National Reconciliation Week runs annually from 27 May – 3 June

Each year National Reconciliation Week (NRW) celebrates and builds on the respectful relationships shared by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and other Australians. It is a time for all Australians to learn about our shared histories, cultures and achievements, and to explore how each of us can join the national reconciliation journey.

National Reconciliation Week is bookended by two key events in Australia’s history, which provide strong symbols for reconciliation:

• 27 May 1967 – the referendum that 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 – the Australian High Court delivered the Mabo decision, which recognised that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people have a special relationship with the land. This paved the way for land rights or Native Title.

A brief history of National Reconciliation Week

National Reconciliation Week started as the Week of Prayer for Reconciliation in 1993 during the International Year of the World's Indigenous People and was supported by Australia’s major faith communities. In 1996, the Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation launched Australia's first ‘National Reconciliation Week’. In 2000, 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 NRW, showing support for the reconciliation process.

When discussing reconciliation with students and children, a good place to start is to talk about key terms such as friendship, harmony, difference, respect, acceptance and understanding, and how these elements already function in our everyday lives.
Some starting points to ask students and children when discussing reconciliation:

• What does reconciliation mean?
• Why would there be multiple definitions for ‘reconciliation’ that make sense?
• What ingredients make a good relationship?
• What makes you feel pride (both in oneself and those around you) and what happens when you feel disrespected?
• Why is it important to respect others?
• How can we learn from each other?
• What can we learn from history?
• Why is it important to learn from history?

It is important to consider that reconciliation means many different things to different people. In Australia and in schools and early learning services, reconciliation means working to understand and learn about different values and how we exist in many different ways, and the benefits of learning about this. An important and large part about learning about and respecting Australia’s First Peoples, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.

50 Year Anniversary of 1967 Referendum

This significant anniversary commemorates 50 years since the vote to end discrimination to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in the Australian constitution by allowing the government the power to make laws for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. With the result being overwhelmingly yes (97.77%) this was a significant step towards reconciliation in Australia.

25 Year Anniversary of the Mabo Decision

This significant step in reconciliation saw Eddie Mabo challenge the Australian legal system in recognising the right of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people as the Traditional Owners of their land. The result of this case saw the high court pass down the fact that Terra Nullius (Land belonging to no one) should never have been applied to Australia.