Our National Apology

There are certain events in history that, as a blogger, one cannot ignore.
Today the Australian government said sorry to the indigenous people of Australia for the 200 years of pretty shitty treatment they've received at the hands of the white fellas. In particular, the systematic removal of mixed-race Aboriginal children from their parents, known as the Stolen Generation, who were then placed in missions and trained up as servants for the white folk.
And this morning, sitting at Ici in Fitzroy with a friend who I hadn't seen in almost a year (and who I'd collected from the airport at 6am), reading the apology (which covered the entire A2-sized front page of The Age), I got a wonderful sense of things being right in the world. A temporary feeling I know, but sweet nonetheless.


Gerard Ellis (stolen 60 years ago), in Canberra for the apology.