Australia has made a historical apology to its aboriginal people for their past suffering as a result of the country's laws and policies.
"We apologise for the laws and policies of successive parliaments and governments that have inflicted profound grief, suffering and loss on these our fellow Australians," Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said on Wednesday in Parliament.
There were emotional scenes in the Parliament, where Rudd delivered his long-awaited apology.
Rudd turned and applauded members of the Stolen Generations in the public gallery after delivering the emotional address to the House of Representatives. The House rose as one to applaud Rudd's speech.
"We, the Parliament of Australia respectfully request that this apology be received in the spirit in which it is offered as part of the healing of the nation," he said.
Rudd said: "For the future we take heart; resolving that this new page in the history of our great continent can now be written. We today take this first step by acknowledging the past and laying claim to a future that embraces all."
"... A future where all Australians, whatever their origins, are truly equal partners, with equal opportunities and with an equal stake in shaping the next chapter in the history of this great country Australia," Rudd said, adding the apology is being made to 'remove a great stain on the soul of the nation'.
Rudd said he hoped that Wednesday's apology would open a new era in Australian history.
"We have had sufficient audacity and faith to advance part way to that future, with arms extended rather than with fists still clenched," he said.
"The time has come, well and truly come, for all people of our great country... those who are indigenous and those who are not, to come together, to reconcile and build a future for our great nation," Rudd said.
Rudd spoke of the 'sheer brutality' of separating a mother from her children, which he described as 'a deep assault on our senses and our most elemental humanity'.
Rudd also attacked former Howard government saying it had treated the Stolen Generations with a 'stony, stubborn and deafening silence for more than a decade'.
"There was a view that we should look for any pretext to push this great wrong to one side. To leave it languishing with the academics and the 'cultural warriors', for who the Stolen Generations are little more than an interesting sociological phenomenon," he said, adding, "But as of today the time for denial is at last come to an end."
"For our nation, the course of action is clear... and that is to deal now with what has become one of the darkest chapters in our nation's history. In doing so, we are also wrestling with our own souls. As prime minister of Australia, I am sorry. On behalf of the Government of Australia, I am sorry. On behalf of the Parliament of Australia, I am sorry. And I offer you this apology without qualification," he said.
Meanwhile, there were calls for Britain to join Rudd in saying sorry to the stolen generations.
According to Prominent human rights lawyer Geoffrey Robertson, Britain should endorse the historic apology as it was behind the policies which led to thousands of Aboriginal children being taken from their families.
Robertson said he hoped the British government would be sympathetic to the Aboriginal families, which had been devastated after their children were removed and placed in orphanages, internment camps and other institutions.
Image: (Top) Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd. (Below) Gwenda Stanely comforts her aunt, Rita Shillingworth, as Rudd delivers the apology.
Reportage: PTI | Photographs: Andrew Sheargold & Lisa Maree Williams/Getty Images
