Sorry and Beyond

Brian Butlers grandmother was taken from her family in 1910. She was 12 years old. Twenty years later her daughter, Brians mother, was taken. Thousands of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander families, like Brian Butlers, have been coping with the trauma of child removal for more than a century. Beyond Sorry describes the growth of the grassroots movement that exposed the truth about Australias shameful removal policies and worked towards justice. Born in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities, the movement was joined by nearly a million non-Indigenous Australians in the 1998 Sorry Day Journey of Healing campaigns which paved the way for the Federal Parliaments unanimous apology in 2008. Brian Butler and John Bond call on the Australian government and community to take further steps to help complete the journey of healing for Stolen Generations people, bring about real reconciliation and prevent the continuing separation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children from their families and communities.