Every year workplaces, schools, early learning services, community groups, reconciliation groups, and people right across the country host a range of activities and events during National Reconciliation Week (NRW).
The dates for NRW are the same each year: 27 May to 3 June. Look through the calendar to see how you can mark NRW at an event near you.
Hosting your own NRW event? Head to the Events page to add it to the calendar.
Please note: the events on this calendar are not the responsibility of Reconciliation Australia. If you have any questions regarding an event, please contact the organisers.
Finding the Joy Within is a courageous and deeply personal memoir of identity, survival and spiritual reclamation.
A Stolen Generations survivor, Joy Makepeace grew up walking in two worlds, feeling too black to belong in a white world, and too white to be accepted by her own mob. Beneath her smile, questions of identity, worth, and belonging quietly shaped her life.
As she navigates trauma, mental health challenges, motherhood and the enduring ache of disconnection, Joy invites readers into the raw and often unspoken realities of carrying intergenerational pain. But this is not only a story of struggle.
Through meditation, deep self-listening, and fierce commitment to healing, Joy begins to uncover something that can’t be stolen – her true self. Tender, confronting, and ultimately empowering, Finding the Joy Within is a testament to resilience, reclamation and the determination of choosing to heal.
Paul Girrawah House has multiple First Nation ancestries from the South-East Canberra region, including the Ngambri-Ngurmal (Walgalu), Pajong (Gundungurra), Wallabollooa (Ngunnawal) and Erambie/Brungle (Wiradyuri) family groups.
Paul acknowledges his diverse First Nation history, he particularly identifies as a descendant of Onyong aka Jindoomang from Weereewaa (Lake George) and Henry ‘Black Harry’ Williams from Namadgi who were both multilingual, essentially Walgalu-Ngunnawal-Wiradjuri speaking warriors and Ngunnawal–Wallaballooa man William Lane aka ‘Billy the Bull’ - Murrjinille.
Paul was born at the old Canberra hospital in the centre of his ancestral country and strongly acknowledges his First Nation matriarch ancestors, in particular his mother Dr Aunty Matilda House-Williams and grandmother, Ms Pearl Simpson-Wedge.
Paul completed a Bachelor of Community Management from Macquarie University, and Graduate Certificate in Wiradjuri Language, Culture and Heritage and Management from CSU.
Paul provided the Welcome to Country for the 47th Opening of Federal Parliament in 2022. Paul is Board Director, Ngambri Local Aboriginal Land Council, Member Indigenous Reference Group, National Museum of Australia and Australian Government Voice Referendum Engagement Group.
Paul works on country with the ANU, First Nations Portfolio as a Senior Community Engagement Officer
Reconciliation Australia acknowledges Traditional Owners of Country throughout Australia and recognises the continuing connection to lands, waters and communities. We pay our respect to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures; and to Elders past and present.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples should be aware that this website contains images or names of people who have passed away.
