Federal parliament will say sorry for the "profound grief, suffering and loss" inflicted on the stolen generations and will vow to never let it happen again.
Prime Minister Kevin Rudd on Tuesday tabled in parliament the text of the national apology, giving notice it would be moved on Wednesday.
The apology honours Australia's indigenous people as, "the oldest continuing cultures in human history".
"We reflect on their past mistreatment," the apology reads.
"We reflect in particular on the mistreatment of those who were stolen generations, this blemished chapter in our nation's history."
Hundreds of indigenous Australians have descended on Canberra to witness the historic apology which comes more than a decade after the Bringing Them Home report.
The report documented the stories of tens of thousands of Aboriginal children taken from their families by governments between 1910 to the early 1970s.
The former Howard government, which lost last year's election, refused to issue a formal apology claiming it would leave the commonwealth liable to a flood of compensation claims.
The parliament will apologise for breaking up families and for the pain, degradation and suffering inflicted on the Aboriginal people.
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