Dutch Apology Statement

	• "We hadden nooit ook maar kunnen hopen dat een blanke voor ons zou knielen en om vergeving vragen". • "Bent u echt, op eigen kosten, naar ons land gekomen om schuld te belijden? Dan is er hoop voor ons land". • "De schuldige partij wil het zo snel mogelijk vergeten, maar de slachtoffers zitten met de pijn en de vernedering, en geven die door aan de volgende generatie". • "Door onze uitbuiting, en uw verontwaardiging, zijn we verbonden geraakt; zullen we nu verbonden blijven in wederzijdse erkenning en hulp".
	Address to the Delegation of the Aboriginal People of Australia; a Dutch Apology Statement. We, representatives of the Dutch Reconciliation Coalition, are deeply humbled by the fact that you, Aboriginal Peoples of Australia [more precise, the Wik tribe of the Aukurun nation], are coming to our nation to extend forgiveness, without even waiting for as to confess our unrighteousness against you. We confess that our forefathers, with whom we identify, generally acted presumptuously towards the inhabitants of the nations they reached in their adventurous endeavors. In 1606, at reaching your coast, which the Europeans named Cape York, not minding the name you had given long before, -- we did not recognize and honor you as the owners of the land, -- we did not ask permission to enter, -- we assumed right of way, not willing to be bothered by the protocols of your peoples, -- we even killed several of your representatives. We confess this as sin before God and before you, and humbly ask for forgiveness. As a token of our appreciation for your gracious attitude we want to offer you a small gift, a replica of an etching of the Dutch painter Rembrandt, who lived in the very days that our nations first encountered one another. We thank you for your grace to accept this.
	(Presented at the occasion of the Delegation of the Aboriginal Peoples of Australia, presenting the Law Poles to the nation of The Netherlands in the person of the chairwoman of the First Chaimber of the Dutch Parliament, as act of reconciliation between Australia and the Netherlands, at the Aboriginal Art Museum Utrecht, the 19th of October 2007. The delegation of the Dutch Reconciliation Coalition consists of Pieter and Helene Bos, Foundation Serving the Nations, and Kees Sybrandi, Foundation Penance and Reconciliation).
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