National Sorry Day

Today is National Sorry Day, which remembers and acknowledges the mistreatment of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people who were forcibly removed from their families and communities, which we now know as “The Stolen Generations”.

The first National Sorry Day was held on the 26^th of May 1998, one year after the Bringing Them Home report was tabled in parliament. This report is a tribute to the strength and struggles of many thousands of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people affected by forcible removal. Across Australia, more than one third of all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people are descendants of the Stolen Generation. In Western Australia, it is more than one half of all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.

Children were taken by the police; from their homes; on their way to or from school. They were placed in over 480 institutions, adopted or fostered by non-Indigenous people and often subjected to abuse. The children were denied all access to their culture, they were not allowed to speak their language and they were punished if they did. The impacts of this are still being felt today.

Jim Morrison, a senior Noongar man and chair of YOKAI! Healing our Spirit, the operational umbrella of the WA Stolen Generations Aboriginal Corporate and the Bringing them Home Committee (WA) will be our special guest at our National Reconciliation Week function before our WAFLW fixture against South Fremantle at Steel Blue Oval on Sunday. Jim will be joined on stage by two participants from the YOKAI Australia Day 2022 Documentary project, Aunty Dallas Phillips and Lorraine Prior to discuss the project with Swans board member, Roanna Edwards.  

Photo Credit: YOKAI! Healing our Spirit