Coming up: Reconciliation Week (27 May to 3 June) – 2025 Theme: ‘Bridging Now to Next’. Themesong: ‘Solid Rock’ by Goanna
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.
Events around Mudgee district include:
- Monday 26 May at 9am. Mudgee Amnesty Reconciliation Choir singing ‘Solid Rock’. Venue to be confirmed.
- Friday 30 May. Singing and Reading Circle in First Languages for Children aged under 5.
- 10am at Gulgong Library
- 1.30pm at Mudgee Library
Supported by Mid Western Regional Council https://www.facebook.com/events/2121513105037431/permalink/2121513121704096
Background to Reconciliation Week.
27th May 1967 – Referendum that saw more than 90 per cent of Australian voters chose ‘Yes’ to count Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples in the census and give the Australian Government the power to make laws for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.
3 June 1992 – Mabo decision by the High Court recognising that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples have rights to the land that existed before British arrival and still exist today; the date, Mabo Day, now marking the end of Reconciliation Week.
1993 – Inaugural Week of Prayer for Reconciliation involving Australia’s major faith communities.
10 December 1992 – Prime Minister Paul Keating’s Redfern speech to launch the 1993 International Year of the World’s Indigenous Peoples when he accepted responsibility on behalf of non-Aboriginal Australia for the violence and dispossession perpetrated against Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people across the continent and expressed the hope that the Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation would forge relationships “built on justice and equity”.
27 May 1996 – Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation launched Australia’s first National Reconciliation Week to be held each year from 27 May to 3 June, recognised by the Parliament of Australia; the dates chosen to include the Referendum and Mabo decision.
27 and 28 May 2000 – Corroboree 2000
- 27 May – a meeting of dozens of Indigenous and non-Indigenous leaders at the Sydney Opera House for the presentation of two documents prepared by the Council to non-Indigenous leaders – calling for respect for ‘this land of ours; values the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander heritage; and provides justice and equity for all.’ Prime Minister John Howard spoke and skirted around any mention of an apology for the stolen generations leading to many Indigenous people turning their backs on and heckling him. Eight years later Prime Minister Kevin Rudd made the formal apology on behalf of the nation.
- 28 May – Reconciliation Walk across Sydney Harbour Bridge in support of meaningful reconciliation between Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples in Australia. Approx. 250,000 people walked, taking 6 hours. Simultaneously other walks were conducted in other states.
26 May 1998 – National Sorry Day inaugurated the day before Reconciliation Week to commemorate the anniversary of the ‘Bringing them Home’ report having been tabled in Federal Parliament and to acknowledge the grief and longterm effects forced separation has on families and their descendants.
2025 Reconciliation Week events around Australia: https://www.reconciliation.org.au/calendar/