National Sorry Day
Coorparoo State School will have a parade on Thursday 23 May at 2:15pm in McCahon Hall for National Sorry Day and Reconciliation Week. All are welcomed.
National Sorry Day, officially the National Day of Healing, is an event held annually in Australia on 26 May commemorating the Stolen Generations. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children were forcibly separated from their families in an attempt to assimilate them into white Australian culture between 1910-1970. Many of these removals occurred as the result of laws and policies aimed at assimilating the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander population into the predominately white community. The trauma suffered as a result of children being separated from their families and forced to adopt a culture foreign to them is ongoing and passed down through generations. Stolen Generations survivors are some of Australia's most vulnerable people and many have kept their stories and experiences secret for many years, even decades. So, it is important to be a part of the ongoing efforts towards reconciliation between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians.
National Reconciliation Week
The National Reconciliation Week theme for 2024, Now More Than Ever, is a reminder to all of us that no matter what, the fight for justice and the rights of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people will —and must —continue. The date for NRW is 27 May to 3 June. These dates commemorate two significant milestones in the reconciliation journey— the successful 1967 referendum, and the High Court Mabo decision respectively. Reconciliation must live in the hearts, minds and actions of all Australians as we move forward, creating a nation strengthened by respectful relationships between the wider Australian community, and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. We all have a role to play when it comes to reconciliation, and in playing our part we collectively build relationships and communities that value Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, histories, cultures, and futures.
Mabo Day
Mabo Day is marked annually on 3 June. It commemorates Mer Island man Eddie Koiki Mabo and his successful efforts to overturn the legal fiction of terra nullius, or 'land belonging to no-one'. The legal decision was made by the Australian High Court on 3 June 1992. The Mabo decision was named after Eddie 'Koiki' Mabo, the man who challenged the Australian legal system and fought for recognition of the rights of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as the traditional owners of their land.![]()
(From Shiven Pilli and Ayana Dave, the CSS Cultural Captains)