By Pam Kiriakidis
First Nations people joined City of Whittlesea staff and community representatives to pay their respects to the Stolen Generation in honour of National Sorry Day on Friday.
National Sorry Day, which falls on the eve of National Reconciliation Week from May 27 to June 3, marks the mistreatment of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people who were removed from their communities and families.
Sorry Day events at council’s civic centre have been embraced over the past 10 years, by the community, council staff and Whittlesea Reconciliation Group, who established in 2001, and hosted its first event the following year.
At this year’s event, the municipality was invited to a smoking ceremony, followed by an address by keynote speaker professor Maggie Walter – a prominent advocate of Indigenous rights who has authored more than 100 articles and research chapters in the fields of Indigenous sociology and Indigenous Data Sovereignty.
Ms Walter addressed the work of the Yoorook Justice Commission who established the first formal truth-telling process into historical and current injustice experienced by First Peoples in Victoria.
Following the ceremony was Whittlesea Reconciliation Group’s annual Sorry Walk, where attendees followed a series of plaques that led to the Sorry Space – a permanent devotion to the Stolen Generation located outside the Civic Centre Office, unveiled on National Sorry Day in 2014.
Andrew Morrison, a Gunditjmara man who is co-chair of Whittlesea Reconciliation Group, said the event was an ‘education piece’ for primary school children as well as the community to be aware of Australia’s true history and the barriers that were created for First Nations people.
“It’s around that truth telling, we’ve got young kids here from schools, so hopefully they go home and talk to their parents and tell them what they’ve learnt today, and then parents will talk to their grandparents, even uncles, aunties, whoever,” he said.
“These young fellas of the future, if they’re taught right now, hopefully in the future things can change for the positive for Aboriginal people.”
Gunditjmara woman and community participant Sharna Brown, a previous member of Whittlesea Reconciliation Group, said National Sorry Day was to continue acknowledging the hard work of previous generations for Indigenous voices.
“In general Victoria has a lot happening – we’ve got the Treaty for Victoria, [and we’re] currently voting for our candidates to represent Treaty,” she said.
“When that goes through, it’s important for our people, [and] we’ve got The Voice referendum coming up in October – that’s really important.
“All of these things are quite significant, but these haven’t come about from nothing, they’ve come about from our older people continuously pushing the agenda, so it’s pretty special to have that happening, particularly in my generation.”
City of Whittlesea administrator Lydia Wilson, who also spoke at the Sorry Day event, said it was a day of great significance to the community.
“National Sorry Day is a day on which we say sorry to the Stolen Generations for the profound suffering, grief and loss they have experienced as a result,” she said.
“We acknowledge that the forced removal of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children is a cause of intergenerational pain still acutely felt by many in our community.”