National Sorry Day is an annual event held in Australia on 26 May that commemorates the Stolen Generations—Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children who were forcibly removed from their families and communities by government and church policies.

In this article by Tahnee Jash https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-05-25/stolen-generations-urge-governments-to-act-ahead-of-sorry-day/106715488 Stolen Generations survivor Aunty Bronwyn Smith reflects on her childhood experience of forced removal from her family.

Aunty Bronwyn Smith lived in the Cherbourg Aboriginal Girls’ Dormitory from the age of 9 for 4 years

Now 62, she says:

"I'm so broken as a result of it, in the way that I live my life, the way that I am a partner, a mother, grandmother, the way I am with my siblings and my nieces and nephews. All those relationships are impacted," she said.

"It's taken me this long, 50-odd years, to be even comfortable about talking about this.

National Sorry Day marks the day the Bringing Them Home report was tabled in parliament on 26 May 1997.

This was the final document of the National Inquiry into the Separation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children from Their Families which investigated the past laws, policies, and practices that resulted in the forced removal of Indigenous children (the Stolen Generations) and their subsequent effects.

The Inquiry estimated that between 1 in 10 & 1 in 3 Aboriginal Australian children were removed from their families between 1910 & the 1970s.

Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander children continue to be over-represented in Australia’s state child protection system.