UNITED NATIONS DELEGATION TO AUSTRALIA
Reverend the Hon. F. J. NILE [5.28 p.m.]: I share with members of the House an important and historic event which took place yesterday. I was asked to host a delegation of 30 British citizens who flew from Britain at their own expense. Those people, who represented different parts of the United Kingdom - England, Scotland and Wales - were led by Reverend Brian Mills and Reverend Roger Mitchell on a reconciliation visit. They came to Australia on behalf of the British people to apologise for a number of things. Their visit was important because they were travelling with a goodwill message from Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. The British Prime Minister had requested them to report back to him on what had occurred in Australia and on what they were able to achieve.
They came to Australia, guided by God through their prayers, for a number of reasons. They wanted to travel to various capital cities around Australia and apologise first for Britain’s treatment of the convicts. They gave a great deal of evidence at a meeting which was held in the Jubilee Room. With the permission of the Clerk they entered the Chamber during the luncheon adjournment of the House. I gave them an historical background of the Chamber and thereafter a simple reconciliation ceremony was held.
During the presentation in the Jubilee Room the delegation referred to evidence that children as young as 10 or 11 years of age were deported to the colony, many of them for stealing handkerchiefs. The strong and valid point was made that the deportation of people without real justification to the New South Wales colony was akin to an enforced emigration program. The delegation of British
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citizens had the opportunity to meet with descendants of convicts who had been sentenced to deportation for minor crimes.
The delegation apologised for their treatment of the indigenous people of Australia, particularly during the early years of the colony. It is more than 200 years since European settlement of our nation. In the early days of settlement Aborigines were treated harshly by British citizens. Statistics were presented which showed a staggering decimation of the Aboriginal population throughout various parts of Australia. Two Aboriginal leaders who were present, Pastor Peter Walker and Pastor Rex Morgan, accepted the apologies from the British representatives. Pastor Walker told how his family acquired its surname. His father and grandfather had fled from a massacre in Queensland into the Tabulam area in northern New South Wales. When they arrived a white farmer said, "You’ve walked a long way. I will call you the Walkers."
It was very moving when the British representatives, Reverend Brian Mills and Reverend Roger Mitchell, expressed their sorrow and extended their apologies, which were accepted by the Aboriginal representatives. The British delegate also apologised to the stolen Aboriginal children - another sorry chapter in our history, which had been concealed for many years but has now been made public through the royal commission investigations. I think that some Aborigines were ashamed about having been stolen children. I have only recently been told by some Aboriginal people that they were stolen from their parents at a young age. Now that it has become a public matter, perhaps Aboriginal people are willing to talk about their background. [Time expired.]