May 27th to June 3rd is National Reconciliation Week, a great time for us all to make reconciliation a part of our story and our future.
At the heart of reconciliation is the relationship between the broader Australian community and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, and the strengthening of this relationship for the benefit of all Australians. To foster positive race relations, our relationship must be grounded in a foundation of truth.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples have long called for a comprehensive process of truth-telling about Australia’s colonial history. Our nation’s past is reflected in the present, and will continue to play out in our future unless we heal historical wounds.
Whether you’re engaging in challenging conversations or unlearning and relearning what you know, this journey requires all of us to walk together with courage. This National Reconciliation Week, the Library would like to invite staff and students from all backgrounds to take a look at some online resources, to help you learn about and contribute towards our national movement towards a unified future:
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people should be aware that these resources may contain images or names of people who have since passed away.
- Reconciliation and Colonial Power: Indigenous Rights in Australia – This eBook is the first book to analyze Australian reconciliation as a process, filling a significant gap in theoretical and empirical understanding. The author considers the relevance of acknowledgement and apology, restitution and rights, nation building and state legitimacy to the reconciliation project.
- Reconciliation Action Plan: July 2017 – July 2020 – As Australia’s pre-eminent social policy agency, The Department of Social Services aims to ensure the knowledge, diversity, skills and life experiences of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples are acknowledged and respected.
- Reconciliation News: Stories about Australia’s journey to equality and unity – This national magazine produced by Reconciliation Australia twice a year, aims to inform and inspire readers with stories relevant to the process of reconciliation between Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and non-Indigenous Australians.
- Narragunnawali: Reconciliation in Education – This Online platform has a range of features, including an extensive suite of professional learning and curriculum resources to support teachers and educators in the development, implementation and management of Reconciliation Action Plans for schools and early learning services.
- Memory, Place and Aboriginal-Settler History: Understanding Australians’ Consciousness of the Colonial Past – This eBook combines the methodologies and theories of historical enquiry, anthropology and memory studies to investigate the multitudinous and intertwined ways the colonial past is known, represented and made sense of by current generations.
- Whiteys like us – This eVideo shows a group of 15 white strangers coming together to participate in an eight-week Aboriginal reconciliation circle.
If you would like to get involved in reconciliation week, there are events happening right across Australia. If you need help accessing any of these resources, or would like more information on this topic please contact us at the Library. We hope everyone has an educational and enjoyable National Reconciliation Week!