The 42nd Parliament of Australia sits and Prime Minister Kevin Rudd delivers the concise opening apology - then continues with but one of the heartbreaking stories of the stolen generations..........

"Some have asked, ‘Why apologise?’ Let me begin to answer by telling the parliament just a little of one person’s story—an elegant, eloquent and wonderful woman in her 80s, full of life, full of funny stories, despite what has happened in her life’s journey, a woman who has travelled a long way to be with us today, a member of the stolen generation who shared some of her story with me when I called around to see her just a few days ago. Nanna Nungala Fejo, as she prefers to be called, was born in the late 1920s............."

Rudd continues by publicly acknowledging the "elephant in the room" - the abhorrent policy decisions of the past and the suffering caused - and then addresses "Inter-generational responsibility" and dealing with the truth - "facing it, dealing with it, moving on from it."

".........let the parliament reflect for a moment on the following facts: that, between 1910 and 1970, between 10 and 30 per cent of Indigenous children were forcibly taken from their mothers and fathers; that, as a result, up to 50,000 children were forcibly taken from their families; that this was the product of the deliberate, calculated policies of the State as reflected in the explicit powers given to them under statute; that this policy was taken to such extremes by some in administrative authority that the forced extractions of children of so-called ‘mixed lineage’ were seen as part of a broader policy of dealing with ‘the problem of the Aboriginal population’.........."

"Then we come to the argument of intergenerational responsibility, also used by some to argue against giving an apology today. But let us remember the fact that the forced removal of Aboriginal children was happening as late as the early 1970s. The 1970s is not exactly a point in remote antiquity."

Excerpt from PM Rudd:

"Australians are a passionate lot. We are also a very practical lot. For us, symbolism is important but, unless the great symbolism of reconciliation is accompanied by an even greater substance, it is little more than a clanging gong. It is not sentiment that makes history; it is our actions that make history."

What a week down here!!!!!

It started with the horrendous and simultaneous assasination attempts on the lives of East Timor's President (and Nobel Laureate) Jose Ramos Horta and Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao. (Ramos Horta is still in a critical condition in Royal Darwin Hospital having undergone 4 surgeries this week to save his life.)

By Tuesday, additional (to those already present) Australian Army and Federal Police personnel were on the ground in Dili to again help secure the capital.

At the same time, excitment was building in the lead up to the formal Government apology to be delivered on Wednesday morning.

It might seem like an over-statement to write that the Apology stopped the Nation but in many ways it did.

Every TV station and most radio stations stopped usual transmission and broadcast the entire speech.

Big screen monitors were set up in public spaces across all Capital cities and regional hubs. Schools and workplaces stopped to watch.

And then the pre-organised Dinners, celebrations and commemorations started to happen on Wednesday and Thursday. (along with the nay-sayers white noise - none of which I will ever pay hommage to in any way!)

I have never felt so connected to and proud of my Government as I did on Wednesday.

Now may Jose Ramos Horta recover fully and - for me - this will have been one of the busiest and most brilliant weeks in our history.

Thanks for posting this, Gayle. It was amazing to watch and listen as Rudd delivered his speech, with Aboriginal honoured guests in the VIP section of the parliament.

So many people have been working so long towards this day, not knowing whether we'd see it in our lifetime. I feel like I have lived through one of the most important days in Australian history - one glorious, important day.

Thanks to the ABC's (that's Australian Broadcasting Company) live TV stream, I could watch the whole thing. I sat in my house in New Orleans, crying my eyes out.

I can't remember the last time I felt truly proud of my government.

Rose

This is truly inspiring. Here I sit in Atlanta, Georgia USA crying my eyes out, praying that we will soon have a leader to be proud of, too. Someone who will not pander, but will do what is right.

I was hit by this line in Rudd's speech:

"It is not sentiment that makes history; it is our actions that make history."

When actions are based on what flows from a true and noble heart the trajectory of human history can be altered for the better.

Congratulations to Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd for setting an example of action that, if we are lucky, will reverberate and serve as an example to us haughty Americans.

Thanks for posting this, Gayle, and "Hello, dear Rose!!" Hmmm, maybe I should visit Australia one day. Two of my favorite women are both from there! Must be an interesting place.

Wonderful post Gayle - thank you. Its like a window thrown open in a dark and musty room. A breath of cool, new air.

Rose, I'm so pleased that you got to see the speech (and hopefully some of the other celebrations) in one hit. (bless Aunty, hey!!)

Naturally I (and millions of others) would love the world to watch this and then encourage their own Governments to consider moving toward following suit; "we" aren't the only ones who have an ugly history of treating our indigenous peoples abhorrently.

But it was fellow Aussies like you that I most hoped got to see the full deal because you are right - so many of us have worked toward and waited (a very long time) for this to happen. It was and will always be a very, very precious and proud moment in time. (and I still get teary every bloody time I even think of it!!) :)

Lars - I knew you'd appreciate it - and yes, a "breath of cool, new air" is just how it felt last week. The things individuals, groups and governments avoid dealing with always fascinates me. What problem ever got better or solved or healed by being pushed into the too-hard basket or ignored?

And Cynthia - you made me teary just knowing that you had watched it in Atlanta "crying your eyes out" whilst feeling inspired. That was so beautiful to read .... the world really did feel smaller, kinder and more connected as I read your post.

And when you wrote:

I was hit by this line in Rudd's speech:

"It is not sentiment that makes history; it is our actions that make history."

When actions are based on what flows from a true and noble heart the trajectory of human history can be altered for the better.

..... I was sobbing and nodding in equal parts.

