Reconciliation is about mutual respect. It’s about taking steps to better understand Indigenous Australian history, culture and peoples, and the social, political, cultural conditions historically experienced by Australian Indigenous peoples.
It is about having respect and recognition for the many achievements and contributions made by Australian Indigenous peoples, whether in politics, law, history, sport, art and culture and more generally in creating an uniquely Australian society.
It is not just about symbolism.
It requires the pursuit of knowledge to overcome historical ignorance.
It requires the achievement of cultural sensitivity to overcome our own assumptions, many of which are steeped in European tradition, which may be antithetical to Indigenous ways of being, doing and learning.
It requires an appreciation and respect for difference and a confrontation of our own prejudices.
It requires a starting point of equality and respect.
It requires an acknowledgment of the many wrongs meted out to Australian Indigenous peoples since colonisation and including the present.
It is about restitution for the oppression and discrimination experienced by Australian Indigenous peoples.
It’s about ensuring that Australian Indigenous peoples have returned to them what is rightfully theirs, including:
It’s about ending the silence and learning anew. This requires the ending of ignorance and the pursuit of knowledge.
Reconciliation means that it is no longer acceptable to say “but I didn’t know”. Writing Australian Indigenous peoples out of our experience, history, lives by retaining European versions of history, politics, law, society, economic and cultural achievements will not assist Reconciliation.
This is why we developed The Bridge - Towards Reconciliation. It is a beginning but we think an important one.
We also think that Reconciliation between Australian Indigenous peoples and non-Indigenous Australians will make us better people, and in so doing will make a more just society and a better country.
To learn more, see the Reconciliation Australia website.
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