Bridge Walks 10th anniversary & NRW
In 2010 it will be 10 years since the Bridge Walks for Reconciliation. Beginning in Sydney in May, over 300,000 people walked across the Sydney Harbour Bridge. This event was shortly followed by other walks in cities and town around the country.
These were significant moments in our reconciliation journey and to mark the anniversary Reconciliation Australia has created some fact sheets. They include a background to the Bridge Walks and Corroboree 2000, a timeline, and ideas for activity you can do now to celebrate the anniversary and National Reconciliation Week.
Please take a look at the fact sheets for more information:
- Bridge Walks Q&A
- Bridge Walks
- Reconciliation Timeline
- Corroboree Speech
- School activities
- Reconciliation Timeline (2000 onwards)
- Bridge Walk images
- Bridge Walk videos
- Unfinished Oz advertisement
National Reconciliation Week (NRW)
The anniversary of the Bridge Walks also coincides with National Reconciliation Week (27 May- 3 June).
Each year National Reconciliation Week celebrates the culture and history of the first Australians. It’s the ideal time for all Australians to reflect, celebrate and commit—to join the reconciliation conversation and to think about how we can get involved in making a better future for Australia.
History of National Reconciliation Week
In 1993 faith communities of Australia started the Week of Prayer for Reconciliation. Following its success, the week was expanded in 1996 to become NRW to provide nationwide focus for all reconciliation activities.
NRW began in 1996 to provide focus for nationwide reconciliation activities. It’s a time to reflect on achievements so far and focus on what is still to be done to achieve reconciliation in Australia.
NRW coincides with two significant dates in Australia’s history which provide strong symbols of the aspirations for reconciliation.
May 27 marks the anniversary of the 1967 Referendum in which more than 90 per cent of Australians voted to remove clauses from the Australian Constitution which discriminated against Indigenous Australians. The referendum also gave the Commonwealth Government the power to make laws on behalf of Aboriginal people.
June 3 marks the anniversary of the High Court's judgment in the 1992 Mabo case. The decision recognised the Native Title rights of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as the original inhabitants of the continent and overturned the myth of terra nullius – the belief that the continent was an empty, un-owned land before the arrival of Europeans in 1788.
The Theme for NRW 2010
The theme for National Reconciliation Week 2010 is Reconciliation: Let’s see it through! NRW 2010 will highlight that a decade after the historic bridge walks it’s fair to say the future for reconciliation has never looked brighter. And while there’s still a way to go, respect, trust and the knowledge to turn good intentions into effective actions pave the way forward. In the words of the Prime Minister, we can now walk and work together, ‘First Australians alongside all Australians, towards a stronger and fairer Australian nation’. So on the 10th anniversary of the bridge walks (and of Reconciliation Australia itself), we’re asking all Australians to embrace the future and aspire to achieve great things together.
Posters are available to order through the RA website. Complete the form to receive NRW resources.
What's Happening for NRW this Year?
For more information on what’s happening for NRW in your area visit your state reconciliation council website.
If you’re organising an event, in NRW or any other time of the year please list it on our Online Events Calendar.
