While many across the nation recently marked Apology Day, reflecting on the historic 2008 apology to the Stolen Generations, there was another apology in South Australia that many Australians may not know about.
It was an apology to the Ngarrindjeri people.
In 2010, the South Australian Government formally acknowledged that Ngarrindjeri women had been wrongly discredited during the bitter 1990s Hindmarsh Island bridge dispute. For years, women were accused of fabricating “secret women’s business”, sacred cultural knowledge connected to Kumarangk (Hindmarsh Island). A Royal Commission had publicly branded their claims as false.
The consequences were devastating.
Respected Elders were labelled liars. Cultural Authority was undermined. Families and community members carried shame and hurt that reverberated well beyond courtrooms and headlines.
In 2001, the Federal Court found that it was not satisfied that the women’s knowledge had been fabricated. Nearly a decade later, the State Government finally acknowledged that finding with an Apology.
In July 2010, Ngarrindjeri people gathered for a symbolic walk across the Hindmarsh Island bridge, a structure that for many remains a painful reminder of that era. The walk marked recognition, resilience, and a reclaiming of narrative. It was not simply about infrastructure; it was about dignity.
That apology matters.
It matters because public harm requires public correction. It matters because cultural knowledge was put on trial in a way that caused profound and lasting damage.
And it matters because reconciliation is not only about national moments; it is also about state and local histories where injustice occurred.
Now, that history is being revisited and retold through a number of powerful creative projects centred on Ngarrindjeri voices.
Through a forthcoming exhibition, documentary and theatre production to be delivered on Ngarrindjeri Ruwe and produced by Country Arts SA, Kumarangk will tell the story from within the community, honouring the women who stood firm in defence of Culture and Country.
The project is not about reopening wounds for controversy’s sake. It is about truth-telling and truth-listening.
As we reflect on national apologies, we must also remember the quieter ones. The apologies that did not command global headlines but meant everything to those who endured the harm.
The apology to the Ngarrindjeri women was one of those moments.
The first of the Kumarangk projects is currently open at ACE Gallery.
Kumarangk is an intergenerational love letter for Ngarrindjeri women; an exhibition that explores the survival of culture and resistance to colonial destruction.
To learn more about the exhibition and where to go, visit ACE's website here.