NATIONAL RECONCILIATION WEEK 2010 Reconciliation – let’s see it through
Factsheet 1
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This May marks the 10th anniversary of two significant reconciliation milestones—the historic Bridge Walks for Reconciliation and the establishment of Reconciliation Australia, the nation’s peak body on reconciliation between Indigenous and non Indigenous Australians.
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.
Bridge Walks for Reconciliation
More than 300,000 people walked across the Sydney Harbour Bridge in support of Indigenous Australians and reconciliation. For five hours the human river flowed across the Bridge—never before had the strength of public opinion been so clearly illustrated.
This ‘mass mobilisation’ in Sydney was quickly followed by similar gatherings in other capital cities and towns, involving almost a million people around the country. In Brisbane more than 60,000 people crossed William Jolly Bridge, 55,000 filled the heart of Adelaide when they walked over King William Street Bridge. In Canberra, people braved snow and sleet to cross Commonwealth Bridge. Walks were later held through the streets of Melbourne and Perth in December—with another 300,000 people taking part to support the reconciliation movement.
These events were held during a turbulent political climate and hundreds of thousands of people joined reconciliation groups all over Australia.
Corroboree 2000
‘Corroboree 2000’ was a national event that took place on the first two days of National Reconciliation Week in Sydney in 2000—and witnessed one of the largest meetings of the nation’s leaders in Australian history.
On Saturday 27 May, the Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation hosted a representative gathering of the Australian people at the Sydney Opera House to mark the achievements of reconciliation so far and at which the Council launched its final proposals about a document for reconciliation.
The following day, the People’s Walk for Reconciliation took place across Sydney Harbour Bridge, followed by public concerts at Darling Harbour.
National Reconciliation Week
National Reconciliation Week (NRW) is held every year between 27 May and 3 June and is framed by two significant dates in Australia’s history which best symbolise the hopes and aims for reconciliation.
May 27 marks the anniversary of the 1967 Referendum in which over 90 per cent of Australians voted to give the Commonwealth the power to make laws for Aboriginal people.
June 3 marks the anniversary of the High Court’s judgement in the Mabo case in 1992. The judgement recognised the native title rights of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and overturned the myth of terra-nullius— the notion that the Australian continent was empty, unowned land before 1788.
This National Reconciliation Week we hope Australians might think about just what reconciliation means 10 years on and what each of us can do to make it work. The theme for NRW 2010 is ‘let’s see it through’ and calls on Australians to embrace our future and achieve great things by walking and working together.
Reconciliation Australia
Shortly after the Bridge Walks, Reconciliation Australia (RA) was established as the peak body to promote reconciliation between Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and the broader Australian community. Drawing on the work of the former Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation RA has embarked on a range of strategies to improve relationships between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians and ultimately to close the gap in life expectancy between them.
It’s Reconciliation Australia’s job to simplify reconciliation and to show how all its different parts come back to something Australians are essentially very good at—building relationships.
For more information about National Reconciliation Week call (02) 6273 9200 or visit www.reconciliation.org.au.
