Sorry Day will be commemorated at UNSW on Tuesday May 29 with a special film screening, guest speakers and the signing of a Sea of Hands petition to right the wrongs against Indigenous people in Australia.
Sorry Day will be commemorated at UNSW this Tuesday with a special film screening, guest speakers and the signing of a Sea of Hands petition to right the wrongs against Indigenous people in Australia.
Organised by the Student Equity and Diversity Unit, the event at Kensington Campus begins at noon with the selling of pink Sorry Day hibiscus flowers from a stall outside the library.
People can sign a petition there or visit the Australians for Native Title and Reconciliation website to sign one online - http://seaofhands.antar.org.au/
From 1pm-1.30pm an event will be held in Central Lecture Block 2. Guest speakers include a member of the Stolen Generation from the National Sorry Day Committee.
This will be followed at 1.30pm by a screening of Sorry Proof Country, a half-hour film which documents the history of National Sorry Day.
"Sorry Day 2007 is especially significant as it's the 40th anniversary of the 1967 referendum when Australians voted to extend full citizenship to Aboriginal people for the first time," says Clare Ellis of Student Equity and Diversity.
"We invite students and staff to participate in our Sorry Day event to show their acknowledgement and support for what has become known as the journey of healing towards reconciliation with our Indigenous people of Australia."
Saturday 26 May is the official National Sorry Day. The National Sorry Day Committee was formed out of recommendations by the Bringing Them Home report of June 1988, which investigated the separation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children from their families. These children became known as "The Stolen Generation".
Relevant links: National Sorry Day Committee - http://www.nsdc.org.au, and Australians for Native Title and Reconciliation(ANTAR ) - http://www.antar.org.au