By James Grubel
CANBERRA (Reuters) - Australia apologised on Wednesday forthe historic mistreatment of Aborigines, moving many Aboriginesto tears and prompting cheers from huge crowds gathered incities across the nation.
Prime Minister Kevin Rudd told parliament that pastpolicies of assimilation, under which aboriginal children weretaken from their families to be brought up in white households,were a stain on the nation's soul.
"Today, the parliament has come together to right a greatwrong," Rudd said.
"We apologise for the laws and policies of successiveparliaments and governments that have inflicted profound grief,suffering and loss on these our fellow Australians."
The parliamentary apology comes 11 years after a majorreport into past assimilation policies found between one inthree and one in 10 aboriginal children had been taken fromtheir families between 1910 and 1970.
The report urged a national apology to those affected,known as the Stolen Generations, but the then conservativegovernment under prime minister John Howard rejected thefinding and offered only a statement of regret.
Rudd made the apology the first item of parliamentarybusiness for centre-left Labor, which won power in Novemberlast year, ending almost 12 years of conservative rule.
"It makes the indigenous community feel, for the first timein a real long time, really feel part of Australia, that it'sembraced by the whole Australian nation," Stolen Generationelder Mark Bin Bakar told Reuters.
"It's about us coming together as a country, acknowledgingour past and moving on, accepting each other as brothers andsisters of this nation," he said.
About 100 members of the Stolen Generations were inparliament to hear the government apologise, some wiping awaytears as Rudd spoke, while thousands more gathered from dawn onthe lawns outside to watch him speak on giant televisionscreens.
TOWNS STOP
Others paused at city squares, town halls and schoolsaround the country to watch the speech, which Australiansexpect to open a new era of reconciliation between indigenousand white Australians.
In Sydney's inner-city suburb of Redfern, home to a largeaboriginal community, hundreds stood in heavy rain and cheeredeach of the three times Rudd said "sorry".
"Sorry heals the heart, and it goes deep," said Redfernaboriginal activist Rhonda Dixon-Grovenor.
Australia has about 460,000 indigenous Aborigines andTorres Strait Islanders, who make up about 2 percent of the 21million population. There are no aboriginal members in thenational parliament.
Aborigines are the most disadvantaged group in Australia,with a life expectancy 17 years less than other Australians,and far higher rates of infant mortality, unemployment,imprisonment, alcohol and drug abuse and domestic violence.
Rudd has promised to end the gap in life expectancy withina generation, and to end aboriginal inequality.
At a morning tea in parliament, hundreds of Aboriginessobbed and hugged, many wearing bandanas and shirts emblazonedwith the aboriginal flag, a yellow sun on a black and redbackground.
"Our people have looked forward to this with greatlonging," said Christine King, another Stolen Generationsrepresentative.
Bin Bakar said the apology would strengthen the image ofindigenous people around the globe.
"This is so important for the whole world. It's a stepforward in recognising that the most important people on theplanet are the indigenous peoples ... that indigenous peoplecan offer to sustain the world," Bin Bakar said.
(Additional reporting by Rob Taylor; Editing by DavidFogarty)
