Australia to apologise to Aborigines on February13

Aborigines are Australia's most disadvantaged group. Many live in Third World conditions in remote outback settlements.

The 1997 "Bringing Them Home" report found Stolen Generation children, as depicted in the 2002 film "Rabbit-Proof Fence", were forcibly taken and placed in orphanages run by churches or charities, or fostered out to socialise them to European culture.

Some were brutalised or abused.

But John Howard, as prime minister, rejected an apology, arguing that because the removal of aboriginal children between the 1870s and 1960s was done by past governments, such a move could open the door to reparation claims.

All six state governments have already made official apologies to Aborigines, who were legally classed as part of the country's "flora and fauna" until 1967. A landmark referendum that year saw Australians vote to allow Aborigines to be counted in the population.

Last week the island state of Tasmania approved a A$5 million compensation fund for 106 Stolen Generation Aborigines taken from their families. State Premier Paul Lennon said no amount could make up for the hurt suffered.

($1=A$1.12)

(Reporting by Rob Taylor; editing by Roger Crabb)