IV 
111TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION 
H. RES. 242 
Recognizing the apology offered by the Government of Australia to the ab-
original people and its significance as a gesture of healing for this 
proud nation. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
MARCH 12, 2009 
Mr. HASTINGS of Florida (for himself, Mr. LEWIS of Georgia, Mr. PAYNE, Mr. 
FALEOMAVAEGA, Mr. MEEKS of New York, Ms. LEE of California, Mr. 
CLAY, Mr. MEEK of Florida, Mr. BUTTERFIELD, Mr. AL GREEN of 
Texas, and Ms. FUDGE) submitted the following resolution; which was re-
ferred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs, and in addition to the Com-
mittee on the Judiciary, for a period to be subsequently determined by 
the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall with-
in the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 
RESOLUTION 
Recognizing the apology offered by the Government of Aus-
tralia to the aboriginal people and its significance as 
a gesture of healing for this proud nation. 
Whereas indigenous Australians are a people of many lan-
guages and traditions who arrived on the continent more 
than 50,000 years ago, and have one of the oldest con-
tinuing cultures on earth; 
Whereas violence, discrimination, and disenfranchisement 
played a significant role in European and indigenous 
Australian relations, including the mass killings of indige-
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•HRES 242 IH 
nous Australians by European settlers during the 18th 
century, restricting indigenous Australians from having 
the unqualified right to vote in Australia until 1962, and 
forcibly removing children of indigenous and Torres 
Strait Island ancestry from their homes and communities 
and assimilating them in White families and orphanages 
for much of the 20th century, victims of which have be-
come known as the ‘‘Stolen Generations’’; 
Whereas the adoption of such discriminatory laws and poli-
cies by the Australian Government undoubtedly contrib-
uted to the poverty, unemployment, substandard edu-
cation, crime, and poor health care that continue to dev-
astate indigenous communities; 
Whereas despite centuries of official and unofficial systems of 
discrimination, Australia’s indigenous people have made 
profound contributions to Australia’s social fabric; 
Whereas indigenous Australians were inspired by the Amer-
ican Civil Rights Movement and organized against insti-
tutionalized discrimination from the 1950s through the 
1970s to fight for the rights and privileges that they were 
denied in their native country; 
Whereas, on February 13, 2008, after decades of requests 
from activists and elected officials asking the Australian 
Government to express an unqualified apology for its 
treatment of indigenous Australians, Australian Prime 
Minister Kevin Rudd apologized on behalf of the Aus-
tralian Government and its Parliament for the Stolen 
Generation and the overall ‘‘past mistreatment’’ of indig-
enous Australians, and promised to address the resulting 
social, economic, and health disparities in indigenous 
communities; 
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•HRES 242 IH 
Whereas, as part of this apology, Prime Minister Rudd also 
promised to ‘‘harness the determination of all Aus-
tralians’’ to close the gap that lies between indigenous 
and non-indigenous Australians in life expectancy, edu-
cational achievement, and economic opportunity; 
Whereas Australia’s national apology for the atrocities that 
it committed against the indigenous people is a signifi-
cant expression of Australia’s willingness to come to 
terms with its past to better understand its present and 
build a better future; and 
Whereas Prime Minister Rudd, in a speech delivered to the 
Australian Parliament on February 26, 2009, renewed 
Australia’s determination to address the disparities faced 
by indigenous people and committed to a national invest-
ment of $4,600,000,000 over 10 years to programs aimed 
at eliminating these disparities: Now, therefore, be it 
Resolved, That the House of Representatives— 
(1) commends the Australian Government for 
acknowledging the injustices of its past in order to 
understand the injustices of its present and prevent 
these injustices from continuing in the future; 
(2) joins with the Australian Government in 
hoping that this apology marks the start of a more 
open and fluid communication between the indige-
nous community and the Australian Government, in-
cluding a commitment to addressing the social, eco-
nomic, and health issues that disproportionately af-
fect indigenous Australians; 
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•HRES 242 IH 
(3) regards the Australian Parliament’s historic 
recognition of its past wrongs as an inspiration for 
other multi-ethnic nations around the world to ac-
knowledge the injustices of its past in order to un-
derstand the injustices of its present and prevent 
these injustices from continuing in the future; and 
(4) remains committed to comprehensively ad-
dressing the economic, educational, and health-re-
lated disparities that continue to affect some Black, 
indigenous, and other communities of color because 
of discriminatory laws that were authorized and en-
forced by the United States local, State, and na-
tional governments. 
Æ 
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