I acknowledge the traditional custodians of this land, the Wiradjuri people. This column is dedicated to those who have gone before us, to those present and to those who will follow us.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
ANOTHER Ngarrarr Yiradhu (Sorry Day) has slipped past the main stream media and politicians again.
Not much coverage at all this year when it comes to a very important day to madhu mayiny (many people).
What is Ngarrarr Yiradhu (Sorry Day) all about and why even yarra (talk) about it?
The first national Sorry Day was held on May 26, 1998 – one year after the tabling of the report Bringing them Home, May 1997.
The report was the result of an inquiry by the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission into the removal of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children from their families.
The Bringing Them Home report acknowledged that “Indigenous children have been forcibly separated from their families and communities since the very first days of the European occupation of Australia” by governments and missionaries.
The report wrote: “Their motives were to force European values and work habits into children, who would then be employed in service to the colonial settlers. In 1814 Governor Macquarie funded the first school for Aboriginal children. Its novelty was an initial attraction for Indigenous families but within a few years it evoked a hostile response when it became apparent that its purpose was to distance the children from their families and communities.”
Madhu Mayiny (many people) are still feeling the effects of what happened and what is still happening. Children are still being taken away from families, in some instances this is justified, and in many it is not.
To separate people from families, to take ngaligin-gu gunhi dhalany (your mother tongue) to pry mayiny (people) from a garray (land) that has nurtured and protected them for thousands of years is just inhuman.
Some say it is assimilation, some say that it is want their God wants, and some say it is genocide done quietly and with purpose.
When the politicians want votes and sympathy they nearly always turn to Aboriginal agendas. When the media want to sell papers and news they nearly always turn to what Aboriginals do wrong. Ngarrarr Yiradhu (Sorry Day) gives the media and politicians a real chance of healing and educating our nation on the hurt, the pain and the loss of what Wiradjuri mayiny (people) have endured. Once again you, the media and our politicians, have not taken the chance to help to heal ngaligin-gu mayiny (our people) or our nation.
