The Redfern Speech – Full Text

A turning point in truth-telling. Still confronting. Still necessary.

On 10 December 1992, Prime Minister Paul Keating stood in Redfern Park and delivered what many still consider the most honest speech ever given by an Australian leader.

He named the violence.
He named the silence.
He named the responsibility.

“It was our ignorance and our prejudice.
And our failure to imagine these things being done to us.”

This is the full text of that speech. No commentary. No edits.
Read it. Share it. Let it sit with you.

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