MAY 26th From KINDY to UNI SHARING A JOURNEY OF HEALING A WONDERFUL WAY TO COMMENCE RECONCILATION WEEK CELEBRATIONSThe members of the National Sorry Day Committee have been delighted by the interest and support of so many schools who have recognised and commemorated National Sorry Day during the course of the past twelve years.
The National Sorry Day Committee (NSDC) is inviting every Australian School and Education Facility from 'Kindy to Uni' to participate in the Australian Schools National Sorry Day to be held annually on the May 26th.
The Australian Schools National Sorry Day program involves a number of national initiatives and activities and focuses on four of the fifty four recommendations that came from the National Inquiry into the Separation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children from Their Families. Recommendations: 5a, 7a, 8a and 9a of the 'Bringing them home' report
The NSDC believes that the Australian Schools National Sorry Day is a wonderful initiative to CELEBRATE the Historic Apology by the Prime Minister to the Stolen Generations and to commemorate with the Stolen Generations and the First Nations Peoples of Australia the enactment and resulting effects of the past policies of forced removals. REGISTER YOUR SCHOOL AS A PARTICIPANT ON OUR WEBSITE RECOMMENDATION 7a.
SORRY DAY: That the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission, in consultation with the Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation, arrange for a national `Sorry Day' to be celebrated each year to commemorate the history of forcible removals and its effects. The National Sorry Day Committee Encourages All Schools & Education Facilities To Commemorate Sorry Day Annually on May 26th Suggested Activities: - Planting the Stolen Generations Dreaming Track in school grounds. This National Activity, encourages all schools to install a 'Stolen Generations Track Home'. It comprises Red, Black, Yellow, Blue, Green and White feet to create the image of foot tracks. This track is the “Stolen Generations Track Home”. This is a symbolic track towards the 54 Recommendations of the Bringing Them Home Report. Purchase from NSDC website Merchandise page or create your own.
- Gold Coin Donation (to cover costs of plastic feet)
- Create a School Pledge Book and register it on the NSDC website for more info go to pledge books in left menu
- Sign the NSDC on line Pledge Book
- Hold A Sorry Day Assembly or a Sorry Day Ceremony or Concert
- Invite a Local Elder to do Welcome to Country
- Raise Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander flags
- Wear Red, Black & Yellow
- Invite local Elders and Stolen Generations members as a guests speaker invite them to share their stories
- Hold a morning tea with local Elders and Stolen Generations
- Light candles for the Aboriginal children (Stolen Generations) who were taken away
- Discuss, draw, paint, write about the Apology and Reconciliation
- Have a poster competition
- Have an essay competition
- Put on a play about the Aplogy or Stolen Generations
- Read PILA WUK: When I was Young by Janeen Brian (a Magic Bean Book Published by Era Publications, 1996). Also available in a Big Book.
- Do a project about the Stolen Generations, the removal polocies, the apology etc
- Read at least one story from the Bringing Them Home Report. Full Report available through Australian Government Publishing Services. Community Guide available through Australian Human Rights Commission, Sydney ph: (02) 9284 9600 or http://www.hreoc.gov.au/ see "Stolen Children" section.
- View the Apology
- View Sorry Proof Country video, available from th NSDC merchandise page.
- View extracts from the videos "Lousy Little Sixpence" (available from libraries Resource Centres or Ronin Films, Canberra, phone (02) 6248 0851),
- View "It’s a Long Road Back" (available from Libraries, Resource Centres and the AIATSIS, Canberra, Ph: (02) 6246 1111.
- View some of the photos in the Bringing Them Home Report or summary document and have students analyse and discuss them
- The Burnt Stick, Anthony Hill, Viking, Ringwood, 1994. A great resource!!
- Read or photocopy for your group sections of the Bringing Them Home Report
- Set up a debate or a mock court to discuss questions such as:
- Has the Apology helped the Stolen Generations?
- How have things changed in the Australian community since "Sorry Day", 26 May 1998?
- Why is it appropriate to continue to press for greater understanding of the "Stolen Generations" issues?
- Should the individuals and families of the "Stolen Generations" be entitled to compensation? What form should this compensation take?
- Students can formulate their own questions.
- Separation policies continued after the 1967 Referendum. See Bringing Them Home Report, page 425.
RECOMMENDATION 5a.
APOLOGY: 1.Officially acknowledge the responsibility of their predecessors for the laws, policies and practices of forced removal;
2. Negotiate with the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission a form of words for official apologies to Indigenous individuals, families and communities and extend those apologies with wide and culturally appropriate publicity; and
3. Make appropriate reparations as detailed in following recommendations.
RECOMMENDATION 8a. EDUCATION: That State and Territory Governments ensure that primary and secondary school curricula include substantial compulsory modules on the history and continuing effects of forcible removal. Suggested Activities: - LETTER WRITING CAMPAIGN: School students through out Australia with the support of teachers and parents will be encouraged to write letters to State and Territory Government Departments petitioning to have the primary and secondary school curricula to include compulsory modules on the history and continuing effects of the Forcible Removals.
- School Quiz, available through Journey of Healing ACT, check website http://www.johact.org.au/
9a. TEACHER TRAINING
That all professionals who work with Indigenous children, families and communities receive in service training about the history and effects of forcible removal. Suggested Activities:- TEACHERS PETITION: That teachers sign petitions to have the Education Department fund and facilitate service training workshops about the history and effects of forcible removals.
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