Emotions run high on Apology Day

The 15th anniversary of the Apology was marked in Canberra earlier this week with two commemorations hosted by The Healing Foundation and Message Stick, an Indigenous-owned professional communications company.

Ivy Trevallion, who attended the Apology Healing Gathering on Sunday, said she and her student colleagues put on a play in Adelaide’s Rundle Mall which included a performance of the song Brown Skin Baby in 1977.

“In the play, at a time when you weren’t allowed to talk about it, I was the mother of a child being taken away,” she said. “That was 46 years ago.

“For me, to track all the things that have happened since then, even just going back to the 15 years since Kevin Rudd apologised, was amazing for me personally, and sitting there was very emotional.”

Mura Kosker Sorority CEO Aletia Twist said she had not previously been involved in any Apology Day events, but was deeply moved by what she saw and heard.

“I have not been involved previously in any of these events, but having the opportunity to go, particularly to the Apology Anniversary Healing Gathering, was very emotional,” she said.

“Being surrounded by people who were directly affected, or had family members who were of the Stolen Generations, and feeling them, listening to their stories, understanding their pain and then hearing how they felt when the government gave that recognition was moving.

“And those three words, ‘we are sorry’ – the impact that had on those people around us was obviously very deep.”

The Healing Gathering was followed by an Anniversary Breakfast in the Great Hall at Parliament House on Monday morning, followed by the tabling of the Closing the Gap Implementation Plan on Monday afternoon.