Reflections, Inspirations and Perceptions (Post#2) : A Formal Apology to Forgotten Australians and Lost Innocents
If you live in Australia for sometimes and able to travel around the country, most likely you heard about the ‘Forgotten Australians and Lost Innocents’. At first when I heard about it, I was curious. I wanted to understand what those words really means. And then I learned from different tours that I had in the country that ‘Forgotten Australians and Lost Innocents’ are referring to aboriginal children that were forced to be away from their parents to experiment the development of these ethnic children to adapt to modern society instead of growing from their natural birth family and its tribes. It is also referred to children that migrated to Australia and grew up to national institutions instead of growing with a foster parents. Last 2009, the Prime Minister of Australia had a formal apology to the nation about the mistreatment given to these children. And that apology transcript has been displayed in Parliament House and I had a chance to see it during the visit.
When I found this piece of document, I stopped for a while to read the whole script. While reading it, it’s a profound discovery because, its one of the apology that I learned coming from a government. The acceptance of mistakes that was done from the past and the willingness to correct it to move forward and to be responsible of what the nation has done is something unusual. Apology between people are already common as innate feature of humanity, but nations apology is something different, it’s a huge responsibility. Yes, we cannot go back from the past, but accepting it and making a difference is something the government or the nation can do right now. Please refer to the link Forgotten Australians Apology for the whole transcript of the apology since my photo is not as clear as it should be. This photo is part of Canberra Day Tour June 2013 Collection.
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