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Apology Day Commemoration Message

Apology Day 2025: hear from Reconciliation SA CEO Jason Downs and hear some of the poignant stories that have been told to us in the past films and events, by people who were part of the stolen generation and their descendants.

On 13 February 2008 Prime Minister Kevin Rudd made a formal apology to ​Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, particularly to the Stolen Generations whose lives had been blighted by past government policies of forced child removal and assimilation.

The journey to National Apology began with the Bringing Them Home report – the findings of an inquiry instigated by the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission in 1995.

A single, Indigenous woman in 1971 changed her mind about adopting out her son. She believes she was deliberately deceived. This article was written by Ella Archibald-binge for The Guardian, Saturday 1st February 2025.

Reconciliation SA developed a lesson plan for educators to take advantage of. Read about the apology, the bringing them home report and more.