Today's History

[Harrys mum]

I'm just sitting here watching our Prime Minister give his apology to the Stolen Generations, by saying Sorry.

I've waited a long time for this even though I was not affected by the laws.

But I suddenly realised that this is history, and I should write my feelings. We (well, most of us) don't write nearly as much as we used to, so a lot of our feelings and thoughts will never be read by our children's children.

I can read letters my grandmother wrote, but I honestly could not tell you the last letter I wrote that my grand daughter would be able to read and find any of my thoughts or fellings.

I will start to write little snippets about current events from now on.

Just a thought.

[BigShaz McCreadie]

I often write letters or just my own little notes

When I'm feeling wound up or angry with the world, or myself :D I write, it's a sort of therapy I guess.... I pour my emotions out onto paper and I keep everything.

However whilst I have written loads my Grandchildren or their grandchildren probably won't get the chance to read it unless someone bothers to scan it all and save it on a disc (or microchip) because eventually someone will throw it out with the rubbish :o

[borobabs]

Libby your very true I have found my 2 cousins thanks to Julie Darksecret and they both have no computer and write letters to me and I have to reply on word and print it out as my writting is so bad now and difficult holding a pen for any length of time ;;;

[Harrys mum]

Shaz and Boro Babs......I have the same problem with my hands, but typed would be fine, possibly better if some of my handwriting is anything to go by. LOL

I was more thinking of just putting your feelings on paper so those to come can understand a bit about how the happenings of the day impacted on ordinary people.

Shaz......maybe if you tie your papers with a ribbon, someone in the future might think they are important and read them.

[Sunny Kate]

Libby,

I agree that today's apology in Parliament is another significant page in our nation's history.
Unfortunately I wasn't able to watch but I was listening to the radio broadcast as I drove into town. I thought Kevin Rudd spoke with great eloquence and sincerity and I was pleased that this step has finally been taken.
At our craft group this morning it was basically the only topic of conversation.

I've also found that one of the 'side effects' of undertaking family research is that I have started writing about various events that happen and my reactions to them. Quite possibly no one else will ever read my jottings but I'm enjoying the process of putting words to paper.
Kate

[dicole]

Hi Libby,

I am in two minds about the "sorry" from the Prime Minister. Yes, it was awful that the aboriginal children were separated from their families and treated badly, but so were a lot of non-aboriginal children, especially babies born to unmarried mothers - so are we now going to have a procession of people who were affected by government policies requesting apologies too ?

Yes, its good to apologise to those truly taken for no reason other than they were aboriginal or part aboriginial, but there don't seem to be the thousands and thousands of those cases proved, lots of them were taken into care for legitimate reasons, reasons which even today we asking "why are those parents allowed to keep their children, when they treat them so badly".

So you can see I am ambivalent about the whole thing, maybe its all those who claimed they were stolen but then suddenly discovered they were given up willingly by their parent.

Di

[Harrys mum]

Dicole................that's exactly what I mean.

My thoughts on the subject are in the public domain for anyone who knows me to find.

Since I've started doing my tree, I've read a lot of history books. Sometimes there's been something quite significant that happened in an area some of my family came from, and I would love to know their thoughts on it from that time.

I just used Kevin's speech as an example of something that will be reported in the media.

[Little Nell]

I have all the letters my grandfather wrote to my grandmother whilst they were courting. Although they are useful from a family history point of view, I've had to root around to find out which cousin he referred to and which sister (he had 5 but rarely gave them names!).

There's absolutely nothing about the current wider events of the day. I only discovered through outside research that the reason he'd been called back into the army from reserve was because of the general strike. The only national figure mentioned is the comedian "Little Tich".

I keep a diary, but again its full of my family etc. Only rarely do I mention anything about national/international events - Mrs Thatcher's resignation, Kings Cross fire, 9/11 etc. So I hope future historians aren't relying on me for a clear picture!

[Uncle John]

A few years ago I was given the biography of Charles Perkins, the aboriginal politician who died around the time of the (European) bicentennial. I found it a very difficult read.

[Harrys mum]

Not long ago I watched a movie called Housewife 49. It was about Nella Last a lady from Barrow in Furness (from memory) who wrote a diary during WW2. It was mostly about her family, but also had the history of the war from the point of view of an everyday wife and mother. I found it great viewing and have been trying to find the book. It got me thinking about my family and how they felt about various issues of their time. OH's family is well written about so I can find that, but mine is more "ordinary".
When this speech was on today, it made me think about what my grandchildren will hear about it and if they'll wonder what I was doing today and how I felt.

[Harrys mum]

Uncle John......I also found that story hard going.

[Chris in Sussex]

When I started my search some five years ago it was about finding out where my lines came from and how far back I could get.

Five years on I am more interested in 'Why?'.......Why did William keep going back to that village even though he was removed twice? Why did Caroline and Samuel marry in London and she return to the village without hubby to have her baby, hubby then dying 100 miles away?..........The list of whys are endless!

Knowing the problems I have with mine I am now writing a 'Why?' type diary and have included it in my FTM. Hopefully it will help my descendants find the answer to questions that my life would throw up if they just relied on census returns and BMD indices.

[Simon]

There was a lot of press over here about the "Sorry" statement. I find it slightly ridiculous as we are different people now to what we were then. It is a bit like the German Prime Minister standing up and apologising about death camps. It goes without saying, surely, that we cannot be held responsible for the acts of previous generations - but we should learn from their mistakes. Perhaps instead of saying "sorry" which implies guilt, he should have said previous leaders' policies were abhorrent and will never happen again.