SCHOOL students from the Kiama municipality, council staff and parents gathered to recognise Sorry Day, and reflect on the mistreatment of Aboriginal people at a ceremony on Tuesday.
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The event incuded a flag-raising ceremony in front of the old council chambers, followed by performances at The Pavilion.
Students from Little Cherubs Children’s Centre conducted the Acknowledgement to Country, while students from other schools throughout the municipality also performed for the crowd.
Aboriginal Elder, Aunty Joyce Donovan provided a traditional Welcome to Country.
Ms Donovan said the message behind the event was as relevant today as it was on the inaugural Sorry Day on May 26, 1998, a year after the Bringing Them Home report was tabled.
‘‘Aboriginal people need to be at the negotiating table as equals,’’ Ms Donovan said of policy-making.
Following the event, attendees also enjoyed some traditional bush tucker.
A group from Minnamurra Public School created the artwork showcased at the back of The Pavilion stage as part of their ‘Dare to be Deadly’ cultural awareness program.
‘‘It’s great, it’s a good sign of a solid community that we can come together to say sorry,’’ Kiama councillor Neil Reilly, chair of council’s Aboriginal Reference Group said of the ceremony. ‘‘It’s a very appropriate thing that the majority of the hall is filled with the future of Australia.’’
Cr Reilly said the Reconciliation Walk to The Pavilion was a vital one.
‘‘The significance of the walk is symbolic, to show that there is a movement from the past, that has some regrets, into a future that has a greater respect, a mutual respect amongst the inhabitants, the original inhabitants of our country, and us blow-ins,’’ he said.
Ss Peter & Paul School year 6 students Baluun Simon and school captain Georgia Richards were among those in attendance.
Baluun, an indigenous student, said Sorry Day was a ‘‘special day where all the people say sorry for forgetting the Aboriginal people’’.
‘‘We’ve been learning about it at school; some in religion for a little bit, and then the other one in HSIE,’’ he said.
‘‘(We’ve learnt) that we remember the Aboriginals and we say sorry to them.’’
Georgia said her English class wrote a poem about Sorry Day, and in HSIE learnt about the Stolen Generation.
‘‘Today we are saying sorry for all of those Aboriginals that were taken away from their families and all of the other things that happened,’’ she said.
