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.
What is National Reconciliation Week?
The dates for NRW remain 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.
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.
We all have a role to play when it comes to reconciliation, and in playing our part we collectively build relationships and communities that value Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, histories, cultures, and futures.
NRW 2026: All In
The 2026 theme was All In, a call for all Australians to commit wholeheartedly to reconciliation every single day.
All In made clear that reconciliation is not a spectator sport, and that all of us must step away from the sidelines and take action to make change.
The theme also reminded us that reconciliation and advancing Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples’ rights isn’t a passive activity, and it is not solely the responsibility of First Nations people, who have carried the weight of championing, explaining and acting for far too long.
Reconciliation will not happen by itself, and it will not happen without all of us.
Voices for Reconciliation 2026: Beds Are Burning
Thank you to everyone across the Country who joined the Voices for Reconciliation to contribute to National Reconciliation Week 2026.
More than 41,000 people, as part of more than 700 choirs, came together to sing Midnight Oil classic Beds Are Burning.
A call for all Australians to be all in for truth, land rights and reconciliation.
NRW: A brief history
Click here to learn more about previous National Reconciliation Week themes.
National Reconciliation Week 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 throughout Australia – to show their support for reconciliation.
Today, National Reconciliation Week is celebrated in workplaces, schools and early learning services, community organisations and groups, and by individuals Australia-wide.
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