Shooting Stars is commemorating National Sorry Day across the state with a range of activities for its participants to learn and raise awareness of the importance for all Australians to remember past mistakes in order to build a richer, stronger future together.
Shooting Stars Kimberley Regional Manager, Kirsten Howard, holds the day very close to her heart.
“My grandmother is part of the Stolen Generation, she was originally from Halls Creek, but ended up in Broome and raised her children in Broome,” said Howard.
“The effect this has had on future generations, like me, is a disconnection to culture. She was taken at two years old, so there’s not much that she knew of her culture and family, so passing that knowledge on was difficult.”
“Me and my family are all still learning now about our culture and identity and we’re really late learners because we weren’t taught about our culture in schools, and we didn’t know about our Nanna’s side of the family.”
Howard touches on the impacts of The Stolen Generation as a loss of culture through language and dance as well as identity, and the importance of teaching this to the younger generations.
“This day means a lot to me, for my Nanna, to finally have it recognised that what happened was wrong,” said Howard.
“It’s a really special day to teach to our participants. The first time I showed the girls the speech, they hadn’t seen it before. Their eyes lit up. They couldn’t believe this actually happened.”
“So, just talking about it and giving the girls that understanding, it’s very important now for us to show them their culture and history. To show them how important it is to have their culture in their lives and to be proud of it, because some people did miss out on that.”
“Even passing this onto my kids now, I have an eleven-year-old and a seven-year-old, and it’s a tough subject to explain, that their great-grandmother was taken at two years old and never got the chance to meet her mum.”
Shooting Stars places significant emphasis on strengthening participant’s connection to culture and identity and National Sorry Day is a big part of the Shooting Stars calendar. Each site commemorates and remembers in their own way, such as watching the formal apology by Kevin Rudd from 2008 or handing out Sorry Day Brooches to students and teachers within their schools.
