Ten Years On – Apology to the Stolen Generation

Anthony Hale is a proud Larrakia/Anmatyerre man who has grown up in Darwin. Anthony has been working with Anglicare NT since May 2017 as the Indigenous Community Youth Engagement Worker at headspace Darwin. He is passionate about spreading positive messages on mental health and wellbeing. Anthony is also a member of Anglicare NT’s Reconciliation Action Plan Implementation Committee.

On the anniversary of Kevin Rudd’s apology to the Stolen Generation, Anthony recalled the emotional day ten years ago when he was lucky enough to be present at Parliament House.

“I had been in South Africa for two weeks on a football trip with the AFL Under 16’s Indigenous team. It had been a great two way learning cultural trip – we learnt of the history and culture of the black South Africans, and we taught them about our history and our culture back in Australia. We learnt about the apartheid, went to Nelson Mandela’s house and jail cell on Robben Island, went to Kwamashu C section which has the highest murder rate per capita in the world and stayed with a Zulu family for a night. It was an incredible experience and something I’ll never forget. I was sad to come home as I was off to boarding school when I returned.

As we touched down in Australia, the manager came up to me and told me I was flying to Canberra now, not Melbourne. I wasn’t sure why. My father was in Parliament at the time as the Federal Member of Solomon (Darwin and Palmerston, the role Luke Gosling is now in). My family picked me up from the airport in Canberra and I asked them what we were doing and why were we in the coldest place on Earth. They told me Kevin Rudd had announced he was saying Sorry on behalf of past governments for the Stolen Generations. I didn’t think too much about it or know a great deal, I just knew my grandparents were both taken away, and I was just happy to be back with my family. It hit home more the next day, when we got up, put on 5 layers of clothes and headed to Parliament House. Seeing the Aboriginal Tent Embassy and Aboriginal people from far and wide on the lawns of Parliament house filled my heart with pride. We walked around, spoke to people, listened to music and took it all in. Then we were lucky enough to go into Parliament House.

My Dad had an office there, so we went up, chilled out for a bit then decided to go walk around. There were great Indigenous role models everywhere and people I looked up to – AFL and NRL players, Ernie Dingo, you name it. To see that many powerful and influential Aboriginal people was amazing and empowering.

We were sitting in Dad’s office at the time of Rudd’s speech. We couldn’t go into the Chamber, but my Nanna and Pop did. The emotion in Dad’s office with him, my Aunty and my grandparents (all white) and of my mum, brothers and sisters was clear to me – this wasn’t just about Black Australia, this was about all Australians. It made me very proud not to just be Aboriginal, but to be an Australian. People get confused about that, they think because they aren’t Aboriginal they can’t relate to it or the emotion surrounding it. But as an Australian, you should feel proud as we come closer together, not apart.

We watched on the TV in the office, the tears, the joy and the coming together of everyone. When the Apology had finished,  we all hugged, my grandparents came back into the room and we hugged even more. We went outside onto the lawns and walked around and sang, danced and embraced our fellow Aboriginal people from all over Australia. The feeling around the place was something I’ll never forget. I’d never been more proud to be Australian at that point.

I couldn’t imagine how my grandparents felt being taken away from their parents, their country and their family. Away from everything they knew. Off to a foreign land, and island so far away from their home. Not knowing when they were going home, not knowing when they would see the family again and not knowing when they would return to their country. But I’m proud of how my grandparents did. Without the strength they showed we wouldn’t be lucky enough to be here, have a roof over our heads, be employed by Anglicare NT and be given a shot at making something of ourselves. I now have a voice, and can speak out about helping my people and about what we can do to Close The Gap. And I’m thankful for that opportunity.

Did Kevin Rudd have to say Sorry for previous government’s policies around the removal of Aboriginal children? Probably not. But in him doing so, recognised the pain and trauma of those events, and looked to move forward and heal the Aboriginal people affected by this, and close the gap with health and education of our nation’s First People. It meant a great deal to the families affected by this, by the removal of culture and the effects that has had on us. What we can do now is learn, educate and understand. That is everyone’s responsibility as Australians, to heal the past and move forward as one.”

Anthony is the Indigenous Community Youth Engagement Worker at headspace Darwin.