Link-Up (Qld)’s annual Sorry Day breakfast event will take place from 8am–10am on Friday 23 May 2025, at Cranbrook Place in Orleigh Park, West End (Brisbane).
Join us for breakfast at the site of the former Aboriginal Girls Home at West End, as we honour the resilience of Stolen Generations survivors and descendants, and show our support for their ongoing healing. This year’s event will feature guest speakers Aunty Angelique Wittwer, a Stolen Generation survivor, and her son Samuel Songoa, a performance by the Wakka Wakka Dancers, and a special guest musical artist (to be announced), promising a morning of reflection, culture, and connection.
This event is presented by Link-Up (Qld) and supported by Knowmore, Micah Projects, the Healing Foundation and Brisbane City Council.
Guest Speakers: Aunty Angelique Wittwer and Samuel Songoa
Aunty Angelique Wittwer is a proud Stolen Generations survivor who was taken from her family in the Northern Territory as a young child and placed in a Catholic mission on Melville Island. Later adopted by a non-Indigenous family in South Australia, she grew up disconnected from her Aboriginal heritage, culture, and identity. As an adult, Angelique lived for many years in Papua New Guinea before returning to Australia to reconnect with her roots. After resettling in Queensland, she reached out to Link-Up (Qld) and began the journey of tracing her family and culture, reconnecting to her Warlpiri heritage and community in Lajamanu.
Her son, Samuel Songoa, grew up with limited connection to his Aboriginal ancestry but has walked alongside his mother on her journey of rediscovery. Through their reconnection to family and country, Samuel has gained a deeper understanding of his heritage and a strong sense of belonging, which he hopes to pass down to future generations.
Together, Aunty Angelique and Samuel share a powerful story of resilience, healing, and the enduring strength of family and culture.
About Cranbrook Place
Cranbrook Place in Orleigh Park was once the location of the Aboriginal Girls Home at West End, which served as a depot for Aboriginal girls being sent into domestic work. Each year, we gather here to remember the lives of those who lived in the home and to honour their descendants, many of whom join us annually. Dr. Valerie Coombs, a descendant of former residents, shared poignant memories in a past speech:
“The sadness of my Grandmothers’ story permeated throughout my life, from my aunties and my mother. I wanted to know how and why this happened. We knew she was looking for her daughter Mable and that she had her earnings stolen by the Protector,” she recounted.
“Typically, as Aboriginal People we build resilience even as a Colonised People. This is how we have survived, the Spirit of Aboriginality. This is not to say we haven’t suffered and we continue to do so, our Matriarchs have kept us going,”
