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.
TOWNS STOP
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.
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 promised to end the gap in life expectancy within ageneration, and to work to end aboriginal inequality. Heannounced a plan on Wednesday to ensure all young aboriginalchildren are enrolled in pre-school.
Rudd also announced new plans to improve indigenoushousing, and give aborigines constitutional recognition as theoriginal owners of Australia, but he has ruled out payingcompensation to Stolen Generation victims.
Prominent indigenous leader Pat Dodson, considered thefather of the push for reconciliation between Aborigines andnon-indigenous Australians, said the government should now lookat compensation for the victims of the policy.
"The whole issue of making good for the past, includingcompensation for the Stolen Generation, should indeed bepursued," Dodson told the National Press Club.
"But let us do it in a considered and negotiated manner aspart of a carefully constructed process, aimed at building anAustralian nation that recognises and respects aboriginalhistory, culture, language and society."
(Additional reporting by Rob Taylor; Editing by DavidFogarty)
