2022 National Reconciliation Week

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.

The dates for NRW are 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.

27 May 1967: On this day 55 years ago, Australia’s most successful referendum saw more than 90 per cent of Australians vote to give the Australian Government power to make laws for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and recognise them in the Census.

3 June 1992: On this day 30 years ago, the Australian High Court delivered the Mabo decision, the culmination of Eddie Koiki Mabo’s challenge to the legal fiction of ‘terra nullius’ (land belonging to no one) and leading to the legal recognition of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as the Traditional Owners and Custodians of lands. This decision paved the way for Native Title.

Be part of the 2022 national Acknowledgement of Country

The day before National Reconciliation Week, 26 May, is National Sorry Day, which was first held in Sydney in 1998 and is commemorated nationally to remember and honour the Stolen Generations. 26 May also marked the 5th Anniversary of the Uluru Statement from the Heart. As read for the first time in history on the floor of the First Nations Constitutional Convention by Professor Megan Davis.

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.

Visit: www.reconciliation.org.au or nrw.reconciliation.org.au for event programs in your area or online.