An Apology a Long Time Coming: Australia Says Sorry.

February 13th, 2008 § 19

Magneto Bold Too summed up today – the day that Australian PM, Kevin Rudd, made a parliamentary apology to the Stolen Generations – very well…

“About fucking time.”

For my overseas readers, the Stolen Generations are those indigenous children the “white” Australians literally tore from the arms of their parents over decades, never to be returned. They were clothed, and fed, and “educated”. And stripped of their family, their heritage, their language and their culture. For their own protection. The fact that at least 17% of the girls and 8% of the boys experienced sex crimes while in the care of the government and the churches and “charitable” white families gives us a very clear picture of the quality of that “protection”.

Of course, it wasn’t just the children who were stolen, and had something stolen from them: Entire peoples were victims of this abuse.

Yes. I’m comfortable calling it what it was: Racist abuse.

I’m not interested in the arguments made about “good intentions”. (Brendan Nelson: You made a grave error of judgement.) The nature of those intentions are evident in the acts and the results of those acts, whether they were committed in ignorance or not. For some things, ignorance is not an excuse. And it cannot be claimed as one on a scale such as this.

I cannot tell their stories for them. I do not have the right and they have been doing that for themselves for a long time now, most of it without being heard. Most of it while being ignored or subjected to attacks from those unwilling to accept the faults of the past, adding more and more failures of humanity to our history.

Today, Kevin Rudd called it a “stain upon our souls”.

I don’t know what a soul is supposed to be, but I feel it as a stain, even though I was not born here, even though I was born after these crimes “officially” ended. I have felt ashamed of our history since I learned of it. I have felt ashamed that it is something I learned only as an adult. And while John Howard was in power, I am proud to say that I was ashamed to be an Australian.

I’m not very old but while I was being educated in Australian schools, Australian history consisted of the First Fleet and bushrangers and Federation and diggers. These dark facts were not given to me until I went to university and I was very aware that meant many others who went on to study in other fields were never told the truth by those who had a responsibility to do so.

As a child and a teenager, I had a strong social conscience. I carried around a tattered copy of “I have a dream…”; I had anti-apartheid posters on my walls. And all that time, I never knew what had happened in my own backyard, not just during the period of the Stolen Generations, but since settlement.

When I learned of it, I was appalled, and furious at the education system which had failed me. I can only hope that the curriculum has improved since then. I do not want my son raised in the same self-satisfied and blinded atmosphere I was. A past so heinous needs to be addressed, if not by those who created it, then by those who are its inheritors.

theage

So this was me in the 90s, wearing my reconciliation armband; the armband which sold out within a day of appearing on the shelves at The Body Shop because I was not alone in my sentiments. Below me was Nicole Kidman, a “glamorous activist” fighting for the same thing I was. I marched for Land Rights, for The Wik Decision, for the Amendment to the Native Title Act. I read and I watched and I argued and I cried.

In the scheme of things, did that mean anything?

I look at it now and see a white girl who came to this country and was granted all the rights of a citizen without question. I look at it and see a white girl who will never be able comprehend the enormity of the pain that was caused to the people she wanted to stand up for. I look at it now and see a pretty white girl in the newspaper when faces other than hers should have been seen, when voices other than hers should have been heard.

But I cried today when that symbolic act took place. I cried to hear, finally, an official apology which was unequivocal and made no excuses. I cried to see someone stand up and speak the truth on behalf of all of us who have wanted it spoken for so long. Not because it expatiates our history’s wrongs, not because it absolves us of our guilt, but simply because, as Cathy Freeman said, “It is the right thing to do.”

I’m very sure that for some members of the Stolen Generations, and some of those effected by the policies of successive Australian governments and the behaviour of generations of white settlers, the words spoken today will mean little. And that’s fine. Victims of abuse are not required to forgive and forget. For others, they might find a little peace in finally hearing words of acknowledgement which have been so long in coming and I am glad of that.

