National Apology Day in Australia is observed on February 13 every year in Australia. It is a national day commemorating the first-ever national apology made by Prime Minister Kevin Rudd in 2008 to initialize the Australian federal government’s rehabilitation, justice, and reconciliation agenda for the Indigenous Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders, and the tens of thousands of Aboriginal children who were forcibly removed from their families during Australia’s assimilation era.

The affected children, known as the ‘Stolen Generations” suffered severe abuse and trauma, causing them to reject and compelle their Indigenous heritage.

February 13, 2008, his successor Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd, issued a formal public apology on behalf of the federal government. Both houses of parliament unanimously adopted the apology as a motion, as thousands gathered in public spaces and reacted with cheers and tears.