For Newcastle sisters Aunty Lacey Simon and Aunty Maree Simon-Ahoy, May 26 is day of painful memories and sadness that never goes away.
It is also one of healing and sharing their story so the next generation does not forget.
"Today, telling my story it was the first time I broke down and was very emotional telling something that I barely remember," Ms Simon said.
On National Sorry Day, the Aboriginal siblings told students at Edgeworth Public School about how at just three-and-half and six years old they were ripped away from their family.
Among the crowd of primary schoolers were 12 of the Simon great-grandchildren, four of whom were Ms Simon's grandchildren and the rest the grandchildren of her siblings.
National Sorry Day remembers the mistreatment of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people who were forcibly removed from their families, known as the Stolen Generations.
Ms Simon-Ahoy said it was important to speak out because no matter what she was doing, she always held what happened to her deep inside.
"We need to get it out into the schools and the wider community," she said.
"To teach that we are all just one people on earth, no matter the colour of your skin, we all bleed red."
On February 22 1973, Gary and Brenda Simon were living with their seven children in the western NSW town of Gilgandra, after moving from Blackalls Park.
Mr Simon was out at work and his wife was home alone with their children when a government official knocked on the door, and said he was there to take her kids away.
It was four years after all states had officially repealed the legislation allowing for the removal of Aboriginal children under the policy of protection in 1969.
The sisters said they were taken with their five other siblings to the police station before their dad tried to fight the action in court.
They were then brought to the local hospital where they were washed and cleaned with methylated spirits before the seven siblings were separated and put into institutions or foster homes.
Their parents were told the reason for their removal was neglect and that they were living in an overcrowded house, Ms Simon-Ahoy said.
"We were so disgusted with that report, and we asked mum and she cried and said that never happened," she said.
Ms Simon-Ahoy said her youngest sibling was about six months old, and the oldest was eight.
"Me, my older sister and my brother were getting taken out of institutions, putting into another and moving from foster home to foster home," she said.
"We were very confused, we didn't know if we'd be there for a week, a month or a year."
She often struggled with education as she was constantly moved from school to school.
Ms Simon, the younger of the two, was placed in an institution called the Thornbury Lodge in Sydney with her brother.
After more than a year of fighting, Ms Simon and her brother were the first to come home to their parents.
Some of their other siblings did not come home until at least five years after they were first taken.
"I remember our two sisters coming for visits with their foster parents," Ms Simon said.
"We would watch out the window and think why are our sisters living with other people," she said.
"We were strangers to them, their own siblings."
Surrounded by their children and grandchildren, the sisters said their lives could have ended up very differently if it weren't for their parents.
"Mum and dad are our biggest heroes, we could have been living out in the world if they didn't fight for us," Ms Simon-Ahoy said.
Their mum was unable to attend the school event because she was away and their dad sadly passed away on February 22 2025.
Ms Simon's granddaughter Akeiylah Clarke said hearing her grandmother's story was sad.
"I was proud of them for getting up there," she said.
Her cousin Latrista Gordon said it was good to talk to their classmates about what happened.
"It was very emotional but in a good way to let us children know what they had to go through," she said.
Edgeworth Public School had a week of activities planned for Reconciliation Week including Aboriginal language classes in the preschool and students engaging with Indigenous artwork and literature.
Principal Alex Montgomery said the school had 133 students who identified as Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander.
"National Sorry Day and Reconciliation Week is a time to reflect on Australia's history... and stop and recognise where we can help create a place where everyone feels safe," she said.
