, sitting on the floor of House along with Aboriginal leaders who were embraced by Rudd and Liberal leader Brendan Nelson after the apology.
Later, Liberal Senate leader Nick Minchin told Parliament that Howard should not be blamed for his government's failure to say sorry.
"John Howard was not the barrier to an apology," Senator Minchin said, adding "If there was any failure on our part it was in relation to the significance of symbolism in helping our indigenous communities to move forward.
"We were unashamedly focused on practical outcomes but we can now acknowledge that that was at the expense of important symbolic acts," Minchin added.
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