The Apology To Australia's Indigenous People

Since the time of federation the Aboriginal people have been fighting for their rights through protests, strikes and the notorious ‘day of mourning’. However, over the last century the Australian federal government has generated policies which manage and restrained that of the Aboriginal people’s rights, citizenships and general protection. The Australian government policy that has had the most significant impact on indigenous Australians is the assimilation policy. The reasons behind this include the influences that the stolen generation has had on the indigenous Australians, their relegated rights and their entitlement to vote and the impact that the policy has had on the indigenous people of Australia.

In Linda Sue Park’s When My Name was Keoko, personal struggle is essential for cultural freedom. The novel takes place during World War II, when Korea was under Japanese rule. The main characters are faced with laws made to destroy Korean culture and replace it with Japanese culture. The book is told through two siblings’ points of views. Sun-hee, an 11-year-old, and Tae-yul, a 13-year-old, are forced to change their name to a Japanese name because of a countrywide law. They discover that their uncle is printing a resistance paper for the illegal independence movement after they hear their father and uncle arguing with each other. Sun-hee receives subtle warnings about her uncle from her friend, Tomo, and mistakenly perceives it as danger

Only in recent years have we seen the recognition that the stolen generation deserves and the essential part it has play in the struggle of Aboriginal rights. Since the end of the stolen generation, numerous organisations and government agency has come out and said sorry for what happened for seventy years and as a result Aboriginal rights are becoming more apparent. The famous “I’m sorry” speech said by Kevin Rudd was the first Parliament apology to the Stolen Generation and was seen as a huge leap forward in the recognition of the Stolen Generation. The Bringing Them Home Report in 1997 was a strong campaign for The

Kevin Rudd’s apology was to the Aboriginals; but in particular, to the Stolen Generations. From 1909-1969, the Australian Government forced a policy know as assimilation upon the Aboriginals. Assimilation is the forced integration of minority groups onto the dominant society. Inhumane acts were inflicted upon these proud people because of the ‘Aborigines Protection Board’ which entailed that the Australian Government had full rights to forcibly remove half-caste children from Aboriginal care without parental consent nor a court order.

As a result of the regimes isolationist policy the people of North Korea suffered greatly in both mental and physical health. The hold the state had over the beliefs of the citizens presented in “Nothing to Envy”, varied from absolute belief to uncomfortable awareness. The reader is presented often with Mrs. Song’s dedication to the regime, and Kim Il-sung himself. A mother of four she was often gone from home, working and attending ideological training sessions. “Fridays she stayed especially late for self-criticism. In these sessions members of her work unit- the department to which she was assigned- would reveal to the group anything they had done wrong—Mrs. Song would usually say, in all sincerity, that she feared she wasn’t working hard enough” (Pg. 43).When Kim Il-sung died, she

After this time, many atrocities occurred, such as the fact that Aboriginals were often killed for sport, and massacres such as Myall Creek were occurring, where 28 Aboriginal men, women and children were murdered near Myall Creek Station in 1838. There was also the problem of the Stolen Generation, when Aboriginal children were forcibly taken from their homes to be raised as though they were white. It was only recently in 2008, that Kevin Rudd, the Prime Minister of Australia at the time, apologised for the actions that the government had undertaken. In another apologetic move, Prime Minister Paul Keating delivered a powerful speech regarding the fact that Aboriginal Communities were still segregated despite the fact that laws had been changed a number of years ago. This shows that the idea of atonement by Australia is quite a new topic. Does this prove the challenges that Aboriginal’s faced nearly 200 years ago are still present in today’s society? It was enough to force the Aboriginal men, women and children to begin act in support of their rights.

I would like to begin this speech by recognising the owners of this land, the true ancestors of the country we call ‘ours’. To the Indigenous peoples of Australia, I acknowledge you, I thank you and most of all I apologise to you for the deep suffering and remorse you are put through. I am ashamed of this country’s treatment towards you. Past and Present.

Terra Nullius was once apparent in Australian society, but has now been nullified with the turn of the century. With the political changes in our society, and the apology to Indigenous Australians, society is now witnessing an increase in aboriginals gaining a voice in today’s society. Described by Pat Dodson (2006) as a seminal moment in Australia’s history, Rudd’s apology was expressed in the true spirit of reconciliation opening a new chapter in the history of Australia. Considerable debate has arisen within society as to whether aboriginals have a right to land that is of cultural significance and whether current land owners will be able to keep their land.

The second text titled ‘The Australian Legend’ was written by Russel Ward and focuses on the origins of the stereotypical Australian character of a rough, independent, loyal ‘mate’. ‘The Spectre of Truganini’, the third text written by Bernard Smith, provides an insight into how a repressed genocide affected the way in which truthfulness emerged as

When the Koreans are forced to change their family names to Japanese ones, their Korean identity is weakened. Going through this traumatizing experience is

In relation to the 5 dimensions of achieving reconciliation, evaluate the effectiveness of strategies in achieving reconciliation with the Indigenous peoples in Australia.

On February 13th, 2008, in an act of redemption that moved Indigenous people all over Australia to tears, the current Prime Minister, apologised to the Stolen Generation. Kevin Rudd, the PM at the time, and many other Australians felt guilty about all that had occurred with the many generations of stolen Aboriginals and in order to overcome this guilt they felt the need to apologise. Although those seventy years of generations ‘stolen’ cannot be returned, Australians have been pursuing ways in which to bring back the Indigenous heritage including the National Sorry Day which was first introduced on 26 May

Kim In-Suk's "Love and Daggers" contrasts the two images of Korean women to reveal how deeply rooted the partriarchal gender ideologies and conventions are in Korean society. The author draws a clear distinction between the image of traditional women in Korean society and the image of how sinyosong should face marriage problems through the two contrasting characters, Migyong and her aunt Chonghui. Migyong's mother and her aunt show an ideal image of traditional "virtuous women" in the story. They are both very submissive, self-sacrificing housewives who show respect to their mother-in-laws regardless of how they are being treated by them. On the other hand, Migyong represents an image of sinyosong, as she does not wish to follow the expectations of the patriarchal gender ideologies.

Moreover, we can also see the modernized Korea through the characters of Jung-rim, Dae-hyun, and Kwang-tae. Jung-rim can be seen as a modernized woman by looking at her appearance (wearing Western-style clothes) and high education level (studied abroad). Dae-hyun is a strong nationalist who persistently fights for Korea’s independence from Japanese rule. Kwang-tae, who also wears a Western style clothes, is from a “Pro-Japanese” (chinilpa) family that supported Japan to colonize Korea by signing the Treaty of Ulsa. All the characters and their interactions are reasonable regarding to the early twentieth century

Despite modern advances, people still draw inspiration from the 1940s and the feats of war that took place. When My Name Was Keoko is an engaging tale about World War II. Written by Linda Park, a Korean family, including siblings Sun-hee and Tae-yul, face harsh challenges while struggling to express their culture under the watchful eye of the Japanese. However, they realize that if they give up and let themselves abandon their heritage in order to follow Japanese rules, then they will feel hurt. For example, when Tae-yul has his bike forcefully taken away, or when the family has to change their names, they realize that they aren’t able to express themselves, which creates a great feeling of discomfort. When they do express themselves, like how Sun-hee writes a diary about her culture, she feels proud. Based on this evidence, it is obvious that the theme of “When My Name Was Keoko” is that being and expressing yourself has benefits.