Our Recommended Resources for Exploring the Anniversary of the National Apology
On 13 February 2008, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd publicly apologised, on behalf of the Federal Government, to the Stolen Generations – the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children who were forcibly removed from their families and communities by successive colonial and Australian governments.
This significant date is coming up in a few weeks. How are you commemorating this day in your classroom?
Here are some simple yet meaningful activity ideas:
Explore what being ‘sorry’ means.. how does it make you feel to say sorry? To be apologised to? Use an art activity to express how saying sorry makes you feel. For older children, try writing a poem to capture the feelings around being sorry.
Explore kinship. Discuss with children about their own family. Talk about what is important about their family and home. For younger children (ages 1-4), read them ‘Family’, by Aunty Fay Muir and Sue Lawson. You could set up a small world play area based on Aboriginal families (peg dolls are a great inclusion). For older children (years 3-6), read ‘Sorry Day’ and explore as a class. Teaching notes on ‘Sorry Day’ are available here.
For upper primary and high school students, watch a video of the National Apology or watch the My Place episode on the Apology.
Other relevant books you may like to share with your children include:
Stolen Girl - A fictionalised account of the Stolen Generation that tells of an Aboriginal girl taken from her family by the government and sent to a children’s home. She sings and dreams of her mother and the life they once shared but each morning is woken by the bell to the harsh reality of the children’s home. Finally, one day she unlocks the door and takes her first step toward home.
Tell Me Why - The true story of a young girl's search for identity and desire to understand her Aboriginality. Seven-year-old Sarah goes to her great-grandmother and asks questions about her family. This universal feel-good story looks at how family history shapes our childhood journeys.
Sorry, Sorry - Sorry Sorry could be a first step of informing these young children of a significant aspect of Australian history, with age appropriate illustrations and dialogue. This book can be the introduction to understanding the journey of reconciliation with Australia's First Peoples. Suitable from Kindergarten to Grade 6.
Mission Times - This book is the personal story of Dolly Loogatha, a Kaidildt woman born on Bentinck Island in the Gulf of Carpentaria. It is told mostly in English, with some dialogue in Kaidildt language.
