When Kevin Rudd was campaigning to become Prime Minister of Australia, he said that the first two things he would do if he became PM would be to sign the Kyoto Protocol (which, up till that time, Australia had not done), and he would also make a formal apology to the Aboriginal people, and in particular those who had been part of the Stolen Generation.
He became Prime Minister, and he kept his word on both election promises.
On February 13, 2008, Mr Rudd gave a speech which no other Prime Minister of Australia had ever given before - he said "sorry". All other PMs had made excuses as to why it wasn't necessary to do such a thing - it wasn't them who had made those policies, so why should they apologise? But many people were very happy and very relieved when Mr Rudd finally did so.
Below is a link to the speech that he gave. It's worth reading. Some of you have already read the story of Nanna Nungala Fejo, which comes from this speech.
If you wish, open the link below in a different window, and you can watch the video (but make sure you have time to do so - it's 29 minutes long!) while you read the text.
I hope you enjoy it. It was certainly one of the most memorable events for many Australians.
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