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Wednesday, February 13, was a day of mixed emotions for Charnwood resident Isabelle Collins.

Isabelle was pleased she had the opportunity to be in the visitors gallery of the House of Representatives to witness Prime Minister Kevin Rudd's historic apology to the Stolen Generation, but sad that her mother Bertha had died only months before and was not present to witness the historic event.

Bertha, along with her brother and sister, had been taken from her mother as a 9 year old when living with her family on the Erambie Mission outside Cowra, when NSW Government officers came onto the mission offering sweets to children as an inducement to go with them.

Bertha was sent to Cootamundra Girl's Home from where she was later indentured to a local family as a domestic servant. Until she returned to Cowra in 1940, Bertha only saw her mother on two occasions. Her mother died in 1941 while her then husband was serving overseas with Australian forces.

At the time of her mother's death, Bertha attempted to gain custody of her 4 brothers and sisters . However, despite being a married woman, the authorities refused and the children were sent to a home in Bomaderry for indigenous children and were later separated from each other.

One of the children, Florence, was sent to the same facility in Cootamundra where Bertha had been sent many years before, and Isabelle has never had the opportunity to meet her aunt although other members of the family saw her briefly a number of years ago.

Isabelle is hoping that the apology may give her Aunt Florence the impetus to contact the remaining family members so they may again be re-united.

Isabelle also had the opportunity of meeting both Kevin Rudd and Indigenous Affairs Minister Jenny Macklin after the apology, and thanked Mary Porter for arranging for her to be present in the chamber for the historic event.