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National Apology In Australia

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Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples have rich and diverse cultures, societies and histories that have been historically overlooked and degraded by other Australians. In 2008 Kevin Rudd made an official apology to Indigenous peoples across Australia for the suffering they had endured. The apology significantly impacted the lives of Indigenous Australians as this recognition acted as a fresh start to Indigenous and non-Indigenous relations. Furthermore, this historical event has been key to transforming educational practices, as Indigenous cultural and historical knowledge becomes more relevant to 21st Century teaching and learning in Australia. This essay will discuss the National Apology, its affects on Indigenous peoples and the …show more content…
Members of the Stolen Generations were invited into the House of Representatives at Parliament House to watch the speech, while crowds of people across the country sat down to watch it on television at home or in schools (Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies, 2018). The National Apology itself was provided by the Australian government in recognition of past governments poor policy making on Indigenous issues (Reconciliation Australia, 2008), especially the policies that led to the forced removal of Indigenous children from their families. This apology was so important to Australians, Indigenous or non-Indigenous, as it finally, publicly accepted that wrong doings had been done to Indigenous Australians and opened the way for new relationships to work together to reconcile the country. The Bringing Them Home Report of 1997 recommended that an apology and a recognition of past human rights violations was key to healing the wounds of the past (Commonwealth of Australia, 1997, p. 247). Prior to Rudd’s apology however, the discussion of a national apology was a hot topic in the country. The Howard government of the time had refused to offer an official apology which polarised members of society (Maddison, 2011, p. 137). Howard’s …show more content…
Understanding the context of Kevin Rudd’s Apology speech is especially important, as since then, education has been reformed to include Indigenous perspectives. Historically, Aboriginal students were excluded and marginalised from the education system; in some states they were even excluded from classrooms on a non-Indigenous parent’s request (Jorgensen, Sullivan and Grootenboer, 2014, p. 6). Therefore, teachers must have a knowledge of these events so that they can safeguard their students from this kind of racist behaviour continuing. As powerfully stated by Paul Behrendt (1996), “Australia didn’t start in 1770 and unless we learn about Australia as a whole, we have no foundation to build a nation on” (Craven as cited in Price, 2015, p. 160). Since this statement, the Australian Curriculum has gone under reform to include Indigenous education as a cross curriculum priority to learning. Through this, children are provided with opportunity to learn about Australia and the history and culture of the world’s longest living, strong, rich, resilient and diverse civilisation (ACARA, 2015). While this educational regulation is an important step to educating the country about it’s first inhabitants, it is believed that more should be done to incorporate Indigenous issues

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