Dubbo community commemorates Stolen Generations on National Sorry Day

But there's still a long way to go, local Indigenous organisations say.

"National Sorry Day commemorates the traumas of the past and looks at helping survivors to heal," said Dr Amy-Lea Perrin, a GP at the Dubbo Aboriginal Medical Service.

"But it also keeps the Bringing Them Home report in the national agenda so that the government can continue to fund programs and develop programs with local Aboriginal people and survivors to facilitate that healing."

After being postponed three weeks due to wet weather, the Dubbo Aboriginal Medical Service marked National Sorry Day on Friday, June 26.

The day remembers and acknowledges the mistreatment of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people who were forcibly removed from their families and communities - known as 'the Stolen Generations'.

It was first marked on May 26, 1998, one year after the Bringing Them Home report was tabled in parliament following a national inquiry investigating the forced removal of Indigenous children from their families.

"In that report there were 54 recommendations on ways that we could make reparations to the Stolen Generation survivors," said Dr Perrin.

"We're working through those - all of the recommendations haven't come to fruition as yet, but then there's still a lot of work to do to help to heal the traumas of the past."

Dr Perrin said a major step forward since the report was the national apology by Kevin Rudd in 2008.

"It was a recommendation for a national acknowledgement that these traumas were performed to these families and these children," she said.

"We also have programs that help with counselling for those survivors who've been traumatised by these events and also programs that help to link Stolen Generations with their families who have not been able to link in with their communities to find their roots and culture."

The Dubbo Aboriginal Medical Service provides counselling to members of the Stolen Generations in Dubbo, Narromine and Gilgandra through their Bringing Them Home Program.

The Sorry Day commemoration in Dubbo opened with a smoking ceremony and dance performance by the Talbragar Wiradjuri Dancers led by Uncle Lewis Burns. Attendees then enjoyed a free barbecue lunch while browsing information booths set up by local services providers.

Dr Perrin said she was pleased to see so many young children come along to the event.

"One of those recommendations is to actually talk about what happened in the past, to educate children in primary and high school about our actual Australian history," she said.

"It's beautiful to see the young ones come out and commemorate this event with the elders."

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