Department of Parliamentary Services Annual Report 2011-2012

Part 4 Parliamentary Library


National Sorry Day Letter

NSDC
National Sorry Day Committee INC.

Unit 2, 134-142 Bunda Street. Civic ACT 2601
Media Release 13 February 2012

Seven Historical Documents of Truth and Justice Presented to Australian Parliament

The National Sorry Day Committee (NSDC) today presented Seven Historical Documents to the Australian Parliament in a special ceremony to mark the Fourth Anniversary of the National Apology to the Stolen Generations.

The Seven Historical Documents of Trust and Justice include:

  • Petition to King George VI & The Day of Mourning Resolution 1938
  • The Barunga Statement 1988
  • The Report of the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody 1991
  • The Bringing them home Report 1997
  • The Australian Declaration Towards Reconciliation and Roadmaps 2000
  • United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples 2007
  • The Australian Parliament’s Apology  to the Stolen Generations 2008

The Seven Historical Documents were presented in a traditional message stick carved by Wiradjuri Artist Duncan Smith.

Ms Helen Moran, Indigenous Chair of the NSDC said the documents were of great significance to the Stolen Generations.

These documents and their recommendations represent the journey that First Nations Peoples have endured over the past two centuries and the steps that have been shared toward rectifying some of that history.

They remind us of Australia’s unfinished business in realising the human rights and full citizenship of this country’s First Nations Peoples – with so many of their recommendations still yet to be fulfilled.

They continue to light the pathways toward truth, healing and justice for the Stolen Generations, their families and communities.

These documents are also testimony to the courage, honesty and openness with which significant issues have been approached in the past by both Indigenous and non-Indigenous leadership.

The bipartisan courage and vision that was demonstrated by the Prime Minister and Opposition Leader for the delivery of the National Apology in 2008 is essential to achieving further advances such as Constitutional Recognition. There is already strong support in the community for such an act of recognition, which can be harnessed with powerful leadership.

These seven Historical Documents are a gift of encouragement and reminder of what is possible when we share and equal partnership and aspire to tell the truth.

Further background on the Seven Historical Documents can be found at www.nsdc.org.au

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