One of the most important days in Australia's short history took place yesterday, when in Parliament, the New Prime Minister said "Sorry".
In live footage beamed around parks,citiy streets and entertainment venues, the aboriginal community listened to what they had waited for, for years and years.
To summarise, the apology by the Australian government to the aboriginal community was due to the child protection practise it adopted from the 1870's to 1970. This law meant that aboriginal children of mixed blood were made wards of the states and placed into churches or orphanages, and the aborginal parents had no legal rights or custody over them. It was a harsh law lacking of any compassion and resulted in generations of aboriginal children growing up without their parents and without the aboriginal culture. The reason for the law was that research had shown that aboriginal children of mixed blood was in risk of being harmed by the parents.
Here is some of the words issued by the PM yesterday
"For the pain, suffering and hurt of these stolen generations, their descendants and for their families left behind, we say sorry.
"To the mothers and fathers, the brothers and sisters, for the breaking up of families and communities, we say sorry."
IMO, it is a really good thing that happened. It says a lot about a person when they say sorry and admit that they were wrong, and this is what the government did yesterday. It gives many aboriginal people closure and enables them to move on from this issue.
The one thing I hope that doesn't happen though is legal cases and the government being sued. This was the major reason that the government didn't apologise before, and unfortunately some aboriginals have a history of false claims(Re Mabo).
http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/australias-new-beginning/2008/02/13/1202760398783.html 
