Copy of the text of the national apology to the Stolen Generations, 2008

On 13 February 2008 Prime Minister Kevin Rudd made a formal apology to Australia’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, particularly to the Stolen Generations whose lives had been blighted by past government policies of forced child removal and Indigenous assimilation.

It was witnessed by the thousands of people gathered in Canberra for the event and was broadcast all over the country.