Sorry and Beyond

Brian Butler's grandmother was taken from her family in 1910. She was 12 years old. Twenty years later her daughter, Brian's mother, was taken.

Thousands of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander families, like Brian Butler's, have been coping with the trauma of child removal for more than a century. Sorry and Beyond describes the growth of the grassroots movement that exposed the truth about Australia's 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 and Journey of Healing campaigns, which paved the way for the Federal Parliament's unanimous apology in 2008.

As the Journey of Healing campaign has shown, community initiatives have played a vital part in overcoming the immense damage done.

The journey isn't over. Sorry and Beyond is a call to continue the work of healing this national trauma.

About the Author

Brian Butler is from central Australia and, since his teens, has devoted himself to reuniting families separated by the removal policies, and healing the harm caused. He was the first Director of South Australias Aboriginal Child Care Agency, and for 15 years chaired the Secretariat of National Aboriginal and Islander Child Care. He was an ATSIC Commissioner for South Australia, and was nominee for Senior Australian of the Year in South Australia. He has served on the boards of many Aboriginal organisations, and is a consultant to South Australias Commissioner for Aboriginal Children and Young People.

John Bond has worked in 30 countries, written for many publications, and has been a member of the Institute of Journalists UK. He served as Secretary of Initiatives of Change International, which tackles injustice and works for peace and reconciliation in more than 50 countries. He served as Secretary of the National Sorry Day Committee from 1998 to 2006 and was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia for his work on the committee.