Australia's parliament has opened with an Aboriginal welcome, ahead of an apology for past wrongs inflicted on the country's indigenous community.

In a special ceremony, an Aboriginal elder handed a symbolic message stick to Prime Minister Kevin Rudd.

On Wednesday Mr Rudd is due to deliver a historic apology to Aborigines for past assimilation policies.

Under these policies, in place until the 1960s, thousands of children were forcibly taken from their families.