It may seem a little confusing to head up an article promoting Sorry Day with the title ‘Don’t Say Sorry’, but there is a very good reason! In 2005 a local Noongar woman, Christine Jacobs, wrote the script for a short film about her life and the title of that film from the Deadly Yarns series was ‘Don’t Say Sorry’.
Sadly, Christine is no longer with us as she was tragically killed in Canberra in a car accident just prior to talking about her film and her story. Her legacy, however, is her message to all of us! She was abused in many ways after her removal from her family and she fell into what she described as a ‘pit of despair’ before she pulled herself out and reconciled herself with this past injustice and with those who had perpetrated that abuse. Her abiding message was that she didn’t want people to say sorry, she just wanted people to understand and to acknowledge.
As we head towards Sorry Day 2009 (which is held every year on 26th May, the anniversary of the tabling of the Bringing Them Home report in the Federal Parliament), it is important to take note of Christine’s story and her message. Yes, the Prime Minister has now said ‘Sorry’, but this is worthless unless the broader community fully understands the context behind that Apology and why it was so important for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in this country.
The Queers for Reconciliation group have been running introductory workshops to provide some context to the Apology and to begin to help people in the Queer community to understand Aboriginal culture and history. Further workshops are planned in the near future so if you want to understand more, as Christine advocated, contact Alan Carter or Jim Morrison and register your interest (contact details below).
The other important message for us all to consider as we commemorate Sorry Day in 2009 is that the Apology by the Prime Minister last year was only one of 54 recommendations from the 1997 Bringing Them Home Report on the separation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children from their families. It is also only the fourth of these to be implemented. This landmark report was prepared by the former Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission President, Sir Ronald Wilson, and the former Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner (and current Australian of the Year), Mick Dodson.
The Bringing Them Home Committee (WA), with the support of Queers for Reconciliation have been calling on successive governments to implement the outstanding recommendations of this report. The implementation of these recommendations would go a long way to assist the members of the Stolen Generations and their families to deal with the ongoing trauma associated with that policy of forcibly removing Aboriginal children from their families.
It is also important to note that consideration is currently being given to the formation of a new Aboriginal representative body to replace the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission, which was abolished by the Howard Government. If this is done properly and all of the diverse Aboriginal groups in this country are truly represented in an advisory body, Commonwealth and State Governments will be in a better position to implement many of these recommendations in a sympathetic and consultative manner. Jim Morrison will write about this issue in more detail in a future article and he can report on the outcomes of a meeting of 100 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander leaders (of which he was one!) to discuss this new representative body.
The Queers for Reconciliation mob have been well represented at the annual Sorry Day event in the past and we hope that this will continue in 2009. This year, the event will be held between 12 and 2pm on Tuesday 26th May at Wellington Square in East Perth. Please come along and support this important day – look out for the black, white and pink banner of the Q4R mob- you can’t miss it!
Jim Morrison (0408 917 133) and Alan Carter (0428 250 155)
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