SOUTHERN Cross University student Danielle Dyall regards herself as an optimist.

So although she cannot say exactly what has changed since Prime Minister Kevin Rudd apologised to the Stolen Generation on February 13 last year, she knows such a national outpouring of emotion must mean something.

“The apology created a really deep feeling of unity. Everyone in Australia heard it and felt something from it,” Ms Dyall said.

“We haven't really heard anything from the Government since, but when something as huge as that happens it has to lead to something - whatever that may be.”

Ms Dyall is a member of the university's Indigenous Events Co-ordinating Committee, which aims to foster reconciliation on campus.

Committee member and PhD student Judy Knox said a year on, Mr Rudd's apology was proving insufficient.

“There are all these lovely gestures, but they are not hitting the hard stuff, which is directing resources into Aboriginal communities and backing up the rhetoric with policies,” she said.

Ms Knox is writing her PhD on the Government's response to the apology.

“The apology was directed to the Stolen Generation, but the rest of us also deserve an apology for past policies,” she said. “It was a first step towards healing, but I can't see any direct impacts.”

Bachelor of Indigenous Studies student Leearna Williams said she had not noticed a great deal of difference in general attitudes since the apology. “Not much has changed. You are always going to get people who look at you because of the colour of your skin and no amount of apologies will change that,” she said.

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