But the shame of our county’s past, and the stain upon my “soul”, will not be washed away until our indigenous children stop dying, until our indigenous people live long and full lives, until our indigenous people have the same access to the healthcare and education and services we enjoy and they are free to make their own choices about using them, not just in law but in fact.

This apology which is so long overdue… It’s a beginning.

What Others Are Saying…

Anyone who I have missed, please leave a link to your post about the apology in the comments or send it to me via my contact form and I will add it to the list.

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WinterWarm: A sneak preview…

January 30th, 2008 § 7

I’ve done a fair bit of work on the site design and only have a few things left to tweak. I found a theme I absolutely adore but the layout is fairly image based so I had to do a lot of editing in Fireworks to change the colours.

But, boy, do I love the colours now! So here is a sneak preview…

WinterWarm Header

(Note: I’ve compressed the image so it looks a little blurry here, but at least I’ve saved you some time on page load.)

The base theme had no header image so it took some work to build that in, although the hardest part was finding the right image to begin with and then blending it so that it would work full width while the content itself was fixed width.

WinterWarm MenuI also incorporated a more website-style menu, rather than the usual blog-like list of pages beecause the blog isn’t the most important feature of the site: Making sure people have access to all the information they need to help us out is. I couldn’t take a screen shot with the hover effect – because I had to use my mouse to get the screen shot, but on hover the menu item changes to a lilac background, also with the little arrow indent.

Like I said, the CSS is a little image based but I haven’t created something like this before so I’m quite pleased. The 3 pictures there will change. I’ve just used stock images while working on the layout. Unfortunately my mother’s external hard drive got stolen so I don’t have access to all her photographs from Afghanistan.

It was a horrible loss for her after a decade of working overseas and travelling to exotic places and meeting so many wonderful people. Unfortunately her laptop only has thumbnails so everything is gone. It’s a good reminder to backup, I guess. But what an awful reminder!

I also switched the theme to left sidebar instead of right, again, so it appears more as a website than a blog, and I removed the top navigation bar all together.

I’ll probably write more about it the base theme later – and bore you all to tears – but I just wanted to show you a little bit of what I’ve been doing while abandoning this blog to hurried, un-proofread posts.

And when I finally have some free time?  Boy, is this blog’s design in for a major overhaul!

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Your signature…

December 7th, 2007 § 5

I don’t normally post videos but this is extraordinarily powerful. Think about it.

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SIEV X. In memoriam…

September 2nd, 2007 Comments Off

On October 19, 2001, the overcrowded Indonesian fishing boat which came to be known as SIEV X (Suspected Illegal Entry Vessel, name unknown) capsized and sank off the coast of Java in a zone patrolled daily by Australia’s spy planes. An estimated 353 people died that day, asylum seekers from Iraq, Afghanistan, Palestine and Algeria. 65 men. 146 women. 142 children and infants. One of those infants was only 20 days old. One had only just been born; the umbilical cord was still attached.

Only 45 people were rescued.

Wherever you look you see the dead children like birds floating on the water, those who survived 22 hours in the water saw the dead bodies of women and children with cuts from nails on the boat and with scars from where the fish were biting at them in the water and saw blood. Ahmed Hussein

Today, a temporary memorial was erected in Weston Park, Canberra, a white pole for each life lost. Less than half bear the names of the people they represent: The Australian Federal Police will not release the list.

The poles will remain for only 6 weeks. Those behind the project, including child psychologist and author, Steve Biddulph, are still working towards permission for a permanent memorial.

It is a sensitive issue politically, and I have my opinions but I will not air them now.

I write this post in memoriam. I write it for asylum seekers everywhere. I write it for those displaced by war and tyranny and prejudice and poverty, for those who wish their children to see a better future. I hope in that future people in need will find a better welcome on our shores.

For more information:
SIEV X National Memorial Project
SIEVX.com

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