Australia--The Film

Last night I saw the 2 hr 45 min film, Australia, a love story between Lady Sarah Ashley (Nicole Kidman), an English aristocrat, and The Drover (Hugh Jackman), a cattle drover who join forces against a dishonest cattle baron, King Carney (Bryan Brown) and the country's disgustingly sick and twisted policy of removing half caste indigenous Aboriginal children from their families (The Stolen Generations). The story unfolds at a remote cattle station, Far Away Downs where they inadvertently fall in love and become a family with Nullah (Brandon Walters) a beautiful young half caste (and the film's narrator) whose aboriginal mother dies, white father, Fletcher (David Wenham) a murderous hired hand who would just as soon see him dead, and grandfather, King George (David Gulpilil) a medicine man, teaches him the ways of magic. This unlikely trio end caught up in World War II's Japanese bombing of Darwin, Australia. I cried through half of this film which was directed by Baz Luhrmann (Moulin Rouge)

In regards to The Stolen Generations:

On February 13, 2008 the newly installed Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, issued an official Federal Parliament Apology to Indigenous Australians as a motion which was voted on by The House of Representatives who unanimously adopted the proposed motion.

Today we honour the Indigenous peoples of this land, the oldest continuing
cultures in human history.
We reflect on their past mistreatment.
We
reflect in particular on the mistreatment of those who were Stolen Generations -
this blemished chapter in our nation's history.
The time has now come for the
nation to turn a new page in Australia's history by righting the wrongs of the
past and so moving forward with confidence to the future.
We apologise for
the laws and policies of successive Parliaments and governments that have
inflicted profound grief, suffering and loss on these our fellow
Australians.
We apologise especially for the removal of Aboriginal and Torres
Strait Islander children from their families, their communities and their
country.
For the pain, suffering and hurt of these Stolen Generations, their
descendants and for their families left behind, we say sorry.
To the mothers
and the fathers, the brothers and the sisters, for the breaking up of families
and communities, we say sorry.
And for the indignity and degradation thus
inflicted on a proud people and a proud culture, we say sorry.
We the
Parliament of Australia respectfully request that this apology be received in
the spirit in which it is offered as part of the healing of the nation.
For
the future we take heart; resolving that this new page in the history of our
great continent can now be written.
We today take this first step by
acknowledging the past and laying claim to a future that embraces all
Australians.
A future where this Parliament resolves that the injustices of
the past must never, never happen again.
A future where we harness the
determination of all Australians, Indigenous and non-Indigenous, to close the
gap that lies between us in life expectancy, educational achievement and
economic opportunity.
A future where we embrace the possibility of new
solutions to enduring problems where old approaches have failed.
A future
based on mutual respect, mutual resolve and mutual responsibility.
A future
where all Australians, whatever their origins, are truly equal partners, with
equal opportunities and with an equal stake in shaping the next chapter in the
history of this great country, Australia.