More than 100 Stolen Generations survivors gather for apology anniversary

WARNING: This article contains images of First Nations people who have died. 

Uncle Sonny Morey has spent a lifetime searching for his mother after he was taken from her at the age of seven.

He was playing among the ghostly gum trees in Alice Springs when the welfare car pulled up, grabbed him and drove away.

There were no adults in sight at the time, only his cousin.

"I still remember so clearly the look on my cousin's face of sheer terror almost 80 years later, that's how bad it is," the Arrernte man said.

He never saw his mother again.

But this year on the eve of the 18th anniversary of the National Apology to the Stolen Generations, at a gathering surrounded by fellow survivors, Uncle Sonny received a phone call with some unexpected news.

"They found her grave," he said of the bittersweet moment.

For Uncle Sonny it's been a decades-long journey towards healing.

He was well into adulthood when he learned his mum had passed away in 1992, but had never been able to locate her final resting place.

Now he plans to travel back to Napperby Station on his mother's country, north-west of Alice Springs, to mark her gravesite.

"It is an emotional time," he said.

"But it's closure."

Making a name for himself

After being forcibly removed from his family under government policies of the time, young Sonny was taken to live at St Mary's Hostel outside Alice Springs.

His last name was changed, and it was not until years later that he learned his mother had been searching for him.

In the years to follow he was moved to another children's home in Adelaide, St Francis House run by the missionary body of the Church of England.

Here, Sonny grew into a teenager alongside now-renowned Aboriginal rights activist Charlie Perkins, designer of the Aboriginal flag Harold Thomas and artist and soccer player John Moriarty.

When he was 14 years old, the home shut down and he was placed with foster parents. It was 1959.

It was then Sonny began to make a name for himself as a talented Australian Rules football player.

"We were natural at it. We were quick and smart footballers. It was a very important time as you're growing up, to be part of a community," he said.

"Sports was the greatest equaliser because when you're in a team, there's no 'I' or 'we'. It's a team, and that's what Australian football taught me."

Playing for the Central District Bulldogs, he was the first player to reach 200 games for the club and would later be inducted into the SANFL Hall of Fame.

But outside of the sporting arena, he faced racism.

"At the time, Australia was very racist, in the sense of how they looked after us and how they treated us. But if you were part of the footy team, you were different."

After retiring from football, Sonny went on to work in a range of jobs including as a fitter and turner, a storeman and a community police officer.

Throughout his life he carried the trauma and experiences of his childhood.

He never forgot his family.

An unexpected reunion

This week, more than 130 Stolen Generations survivors from the far corners of Australia gathered in Canberra for a breakfast to mark the anniversary of the formal Apology to Australia's Indigenous Peoples from prime minister Kevin Rudd.

The annual event began in 2009 and is organised each year by Stolen Generations survivor Michael McLeod to acknowledge the significance of that apology, and the ongoing challenges that survivors face.

It is Uncle Sonny's first time attending the breakfast, travelling from his home in the Barossa Valley in South Australia.

In an emotional scene, he was reunited with four of his "sisters" that lived alongside him at St Mary's Hostel over six decades ago.

"We were snotty-nosed kids when you were there," said Nora Kempster as she embraced Sonny with a hug.

For these survivors, the apology still holds significance and the hope for lasting change.

"It took a lot of courage … and all sorts of internal fortitudes for someone to stand up and apologise for something that should have been done a long ago," Sonny said.

"We've still got so many politicians that don't look at that as a positive, they blame Aboriginal people for a lot of their faults … it's time for people to grow up.

"We won't be united unless we do something about it and that comes back to politicians because they're our leaders," he said.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese addressed this year's Apology Breakfast crowd, reiterating what he said in parliament yesterday about the impact of the recent alleged terrorist attack in Perth.

"I repeat to everyone in this room — and to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people — the message I have been delivering in Parliament: We see you. We stand with you," he said.

He also referenced the ongoing legacy of the Apology and the importance of understanding the country's past.

"Truth is essential because we can only truly know where we're going if we know where we've been."

"This is the great journey we can be on together."

The prime minister also flagged the need to change the constitution "at some stage" to recognise the long history of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples before colonisation.

The apology "was an act which was a necessary component of unity, just as at some stage actually recognising that this country didn't begin in 1788 or 1901 will be a necessary step in changing our constitution at some stage in the future as well," he said.

With renewed calls for truth-telling around the country, Uncle Sonny said that formal recognition of the hurt caused by past government policies was critical.

"It should be taught as history in schools because we don't want to repeat things," he said.

"We want to be a nation that sets the standard for the rest of the world to follow."

Funding to support survivors

Peak body for the Stolen Generations, the Healing Foundation, has spent years calling on the government to take "urgent action" on recommendations made almost 30 years ago by the Australian Human Rights Commission.

The commission's 1997 Bringing Them Home Report brought to light the lived experience of forcible removal from family and community.

Today, Minister for Indigenous Australians Malarndirri McCarthy has announced $87 million over four years to support survivors, including with family tracing and reunification; advocating for trauma-informed health and aged care services; access to survivors' records and access to redress.

"Past government policies caused immeasurable harm to Stolen Generations survivors and their families," Minister McCarthy said in a statement.

"Sadly, for many of our people, the distress and hurt continues today. This is why understanding and supporting the needs of the Stolen Generations is so important."

Queensland remains the only jurisdiction in the country without a redress scheme for survivors of the Stolen Generations.

"We really need to ensure that survivors can see the justice and the healing that they deserve," said Healing Foundation CEO Shannan Dodson.