Born Again Nation
Posted on Wednesday 13th February 2008
Last month I commented on my impressions of the Australian psyche and was requested by Vicki:
… don’t write us off just yet. Now we have “King Kevin” . I’m hoping he can turn things around for us on the world stage and we once again give people a “fair go”.
Today her words were vindicated as the new Prime Minister made a formal apology to the “Stolen Generation” for the actions and policies of prior governments.
The “Stolen Generation” or “Taken Children” will be unfamiliar to anyone who hasn’t lived in Australia, as it was to me. It may be one of Australia’s darkest, and best kept secrets. For those unfamiliar the basic premise is that during much of the early 1900s it was routine practice for mixed-race (indigenous / non-indigenous) children to be forcibly removed from the families and placed into Christian missions. It was the patronising act of a self-assured generation who felt that Aboriginal people were inferior and had to be saved from themselves.
While a simple apology can’t undo the heartache and distress caused to tens of thousands of people, it is a move in the right direction. It is also the sign of a country that has grown up all of the sudden. With the change in administration late last year, all of the stagnant prejudices of the late right-wing government have been cast out. It would seem that the new Labor government is unrestrained by the past, and willing to listen to the Australian people rather than pander to Bush’s wishes.
It is a good time to be an Australian, and I hope Kevin says true to his commitments and doesn’t make the same mistakes Blair did.
