As morning broke the mood in Canberra's Aboriginal Tent
Embassy was filled with mixed emotion.
There's going to be a lot of people who are going to
be upset today.
Because it's going to, you know, remind them about when they were
taken.
I think it's a momentous and historic day.
For me, it's crying day.
It's a sad day, but I love what's happened today.
Took a long time, but it's finally, finally got what we
wanted.
And as families and friends came together outside Old Parliament
House, the impact of this historic apology was written in
the sea of faces who gathered to watch it.
My father here, Nugget Edwards, who went to his grave thinking
"I mustn't be much of a father if I can't keep my family together",
you know, and it wasn't his fault.
It was these people in this building up here, not
specifically them, but what they represent.
Kutcha Edwards and five of his siblings were taken away as
children.
In 1967, where we stated citizenship.
But in the same year, we're forcibly removed from our mother,
Mary Edwards, and our father Nugget Edwards, to be
institutionalised, not because we had done anything wrong to
society, not because we had climbed through someone's window
and burgled the house, but the simple fact that we were born
this colour.
And hearing that word 'sorry' today, what would that mean to
you?
For me, it means a spiritual healing.
Around the country, the message of reconciliation was universal.
From smoke ceremonies in Sydney's Redfern, across to Perth, and
down to Melbourne's modern-day meeting place, Federation Square.
Tears of joy and sadness and a standing ovation at the moment so
many here had waited so long for.
I think it's a great day.
I've been waiting for something like that for years.
It was something that we've been waiting for decades, my people,
and I just thought it may never come.
Very proud to be Australian, at that point.
Like, it's beautiful, we finally had an apology.
Archie Roach has sung from the sorry songbook for his entire
career.
But today on stage with his partner, Ruby Hunter, both of
whom were taken away as children, his lyrics had new meaning.
It was a pretty amazing day.
I mean, I think that things are pretty charged.
I'd just like to say sorry for the Aborigines.
And Howard should have said sorry, years and years ago to them.
Away from the fanfare and the crowds, the reverberations of
that one word ran deep.
Very important that they know that the apology has been given
and that, you know, it's been accepted by everyone.
From the remote Queensland community of Cherbourg to the
tourist mecca of Broome, in the far west.
Over and over, we've just had to sit back and just hope that
something will turn out for the better.
And while the country comes to terms with what it all means, for
Kutcha Edwards, the Mutti Mutti songman from rural New South Wales,
it's all about what comes next.
They're only words at the moment.
They're only words on a bit of paper, and there needs to be
action and hopefully, the action will come.