Reconciliation Australia is marking 25 years since its establishment, with chief executive Karen Mundine saying the organisation was created to build on the “groundswell” of public support for reconciliation that emerged in the late 1990s and early 2000s.
The organisation was formed in 2001 following the conclusion of the Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation, which had overseen a decade of national discussions on reconciliation, including the 2000 Sydney Harbour Bridge walk attended by hundreds of thousands of people.
Ms Mundine, a Bundjalung woman from the Northern Rivers of New South Wales, said the organisation’s role had been to “take people’s good intentions and turn them into real action”.
“In the last 25 years, [that has meant] creating a range of programs like the Indigenous Governance Program and Awards, Reconciliation Action Plans, the Reconciliation Barometer … and most recently with community truth-telling,” she said.
She said the 1997 Australian Reconciliation Convention, held shortly after the landmark Bringing Them Home report was tabled in parliament, marked a significant moment in the national conversation.
“It opened up a bigger conversation about truth-telling, how we own our history and our past, and how important that was for the healing journey of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, but also for the broader Australian community,” Ms Mundine said.
She said many Australians at the time “didn’t know our history, didn’t know about the Stolen Generations”, which made broader debates around native title and reconciliation more difficult.
Ms Mundine said one of Reconciliation Australia’s most significant initiatives had been the Reconciliation Action Plan program, launched about 20 years ago with eight organisations. She said more than 3300 organisations now participate.
According to Ms Mundine, participating organisations spent $5.6 billion with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander businesses in the past 12 months and employ about 63,000 Indigenous staff.
She said the organisation’s work had also expanded into schools and early learning centres through the Narragunnawali program, which now involves about 2700 education services.
Asked about changes over the past two decades, Ms Mundine said conversations around reconciliation had shifted from support and advocacy towards partnership and Indigenous leadership.
“It’s no longer about how other people are supporting or helping us,” she said. “It’s about how they work with us.”
