The apology in Federal Parliament to the Stolen Generations of Australia is expected to become a defining moment in the nation's history. Crowds gathered across the country to mark the occasion with tears, cheers and emotional displays of relief, happiness and in some cases, anger. This website contains highlights of the ABC's comprehensive coverage of how the day was spent at Parliament House in Canberra and at communities around Australia.
Less than 40 years ago, as Australia farewelled the swinging sixties, young Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders were still being forcibly taken from their families. On Wednesday February the 13th, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd will formally apologise to those generations who were stolen from their communities.
A Northern Territory woman whose mother was taken from her family says her ancestors' spirits will be with her in Canberra next week.
There are places scattered across the vast Northern Territory that serve as constant reminders to members of the Stolen Generation of their past.
A Darwin woman who was removed from her family as a child is urging Aboriginal people to cut their hair on Wednesday as an expression of grief.
Two sisters from Lake Condah in Victoria's west discuss their experience and what the national apology means to them.
There's hardly a spare seat to be found on a flight to Canberra this week.
Get a sense of the scene in Canberra as the city - and its many visitors - anticipate the Government's apology to the Stolen Generation.
For the first time in Australian history, the official opening of Australia's Federal Parliament began with a traditional welcome to the country by Indigenous elders.
The 13th of February will be remembered as an important day in Australian history. Prime Minister Kevin Rudd officially apologised to all indigenous Australians for the actions of previous governments regarding the stolen generation.
The history of moves towards an apology is long and complex, with many different opinions being aired over the 220 years of European presence in Australia. Hear the voices of Aboriginal and Islander people, human rights commissioners, both sides of government and ordinary Australians leading up to this historic announcement.
The day before Prime Minister Kevin Rudd is due to make the historic apology to the Stolen Generation, the words of his speech have been made public.
Thousands of people have protested in Canberra against the Federal Government's intervention in Northern Territory Aboriginal communities.
Tomorrow is a day that the members of Ainslie School's Voices choir are nervous and excited about for their own reasons. The Voices choir is the only school choir from Australia that has been chosen to sing at a concert that will begin on the lawns in front of Parliament House just after the apology to the Stolen Generations has been made. And to top it all off, they'll be kicking off the commemorative celebrations.
The sole Aboriginal elder from Ballarat to go to Canberra to witness the Prime Minister's apology talks about his experience as a member of the Stolen Generation and what this day means to him.
The Prime Minister has delivered the long-awaited formal apology to the Stolen Generations, with a promise to work with the Opposition to tackle Indigenous disadvantage.
I from this world this generation
Is here to tell you of a lost nation
From boys home to Pentridge to happily living in Smythesdale - one Koori man's story and what the Prime Ministerial apology means to him
It's not so much the words of the Prime Minister Kevin Rudd's speech that Theresa Taylor will be concentrating on, but the look on his face.
To Ray Kelly, and many indigenous Australians, Sorry Day has been a long time coming. But the formal apology in Canberra today somehow feels personal to him.
People have come from across the country (and overseas) to be present at Parliament House for the historic apology. Here are some thoughts shared by a few of those in the audience at the Great Hall in Parliament House.
Award winning country music performer, Troy Cassar-Daley is the son of an Aboriginal mother and Maltese father. Troy grew up in Grafton in Northern NSW, he is a Bungjalung man.
Prime Minister Kevin Rudd delivers the apology to the Stolen Generations.
Thousands of Sydney siders brave the rain to extend their arms in apology
A former patrol officer who removed part-indigenous children from their families said he supports the national apology but believes that the policy helped some people and that not all children were stolen.
While a lot of people managed to be in Canberra today to watch Parliament delivers its historic apology to the Stolen Generation, people across Australia have also been watching the happenings unfold from their own home towns. The eyes of the world may be on Canberra, but the capital city is by no means the only place in Australia where emotion about the apology runs high.
As the Prime Minister Kevin Rudd addressed Parliament to apologise to the Stolen Generations, crowds of indigenous and non-indigenous Australians gathered at Federation Mall to watch on the big screen.
There were sombre celebrations in north Queensland as the Prime Minister Kevin Rudd apologised for the stolen generations.
A crowd of over 300 people packed the Bendigo Town Hall today to hear Prime Minister Kevin Rudd apologise to members of the stolen generations.
It's anticipated the apology to the Stolen Generations from the Prime Minister Kevin Rudd will be a defining moment in Australia's history.
Wednesday 13 February, 2008 is now a part of history as our nation's Sorry Day and in Perth a crowd of over a thousand crammed in to the Music Box on the Esplanade while about the same number were left to listen to proceedings from outside.
All around Australia, pockets of people gather for Apology Day. At schools around the country, children witness history in the making and some, like Wentworth Primary school in western New South Wales are marking the day in their own special way.
As Prime Minister Kevin Rudd prepared to make a formal apology to the stolen generation, crowds gathered around the country to hear it. Despite the rather grey and cold morning in Hobart, hundreds of people made they're way to Parliament House Lawns in Salamanca to hear what the Prime Minister had to say.
For Jean Morgan, who was taken from her mother at the age of nine, the apology to the stolen generations holds special significance.
Members of the Sunshine Coast Gubbi Gubbi gather in Kevin Rudd's hometown to see in apology.
Like his mother before him Les Wallam was taken from his family and grew up at a mission near Collie in Western Australia
Shortly after the apology ended, Nanna Fejo's grandson James Parfitt spoke of his surprise at seeing his grandmother feature so prominently in Prime Minister Kevin Rudd's speech, and described his feelings on this historic occasion.
Brenda Croft Brenda Croft is the Senior Curator of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander art at the National Gallery of Australia. Her father was taken away as a baby, and she was at Parliament House today to watch the apology. She was joined by several other members of the NGA, including NGA Director Ron Radford.
The city of Albany, on Western Australia's South Coast, marked Kevin Rudd's apology in a moving celebration of the strength and fortitude of the Stolen Generation.
Local reactions to the Governments apology to the people of the Stolen Generation.
Hear how communities around Victoria marked the historic apology made in the Australian Parliament.
A member of the Stolen Generation from north-west Queensland said she didn't need an apology from the government to overcome the pain of being removed from her family.
Leah Purcell was in the mood for celebrating, and she wasn't alone.
After Kevin Rudd and Brendan Nelson gave their speeches to the Parliament on the issue of an apology to indigenous people, pressure is mounting on both parties to implement the commitments they made. In Melbourne the day after the apology was delivered, 774's Jon Faine spoke to Shadow Indigenous Affairs Minister Tony Abbott about the response to the Opposition Leader's speech, and the party's plans to work with the Government on indigenous issues.
The apology to the stolen generation received an overwhelmingly positive response in the Goldfields.










































