Each year National Reconciliation Week celebrates and builds on the respectful relationships shared by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and other Australians. The dates that bookend the week are significant milestones in the reconciliation journey. 

May 27 - Marks the anniversary of Australia’s most successful referendum and a defining event in our nation’s history. The 1967 referendum saw over 90 per cent of Australians vote to give the Commonwealth the power to make laws for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and recognise them in the national census. 

3 June - Commemorates the High Court of Australia’s landmark Mabo decision in 1992, which legally recognised that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples have a special relationship to the land - a relationship that existed prior to colonalisation and still exists today. This recognition paved the way for land rights or Native Title. 

Today in Senior School Assembly the Social Justice Committee shared the ways in which they have been thinking about Reconciliation Week through discussions, art activities and other pursuits. They also spoke about the ways in which Lowther Hall seeks to promote understanding of Australia’s first people through our curriculum, text study, trips, rituals and symbolism – not just this week, but throughout the year.