National Reconciliation Week (NRW) was initiated in 1996 to provide a special focus for nationwide reconciliation activities. It’s a time to reflect on achievements so far and on what is still to be done to achieve reconciliation.NRW coincides with two significant dates in Australia's history which provide strong symbols of our hopes and aims for reconciliation.May 27 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.June 3 marks the anniversary of the High Court of Australia's judgment in 1992 in the Mabo case. The decision recognised the Native Title rights of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, the original inhabitants of the continent, and overturned the myth of terra nullius - that the continent was empty, unowned land before the arrival of Europeans in 1788.The theme for National Reconciliation Week 2008 is: Reconciliation: it’s all our story.
Online Events Calendar here.
In the Clarence Valley:
Free bus tour of Lower Clarence significant sites - May 28 10am pickup The Boulevard, Maclean
Clarence Valley Council free BBQ breakfast - May 29 7.30am-11.30am Market Square, Grafton
Official opening of ceramic art exhibition, Grafton Regional Gallery - May 30 5pm
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