Sorry and Beyond Healing the Stolen Generations

by Butler, Brian; Bond, John

• ISBN13: 9781925302745
• ISBN10: 1925302741
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2021-09-07
• Publisher: Aboriginal Studies Press

Summary

Brian Butler’s grandmother was taken from her family by government officials in 1910. She was 12 years old. Twenty years later her daughter, Brian’s mother, was taken. Thousands of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander families, like Brian Butler’s, have been coping with the impact of child removal for more than a century. 'Sorry and Beyond' describes the growth of the grassroots movement that exposed the truth about Australia’s removal policies and worked for healing and justice. Born in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities, the movement was joined by nearly a million non-Indigenous Australians in the Sorry Day and Journey of Healing campaigns, which paved the way for the Australian Parliament’s unanimous apology in 2008. As these campaigns have shown, community initiatives have played a vital part in overcoming the immense damage done. The journey isn’t over. 'Sorry and Beyond' is a call to continue the work of healing this national trauma.

Author Biography

Brian Butler is of Arrernte and Luritja descent, and grew up in Central Australia. For 65 years he has worked to enable Aboriginal children to thrive and to reunite families separated by Australia's historic removal policies. He was the first director of South Australia’s Aboriginal Child Care Agency, and chaired the Secretariat of National Aboriginal and Islander Child Care. He was South Australia’s nominee for Senior Australian of the Year. He chaired the National Sorry Day Committee and the Stolen Generations Alliance. John Bond was the Secretary of the National Sorry Day Committee from 1998 until 2006, and was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia for services to Australia through the work of the Sorry Day Committee. He is now Secretary of Initiatives of Change International, which works for healing and justice in 60 countries. He worked with Kim Beazley Sr, minister for education in the Whitlam government, to write his memoirs. His last book was a biography of Professor Jerzy Zubrzycki, the ‘father of Australian multiculturalism’.