CANBERRA, May 23 (Xinhua) -- Australia's Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull on Tuesday reiterated an apology for the "deep pain" caused by the poor treatment of Indigenous Australians during the "stolen generations," 20 years after the Bringing Them Home report highlighted the atrocities undertaken during the early 20th century.
The stolen generations tag is used to describe Aboriginal Australians who were forcibly removed from their homes to be housed with white families or in often religious institutions, in an attempt to assimilate them into "white society." The forced removals happened from as early as 1905 and lasted until the 1960s.
Speaking at a breakfast acknowledging the 20th anniversary of the Bringing Them Home report, Turnbull echoed the sentiments of former Labor PM Kevin Rudd, who issued a landmark formal apology to Australia's Indigenous people in 2007.
He said young Australians today would never understand the pain and loss associated with the stolen generations, denouncing the period as a dark time in Australia's history.
"Today, we again acknowledge the stolen generations, those Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children who were forcibly removed from their parents, simply because they were Aboriginal and, again we say sorry," Turnbull said on Tuesday.
"We acknowledge that this removal separated you from your families, lands, languages, cultures of 50,000 years your ancestors had protected and cared for and we acknowledge the continuing deep personal pain that affects your lives and those of your families.
Noting the effects of the atrocities were still felt today, the prime minister said after spending time with Indigenous language linguists, he was made aware that native languages were dying.
"Linguists from the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies, (told me), We have lost many words.' Only fragments remain," Turnbull said.
"But those are cherished and they're being recovered, drawn out from all of that loss and built patiently together, rebuilding with research."
"(As a result), for the first time as prime minister, I was able to speak in the House of Representatives in the language of the original inhabitants of this place."
Turnbull said Australians should "all be proud" of the culture and heritage associated with "our first Australians".
The year 2017 is not only the 10th anniversary of Rudd's famous apology and 20 years on from the Bringing Them Home report, but it also signifies 50 years since a referendum passed giving Indigenous Australians the right to vote.
