Last Friday was Sorry Day, which commemorates the Stolen Generations of Aboriginal children who were taken – often snatched – from their families. The stories were tabled in Parliament in the report “Bringing Them Home” in 1997. Since then, Sorry Day has been held each year on May 26.
Many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people have been affected by this terrible part of our country’s history.
Saturday also marked 50 years since Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people were recognised as Australian citizens.
We are truly sorry that in general Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people still suffer from the adverse effects of colonisation, the disadvantages of which have followed them through succeeding generations. That dispossession of their land has caused cultural and actual impoverishment.
As a nation we need forgiveness for the mistakes made in the past. For all the wrong things that were done, both officially and privately. As a nation we need encouragement to keep walking the fourfold path of healing.*
We pray for help to do this: to keep encouraging people to name their hurt, to find and tell their story, to ask for forgiveness and to continue to make amends for the damage done.
We know the clock cannot be put back, that what was done cannot be undone. But we can encourage the search for the truth, so that the pain of both past and present people can be acknowledged, understood and validated.
For those past bad things which were done in our name, under the umbrella of our culture, but not actually done or approved of by ourselves, we still are sorry. We still need to hear the hurt and try to repair or make amends for the damage.
We long for reconciliation so that everyone in this country may live in peace and harmony.