Talk alone really is cheap. It is in the courageous, the noble - that the powerful alignment of thoughts, feelings and actions occurs - and history is altered for the better; whether we're talking about Presidents, Prime Ministers or ourselves as individuals.

One of the loveliest things that also happened last week (and I didn't find adequate video footage of to post) was the nod to our past Labor Prime Ministers whose work Rudd was able to build on.

Rudd mentioned former PM Paul Keating (my all time favourite) by name which was fitting given Keating worked so hard on Indigenous Affairs during his administration.

But one of the most gorgeous things about the speech was aimed directly at "The Great Man", former Labor PM Gough Whitlam. (now in his 90s, sitting in the gallery and without doubt, our first PM to make a move on reconcilliation some 30 years ago.)

Whitlam's campaign slogan in 1972 was "It's TIME" .... and Rudd used "It's time" three times in a row during his speech - with the 3rd mention coupled with a smile directly towards Gough.

Outside in the Parliamentary foyer after the mornings sitting, all of the press were naturally grabbing all the former Labor Prime Ministers for comment.

During an interview with Gough (who is now in wheelchair), a little old Aboriginal lady - balancing on a zimmer-frame - wheeled herself up beside him, interrupted the interview and as she kissed his cheek and gave him a hug said, "Thank you - it was you who started this."

It was a stunning beautiful, ultra human moment ..... and I'm so glad he got to see it all in his lifetime.

:)

tears flowing in Atlanta, yet again.

Some cynics will roll their eyes at such moments, but I sadly leave them to their judgments. I remember one morning, years ago, awakening to find that a woman had been named as the Democratic Party candidate for the vice presidency of the United States. I cried then too. It was as if centuries of second-class citizenship was being apologized for. I felt validated, I felt a load lifted from my shoulders. I was suprised at the intensity of the emotion I felt then, just as I imagine the Aboriginal people feel now. It's the kind of thing that creates a powerful shift on consciousness. Unless you have experienced such a shift it is hard to understand what an amazing moment it can be.

I hope this shift, this wave of validation, has a ripple effect world round!

Barack Obama has recently had to confront the ugly privilege of white America in the wake of his pastor's widely distributed snippets. As I've been reading the editorial pages of local and national papers, I am struck by the strange possibility that a black man - of near African descent - will possibly have to be the American president to offer the government's apology for the years of abuse brought to African Americans. I wonder about that. Bill Clinton squandered his opportunity to a national commission on race relations...

I've finally come back to read this thread after a little break from Ned. Y'all got me crying again!

Lovely to see you, Cynthia, and glad you could share the emotion of this event. I managed to download a complete version of the ABC coverage via Bittorrent and have showed it to a number of people. Sister Helen Prejean and Sister Marya Grathwohl (of http://www.earth-hope.org) sat alongside me in front of my computer and we all cried watching it. I still get shivers thinking about it. Marya has lived and worked with Native American people for decades, so it had special resonance for her.

Thanks for the little gem about Gough, Gayle. That's wonderful. I have to say that Whitlam, Keating and Rudd are now my triumvirate of great Aussie PMs.

Hey Rose, don't tell anyone (!!!) but I have a small framed picture of Keating hanging in my front hallway - the one he did for Rolling Stone Magazine where he is looking over the top of a pair of Rayban Sunglasses - it's the first thing you see when you walk through the door!

Whose still a little "true believer" then? :)

Sometimes I think Keating was too smart for his own good. He talked to the public as adults. That's not necessarily a recipe for success, especially with the media as intermediary.

We can see that in operation at the moment, as major parts of the media here in the US desperately try to undercut Obama's "race" speech (which was really about class, with race being "the distraction" we use to ignore the underlying fundamentals).

What a different place Australia would have been if Keating had been re-elected. We'd be 20 years into the future, instead of recovering from being dragged back 60 years into the past.

From a fellow true believer

Hi Rose - I was a little surprised when you wrote,

Obama's "race" speech... was really about class

While he called his preacher's views "profoundly distorted" I believe the speech remained both about race and class. About black rage and white rage. I didn't see it as "really" about something else at all. So interesting.

Race, in my mind, remains very much about "underlying fundamentals." And I suspect it does to for many other Latinos, Blacks, Asians, and others who identify as something other than "White/Caucasian."

One view is to acknowledge Obama's biracial background, and to look at how, since the 2005 Census, more and more Americans are seeing themselves as "mixed race." I think this points to a thirst to see this country - and its institutions - "owned" by a broader swath of Americans than its putatively "entitled" white ruling class.

I hope Barack will be able to keep race on the table with the openness and plain thought that made his speech so historic: a movement away from entrenched "blame" to a pragmatic agenda to reshape socioeconomic landscape. No small order for any president, of any background.

Hi Lars,

I think economic fundamentals underpin racism. Slavery wasn't really about racism - it was about economic advantage, and racism was used as the excuse/tool to implement it. The white rage Obama talked about comes primarily from poor whites, those who suffer economic disadvantages and feel they don't get the attention poor African Americans do. There's no doubt racism means that economic disadvantage is to a terrible degree experienced disproportionately by African Americans (and others such as Native Americans and Hispanics, because of their race). That's what the poor have in common; racism is used to divide them and keep the fury focused in the wrong direction.

That's my take,

Rose

Rose, thanks for helping me to understand more your perspective. I think we disagree, and that's okay :)

Oh Rose - I definitely don't agree with the reasoning carried in your last post.

I believe "economic fundamentals" can fuel and reinforce racism/racist beliefs but not for a moment do I believe such fundamentals are the underpinning reason for racism.

Something that doesn't already exist can't be reinforced.

Its such a challenging topic. You both have a nice way of helping to deepen the dialogue.