With his "we simply need to accept that a 'Sorry' for past wrongs acknowledged is due and then move on" Muttley has put it better than most and it is deeply disappointing that out Prime Minister lacks the moral fibre to do just that.

SharonA and Joe Offer both had some of the lyrics but I finally tracked down (and bought, today) a copy of The Sing Book 2007", ABC Books, Aust. Broadcasting Corp., GPO Box 9994 Sydney NSW 2001.

I can't deal with sheet music although it is in front of me and the whole piece takes only one A4 page. For the purposes of "fair dealing" I suspect that I could take it home and scan it and, send it via PM to Joe, should he wish to have it 'for the record'. The song (#32 of 54) is categorised (in this collection) as "Australasian" and has the following comment;
"Written by Kerry Fletcher and performaed by Kerry Fletcher and the Coexistence Voices in 1998, this song can help us all understand the 'road' to reconciliation between indigenous and non-indigenous Australians. 'Sorry Song' urges all Australians to remember the past and look to the future for hope."

It is in 3/4 time and the key of C, with an A, a B part and a Coda;
the structure is A B B A B B C;
the words (with chords) are;

Part A
|          (C)         (Bb)                (F)               (C)       (Bb)         (C)
| If we can now say that we're sorry to the people from this land.
|                                     (Bb)                (F)         (C)
| They cry, they cry, their children were stolen. They still wonder why.

Part B
| (C)                   (Bb)                      (F)                  (C)    (Bb)          (C)
| Sing, sing loud, break through the silence. SIng sorry across this land.
|                                 (Bb)                (F)       (C)   (Bb)                  (C)
| We cry, we cry, their children were stolen. Now no-one knows why.

Coda
| (C)      (Bb)          (C)             (C)
| Sorry across this land. (x3) Sorry.

[In the hope it displays correctly I've inserted some vertical lines at left of each line left in the hope they align.]

It seems to me that anyone who could object to their child singing this and accuse it of "brainwashing" needs both a heart and a brain.

One aspect that hasn't yet been mentioned in this or the Great White Father thread, and that might help outsiders is that Australian Aboriginal people have particular connotations to the word "sorry". The term "Sorry business" is used for the whole plethora of activities associated with someone's death.

In hope. Rowan