[Dialogue] FW: Memo - National apology

[Harry Wainwright]

-----Original Message-----
From: Robyn & John Hutchinson [mailto:rjhutchinson at optusnet.com.au] 
Sent: Saturday, February 09, 2008 4:52 PM
To: ica_Aus at yahoogroups.com; OE listeserve; dialogue at wedgeblade.net
Cc: miesenjj at optusnet.com.au; Martina Chippindall;
wilderness.guides at bigpond.com; Sally Fitzpatrick; Frennie Beytagh;
karen.newkirk at rdv.vic.gov.au; benvon at dodo.com.au; jbalm at ozemail.com.au
Subject: Fw: Memo - National apology


Colleagues,
Thought you may like to see the NSW Department of Education response to the 
applogy to the Stolen Generations, which will take place on Feb 13th in 
Canberra.  The Reconciliation Australia attachment is a particularly useful 
document.  For our colleagues outside Australia, you will know this is a 
landmark event for us down under.
Best wishes, Robyn

________________________________

From: Director-General, DET
Sent: Fri 8/02/2008 10:54 AM
To: @All DET Staff
Subject: Memo - National apology



Dear Colleagues,

The Commonwealth Government will formally say sorry to the stolen
generations when the Parliament resumes in Canberra next week.

The Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd, will deliver the apology on Wednesday 13
February 2008 at around 10:00 am, as the first item of business for the new
Parliament.

The day before, at the official opening of the Parliament, the Ngunnawal
People will perform a welcome to country ceremony - the first time this has
happened in the national Parliament.

Both are historic events for Aboriginal people and for all Australians.

The apology will acknowledge the profound wrong done to Aboriginal children,
families and communities by governments removing children on the basis of
race.

Think about those policies for a minute. Here's historian Inga Clendinnan's
description:

"....with no legal process at all, in clear violation of the common-law
rights of children and of parents ... with no inquiry into their actual
physical and emotional care, on the authority of a public servant's
signature on a form, and with no appeal, children were grabbed, transported
and set down again, sometimes with white foster families, more often in
institutions, in conditions of acute loneliness and emotional and often
physical deprivation, and immured for years until they were released to
serve the white world as cheap labour."

I firmly believe the apology is an essential step towards a closer
relationship between Australians.

Strong friendships are based on truth, recognition and respect, and
sustained by forgiveness.

I urge all NSW public schools and TAFE Institutes and other colleagues to
take the opportunity of the national apology to reflect on the past, to
celebrate how Australia's first peoples have survived policies that
destroyed family, kinship and identity, and to look to the future with
resolve and optimism.

We can all participate in these significant events in the life of our
country by:

* Giving students the chance to view the live telecasts on Tuesday 12 and/or
Wednesday 13.
* Informing the broader school and TAFE community by newsletter and websites
of the significance of the two days.
* Rearranging school assemblies to fall on either the Tuesday or the
Wednesday to recognise the events, and inviting local Aboriginal Elders,
parents and community members to participate as guest speakers and conduct
welcome to country or acknowledgement of country with the students.
* Flying the Aboriginal flag.
* Asking TAFE Student Associations if they would like to participate by
organising an event to acknowledge this occasion.
* Discussing with students the significance of the events, providing
background information, and finding ways to engage in practical actions of
reconciliation. Useful web links are:


http://www.reconcile.org.au/ <http://www.reconcile.org.au/>

http://www.nsdc.org.au/index.php <http://www.nsdc.org.au/index.php>

http://www.nsdc.org.au/index.php?option=com_virtuemart&page=shop.browse&cate
gory_id=7&Itemid=5
<http://www.nsdc.org.au/index.php?option=com_virtuemart&page=shop.browse&cat
egory_id=7&Itemid=5>

http://www.nsdc.org.au/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=59&Itemid=3
6
<http://www.nsdc.org.au/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=59&Itemid=
36>


        Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission website:

http://www.humanrights.gov.au/education/index.html
<http://www.humanrights.gov.au/education/index.html>

* Bringing them home Education Module
<http://www.humanrights.gov.au/education/bth/index.html>  (11 December 2007)
* Us Taken-Away Kids <http://www.humanrights.gov.au/bth/taken/index.html>
(11 December 2007)
* Professional Development <http://www.humanrights.gov.au/education/pd.html>

Attached are some questions and answers prepared by Reconciliation Australia
that you may find useful to help explain the background to the apology.

I have asked our Centre for Learning Innovation to produce a teaching
resource to recognise the significance of this event.

Some resources will be available on TaLe (www.tale.edu.au
<http://www.tale.edu.au/> ) from 14 February 2008. You will also be able to
view video and audio files of the first welcome to country for the Federal
Parliament and official apology delivered by the Prime Minister on the
Department's intranet, internet and on TaLe.

With my best regards,


Michael Coutts-Trotter
DIRECTOR-GENERAL OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING
MANAGING DIRECTOR OF TAFE NSW
8 February 2008

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