Sydney - Australia took a stride in race relations Tuesday when mud-smeared Aboriginal elders staged the first-ever "welcome to country" ceremony inside Parliament House in Canberra. The hallowed halls echoed the drone of didgeridoos and the clatter of message sticks as dancers signaled not only the new parliamentary session but also the imminent delivery of a long-awaited official apology for the so-called stolen generations.
In a misguided assimilation programme that ran until the 1970s, black children were taken from their parents to be brought up in white-run institutions. The separations brought untold grief.
Prime Minister Kevin Rudd released the text of the apology to the stolen generations to be read out in Parliament on Wednesday.
Rudd, who was elected in a Labor landslide in November that ended 11 years of conservative government under John Howard, will use the totemic word "sorry" three times in his formal apology on behalf of the government.
"For the pain, suffering and hurt of these stolen generations, their descendants and for their families left behind, we say sorry; to the mothers and the fathers, the brothers and the sisters, for the breaking up of families and communities, we say sorry; and for the indignity and degradation thus inflicted on a proud people and a proud culture, we say sorry," the text reads.
Howard had refused Aboriginal demands that an apology be made. His view was that the current generation could not apologize for the behaviour of an earlier one. Howard's successor as leader of the Liberal Party, Brendan Nelson, supports the apology.
But both Rudd and Nelson have refused to consider the compensation payments that many Aborigines have demanded. National Aboriginal Alliance spokesman Michael Mansell, who has campaigned for compensation, said he was nevertheless happy with the apology and that Rudd had used the word "sorry."
"I think the stolen generation members will be very relieved that that word is finally being used because as we know, the previous prime minister refused to use the very word the victims were looking for," Mansell said.
Hundreds of Aborigines have gathered at Parliament House for an all-night vigil until the apology is delivered in the very first parliamentary motion of the Rudd government. Big screens have been set up around the country to relay the broadcast and schools have been urged to pause while the apology is being made.
The University of Adelaide's 2,800 staff have been encouraged to take time off to mark the apology. Vice Chancellor James McWha said "it's important to provide support and assistance to staff who would like to take some time out of their day to acknowledge and celebrate this historic occasion."
