National Reconciliation Week: 27 May – 3 June 2009
National Reconciliation Week celebrates the rich culture and history of the First Australians. It is a time to reflect on achievements so far and focus on what is still to be done to achieve reconciliation in Australia.
The theme for Reconciliation Week 2009 is, See the person, not the stereotype.
As most people would remember, the Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd, delivered an historic National Apology to the Stolen Generations on 13 February 2008. The Apology included very powerful statements:
‘There comes a time in the history of nations when their peoples must become fully reconciled to their past if they are to go forward with confidence to embrace their future. Our nation, Australia, has reached such a time. And that is why the parliament is today here assembled: to deal with this unfinished business of the nation, to remove a great stain from the nation's soul and, in a true spirit of reconciliation, to open a new chapter in the history of this great land, Australia.’
The Honourable Kevin Rudd, Prime Minister of Australia
The Apology was an important step towards reconciliation. Reconciliation Week is the opportunity to take the next steps towards true reconciliation across Victoria and Australia.
National Reconciliation Week begins on 27 of May, which 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.
Reconciliation Week concludes on 3 June, which 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.
In Victoria, Reconciliation Victoria has been undertaking a project in partnership with Stolen Generations Victoria: Mang-Mang: Victorian Reflections on the National Apology to the Stolen Generations. The Mang-Mang: Victorian Reflections on the National Apology to the Stolen Generations project was conducted between 13 Feb - 8 May 2009. For the project, Reconciliation Victoria engaged with schools and community groups across Victoria to collect responses to the following key questions:
- Where were you and how did you feel when you heard the National Apology to the Stolen Generations?
- What should the Victorian Government do over the next 12 months to make the Apology real?
- What will you do to strengthen reconciliation in your own school, organisation or community?
Responses and submissions collected from the Mang-Mang project will be displayed publicly during National Reconciliation Week.
A statewide calendar of events for Reconciliation week is coordinated by Reconciliation Victoria, which also hosts a number of key events. Further information is available on the Reconciliation Victoria website: http://www.reconciliationvic.org.au/
A calendar of events happening nationally is coordinated by Reconciliation Australia – W: http://www.reconciliation.org.au
VCOSS encourages all Victorian community sector organisations to actively engage in local reconciliation activities.