Yes, We Dared to Dream: Sorry Day Moves a Nation Forward Towards a Healing

We are all visitors to this time, this place. We are just passing through. Our purpose here is to observe, to learn, to grow, to love... and then we return home.
Aboriginal Proverb

Those Australians who take our hands are those that dare dream of an Australia that could be.... will you take our hand? Will you dare to share our dream?
Dr Evelyn Scott, Chairperson, Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation (2000)

SORRY DAY

The first National Sorry Day was held on 26 May 1998 - one year after the tabling of the report Bringing them Home which was the result of an inquiry into the removal of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children from their families.

One of the recommendations of the report was that a National Sorry Day should be declared. Sorry Day offered the community the opportunity to be involved in activities to acknowledge the impact of the policies of forcible removal on Australia's indigenous populations.

A huge range of community activities took place across Australia on Sorry Day in 1998. Sorry Books, in which people could record their personal feelings, were presented to representatives of the indigenous communities. Hundreds of thousands of signatures were received. People could also register an apology electronically.

On Sunday 28th May 2000 more than 250,000 people participated in the Corroboree 2000 Bridge Walk across Sydney Harbour Bridge. This walk was in support of Indigenous Australians and was organised by the Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation (now known as Reconciliation Australia) a Federal Government initiative to promote greater understanding between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians. The event highlighted the issue of a lack of an apology by the Commonwealth Government to the Stolen Generations.

Sorry Day was an annual event between 1998 and 2004.

National Day of Healing

In 2005 the National Sorry Day Committee renamed Sorry Day as a National Day of Healing for all Australians: 'The Day will focus on the healing needed throughout Australian society if we are to achieve reconciliation' (Extract from the National Sorry Day Council Archives: Senator Aden Ridgeway, National Day of Healing Launch, Great Hall Parliament House, Canberra, Wednesday 25 May 2005). 

The National Day of Healing  is an annual event, with marches, speeches and presentations  held through the country.

Yesterday, February 13, 2008 at 9am in Canberra, Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd delivered an historic apology to Aborigines for past assimilation policies which saw thousands of children forcibly taken from their families. Although there is still a long way to go towards healing the great injustices that have been perpetrated on those of the Stolen Generation and all those that share and feel their pain, this act is a huge symbolic step forward. Kevin Rudd, Australia's new Prime Minister, made the apology a major priority and, indeed, it is one of the first things he accomplished after having been sworn in as P.M. Smack on 9am, at the opening of Parliament, it was the first order of business.

The astrological chart for Sorry Day is, of course, very telling. Occuring right between a solar eclipse and a lunar eclipse, this event will go into the history books as a very important date in Australia's history. Saying 'sorry' was on the cards for a long time; people had been calling for it for years, but our last government was definitely reluctant (some would say recalcitrant!) - and, frankly, too mean-spirited and having one eye on the legalities and what it might cost if compensation was to be paid to all those hurt by the shameful practices that largely sprung from the White Australia Policy (a huge blot on our landscape). The man who had been our Prime Minister for 11 years 8 months and 22 days, John Howard, was nowhere to be seen.

The Sun is on Aquarius 24: A Man Turning His Back on His Passions Teaches Deep Wisdom From His Experience. I've found this degree often shows apologies or expressions of sorry... I've found it again and again. It's like one has to realise where one's gone wrong, realise where there's no longer any use in fighting - one has to 'turn one's back on their passions' and do something that comes from a far deeper place with far deeper meaning.

Interestingly, during the Opposition Leader's speech in reply to the Prime Minister's Apology, a huge number of people turned their back on Brendan Nelson, not only in Canberra, but around Australia where people were watching the broadcast on big screens in public venues, turning their back on him and his anachronistic government - all old hats sitting now in opposition since the election last November showed that the people needed new blood, new direction and younger sensibilities. Younger sensibilities are what lead to Sorry Day happening - we feel like a younger nation now, not so run by the old guard (that kiss the Queen's hem). Many of the Liberals didn't clap when PM Rudd finished his speech, didn't smile, didn't show any emotion. For them, I feel, they were flinching at this great moment in history that wasn't theres. 12 years of them calling the shots and no interest in saying Sorry...

Mercury, the planet of thought and communication, is retrograde on Aquarius 11: During a Silent Hour a Person Receives a New Inspiration That Could Change Their Life. For many, this is life-changing, as the nation somehow feels like it can start the healing and the cleansing in an authentic way.

It's clear, however, that many people feel that monetary compensation should have been part of the pledge. The Moon on Taurus 8 is rather unfortunate in that regard. The Sabian Symbol is A Sleigh Without Snow. This degree Symbol implies that money is not part of the current equation, and, indeed, it's a big issue. Certainly, Kevin Rudd is committed to improving the lives of aboriginees... it's a matter of time to see if he follows through on those promises.

Meanwhile, the nation can start healing in ways we weren't sure we were going to.

Some thoughts on Sorry Day from the UK's BBC News - click here.

The last two photographs above are by Louise Whelan: Check out her pics here.