Reconciliation Week
27 May - 3 June
WHAT IS NATIONAL RECONCILIATION WEEK
(From the Reconciliation Australia website https://nrw.reconciliation.org.au/)
National Reconciliation Week (NRW) is a time for all Australians to learn about our shared histories, cultures, and achievements, and to explore how each of us can contribute to achieving reconciliation in Australia.
The dates for NRW are the same each year; 27 May to 3 June.
These dates commemorate two significant milestones in the reconciliation journey— the successful 1967 referendum, and the High Court Mabo decision respectively.
27 May 1967 On this day, Australia’s most successful referendum saw more than 90 per cent of Australians vote to give the Australian Government power to make laws for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and recognise them in the Census.
3 June 1992 On this day, the Australian High Court delivered the Mabo decision, the culmination of Eddie Koiki Mabo’s challenge to the legal fiction of ‘terra nullius’ (land belonging to no one) and leading to the legal recognition of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as the Traditional Owners and Custodians of lands. This decision paved the way for Native Title.
Reconciliation must live in the hearts, minds and actions of all Australians as we move forward, creating a nation strengthened by respectful relationships between the wider Australian community, and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.
A BRIEF HISTORY
National Reconciliation Week (NRW) started as the Week of Prayer for Reconciliation in 1993 (the International Year of the World’s Indigenous Peoples) and was supported by Australia’s major faith communities.
In 1996, the Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation launched Australia’s first National Reconciliation Week.
In 2001, Reconciliation Australia was established to continue to provide national leadership on reconciliation.
In the same year, approximately 300,000 people walked across Sydney Harbour Bridge as part of National Reconciliation Week-and subsequently across bridges in cities and towns-to show their support for reconciliation.
Check out our factsheet on National Reconciliation Week.
Today, National Reconciliation Week is celebrated in workplaces, schools and early learning services, community organisations and groups, and by individuals Australia-wide.
YALINGUTH APP WALKING TOUR – FITZROY
26 May 9am - June 3 6pm
Yalinguth is an immersive audio experience. It’s an app connecting you to the important Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander history of Gertrude Street, in Melbourne’s iconic Fitzroy.
In the Woi Wurrung language Yalinguth means “yesterday”, and echoes the sentiments of many Elders that “we need to go back, before we can go forwards”.
A Yalinguth walk is made up of spoken stories, songs, poems, and atmospheric soundscapes. You’ll hear up to 40 Elders – musicians and storytellers including the much loved and recently passed, Uncle Jack Charles and Uncle Archie Roach.
Download the app, grab your headphones and head to Gertrude Street!