Aboriginal leader Michael Mansell has hailed the apology, endorsed by the University Council, to be held at the Hobart Domain campus on December 4.

In an email to staff, Vice-Chancellor Professor Rufus Black said the apology was "the right and necessary thing to do" and was a step towards "true healing" with Aboriginal Tasmania.

"Since the 1803 establishment of Risdon Cove, Tasmania's history has been scarred by the evidence of wrongdoings committed against the palawa (Aboriginal) people of lutruwita (Tasmania)," Professor Black said.

"These include invasion, frontier war, massacres, incarceration at Wybalenna and putalina/Oyster Cove, State-sanctioned disinterment and collection of Aboriginal human remains, the denial of human rights and even of the Tasmanian Aboriginal community's very existence.

" The grave consequences of these many wrongs persist to this day.

"There is no single measure or dimension that can describe or start to capture the wrong that has been done in this time, or the magnitude of that wrongdoing.

"We can't change the past or right the wrongs, but we can apologise."

Mr Mansell accepted the apology as sincere.

"The apology is an initiative of a non-government institution that contrasts anti-Aboriginal sentiment from the current government," Mr Mansell said.

"Apologies for historic wrongdoing is no admission of guilt: such apologies show how people today take responsibility for the consequences of the past.

"In this case a modern Tasmanian education institution is sending a message to the Aboriginal community of 'welcome', and to the broader community 'let's take responsibility.

"The sincerity of apologies is often measured by the remedy provided."

Mr Mansell said former Labor Prime Minister Kevin Rudd apologised to the Stolen Generation but provided no compensation or new laws to "prevent a repeat".

"In Tasmania the Parliament also apologised and in 2006 Premier Paul Lennon gave compensation," he said.

"The land on which the university sits was once owned by Aboriginal people and our loss was never compensated. We have never recovered from such losses.

"The Rufus Black apology acknowledges that and is a key to a new beginning.

"Whether the university wants to go further and negotiate a remedy for the loss is not known."

Professor Black said the university was part of the "history of wrongdoing"

"This history limits the possibilities of our contemporary relationship with Tasmanian Aboriginal people" he said.

"By directly engaging with the longstanding and unresolved issues of our past, the possibility of true healing of our relationships with Aboriginal Tasmania can begin."

The apology will be written in palawa kani and English and recorded on a plaque.

University staff, students and Tasmanian Aboriginal people will take part in the ceremony.

Professor Black paid tribute to UTAS Professor Maggie Walter for her leadership on the public apology.