Councillor Chris Harris

On Wednesday, February 13th 2008, on a large screen at Martin Place, on indoor and outdoor screens on the block at Redfern and on countless televisions and radios across the state, the people of Sydney listened, along with those all over the country, to a momentous event in this nation’s history.

I attended a very moving ceremony outside the Redfern Community Centre where hundreds of people witnessed and celebrated the historic moment as the Prime Minister of Australia said ‘sorry’ to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander stolen generations on behalf of the Federal Government.

There were visible signs of emotion from both the indigenous and non-indigenous members of the audience as Kevin Rudd said the words that acknowledged the decades of grief and suffering of so many at the Ceremony.  Even the younger ones, who had been touched by the injustices suffered by their parents and grandparents through the stories handed down from generation to generation, remained glued to the screen. We all know how powerful those stories are, how they define us and link us to our past.

A steady drizzle began as the Prime Minister began his speech and continued throughout, but no one budged – we wanted to hear every word that he had to say. And we weren’t disappointed. His speech was an outstanding blend of sincere contrition underlined by that word “sorry”, heartfelt compassion for the injustice done to our indigenous fellow Australians by former state and federal governments and a firm resolve to work together to improve the living conditions and dignity of indigenous people.

Luckily for the Redfern audience the screen sound was turned down when Kevin Rudd finished his address to the parliament. So Brendan Nelson’s attempt to compromise this ceremony of healing, by opening wounds and graphically re-visiting issues totally irrelevant to a day of saying sorry for past wrongs, fell on deaf ears. It didn’t take the edge off the bi-partisan support for this important day of reconciliation – at least in Redfern.

Instead, the gathering heard MC, Billy McPherson, welcoming them and engaging them in the significance of the proceedings. The listeners also heard an extremely emotional Lord Mayor struggle through a meaningful and sincerely heartfelt speech. I congratulated her for making such a fine speech at the council meeting on the 18th February and have included her address below.

When the Lord Mayor had finished we all hugged and embraced one another and then everyone headed of into the community centre for a cuppa. Nelson continued to silently mouth his words up on the big screen to the empty amphitheatre in the continuing drizzle. No one was listening – he seemed a bit irrelevant really just like his former boss who was rejected by the Australian population and his own constituents of Bennelong in the 2007 Federal election.

This was a wonderful day for Australia.  Now we need to roll up our sleeves and do whatever we can to show that “sorry” is not just an empty word. That means urgent initiatives to dramatically improve housing, health, educational opportunities and cultural recognition for aboriginal people. It also includes the creation of a scheme of compensation, developed in consultation with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, for members of the stolen generation and the commencement of a discussion about a treaty with indigenous people – it’s only 220 years overdue.

LORD MAYOR’S APOLOGY TO STOLEN GENERATIONS
13 February 2008, 9am
Redfern Community Centre 

Hello, everyone. It’s with special emotion today that I offer the customary recognition of the Gadigal people of the Eora nation, the traditional custodians of this land. 

Because today, we have reached a turning point in the Australian story. For the first time as a nation, we have formally acknowledged the wrongs that were done - to the Gadigal people and to the other indigenous nations, the wrongs that were done to their children and children’s children. 

For the first time as a nation, we have had the courage to acknowledge our past. We have stopped telling ourselves the comfortable lie. We have acknowledged the privilege that we have in living in this remarkable country. And in the words of Lowitja O’Donoghue, we have begun to ask ourselves: “What was the cost of this privilege? And who paid the price?” 

Father Ted Kennedy knew the answer to those questions. The nuns who carry on his work in Redfern know it, too. Naomi Mayers and the staff at the Aboriginal Medical Service see the answer every day as they care for the sick, the wounded, and those who die too young from alcohol or drugs. In our hearts, we know the cost, whether it’s in child-abuse and petrol sniffing in remote communities, or drugs and alcoholism and fractured families here on the streets of Redfern. 

Parliament House in Canberra is a long way from the streets of Redfern. But the apology that has been made there this morning must resonate here, and not just in our hearts and minds. It must result in practical actions to ensure that past wrongs are righted, and that indigenous Australians can take their rightful place in Australia in the 21^st century. That indigenous Australians are no longer the “fringe-dwellers” but are central to our national life, whether as teachers or doctors or lawyers, as artists or writers, and that every indigenous Australian has the opportunity to fulfill his or her potential. 

For in denying these opportunities for too long, white Australia, too, has been the poorer. We have deprived ourselves for generations of the deep knowledge of country, of the wit, the courage, the generosity and resilience of indigenous Australians. We need to learn from these qualities, and we need more indigenous leaders who can point us to them. So I am pleased that funds from my Lord Mayor’s Salary Trust have gone to the Robert Riley Scholarship Program to help indigenous students study law, human rights, child protection, criminology and juvenile justice. 

Some years ago, the City of Sydney recognised the importance of Redfern in the story of indigenous Australia, and recognised our own significant indigenous population by signing a Principles of Co-operation agreement with the Metropolitan Local Aboriginal Land Council. These principles recognise the community and its spiritual and cultural ties to the land. They also commit us to working together to foster reconciliation and to promote Aboriginal history and heritage. It is my hope that within the next few years, Sydney will have a major Aboriginal Cultural Centre to exhibit and teach the story of the world’s oldest living culture. A place for black and white Australians, and overseas visitors, to learn more of our shared story. 

I’d like to conclude with some lines from a poem by Michael Thwaites, written at the grave of Teresa Clements, who was buried at Cummeragunja [kummer-ah-gun-jer] in 1959. You, last of all that knew your tribal tongue,
Sleep now with them in this ancestral ground.
Above your grave the towering, ancient wrong
Speaks in a silence pregnant and profound.Beside your grave I stand, among your folk
Who loved this land before the white man came,
Burned by the burning words you never spoke,
I ask for forgiveness for my people’s shame.  For named and nameless ills your people boreFrom us, who killed by bullet, axe and pride.
For our stone blindness; for the day we tore
In kindness’ name your children from your side.What could we answer if your ghost should rise
To curse our children’s children from the grave?
You rise - but with redemption in your eyes
Before we knew to ask it, you forgave. Thank you. I hope we can all celebrate together this first national Reconciliation Day. 

Lord Mayor
Clover Moore MP