The Aboriginal tent embassy has been on the lawns outside Australia's original parliament house for so long it has been listed officially as a site of special cultural significance. That is as close as indigenous Australians have come to a formal apology for the appalling mistreatment suffered during 213 years of white settlement.
Smoke rises in wisps from a small campfire beside the tents on a cool, crisp autumn day.
But Aborigines are still waiting for the formal apology they regard as the first and most important step toward meaningful reconciliation between black and white Australia. Former Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission chairman Lowitja O'Donoghue has challenged Howard to apologize before the expected November poll and to make reconciliation an election issue. Aborigines Once Hunted Down Australia's Labor opposition, which needs a swing of less than 1 percent to win office, has indicated it will apologize. Former Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser, Howard's long-time boss and the social conscience of Australia's conservatives, agrees. Photos Reuters Photo Jonas and Fraser compare Australia with Canada, where more than 80 separate treaty negotiations were under way with native people.