Dot Hoffmann
During the week set aside for the commemorating of reconciliation, people gathered all around Australia, yet the news featured the uproar on fuel prices ad-nauseum and very little was reported on the reconciliation events staged in our communities. On the morning of May 28th the reconciliation process was highlighted at Brambuk. About 40 people gathered to mark the occasion with a flag raising, an excellent summary of the reconciliation process to date, a personal story from one of the stolen generation and ended with a movie about the Prime Minister’s apology.
Sandy Hodge presented a timeline of milestones in law changes and human rights issues. He made important links between legal changes such as the overwhelmingly positive 1967 referendum which gained the vote for indigenous people. The “Mabo” land rights outcome destroyed the notion of ‘terra nulla” and recognized that the indigenous people have indeed an “ownership right “ to land of their ancestors. The inquiries and outcomes of the ‘deaths in custody’ and ‘the stolen generation’ further highlighted the denial within our society of the fundamental human rights of indigenous people. It linked the impact of the removal of children on future generations.
Susan Skurrie gave an account of her own story of being removed in 1960 in Victoria. She presented a balanced view of being placed for adoption with a white family. While she acknowledged that her birth parents were largely ignored in the decisions made about her future as a eighteen month old, somehow she showed that bitterness is not part of this history for her life now. She spoke of her thankfulness for opportunities provided by her adoptive parents. She also talked of her difficulties in finding out about her birth family. Most of all she gave us a clear understanding of how this kind of separation impacted on her loss of identity and an ongoing grieving for not knowing family, language and culture in her early life.
A film highlighting the “Sorry” statement made by Prime Minister Rudd in February this year was then shown. The film was quite different to other telecasts of the event in Canberra. The approach to this was in the context of the work of the steering committee which was formed after the “deaths in custody” and the “stolen generation” inquiries. Their consulting and steering work was clearly influential in the apology made by Mr. Rudd. Many of the images were of the people and the genuine joy and sorrow shared. There was a lack of cynicism.
What is obvious, now that “Sorry” has been said, is that we are at a cross- roads. Our nation has to make many decisions about how to close the gaps. These very basic beginnings at reconciliation demand much further change within our social structure. Let us hope and pray that our leaders will have learned from the past.