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Issue no. 45 / May 2021
RECONCILIATION TAKES ACTION: NATIONAL RECONCILIATION WEEK 2021 In 2021 we mark twenty years of Reconciliation Australia and almost three decades of Australia’s formal reconciliation process. This year’s National Reconciliation Week theme, More than a word. Reconciliation takes action, urges the reconciliation movement towards braver and more impactful action. The reconciliation movement is at a tipping point. The 2020 Black Lives Matter protests and growing numbers at Invasion Day rallies each year, show more people are understanding the truth and speaking up on issues affecting Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. The 2021 National Reconciliation Week (NRW) theme, More than a word. Reconciliation takes action, asks people to take this awareness and knowledge, and use it as a springboard to more substantive, brave action.
Moving from awareness to action For reconciliation to be effective, it must involve truth-telling, and actively address issues of inequality, systemic racism and instances where the rights of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples are ignored, denied or reduced.
According to the 2020 Australian Reconciliation Barometer and the 2021 State of Reconciliation in Australia Report, there is greater support for reconciliation than ever before.
As history tells us, this will only happen through continued and concerted action from those who are already part of the reconciliation movement to those who are yet to join.
Awareness of the complexity and magnitude of First Nations cultures and knowledges continues to grow; and many more Australians now understand the brutal impact that British colonialism and the modern Australian state have had on First Nations families and communities.
NRW 2021 ARTWORK: ACTION
Regardless, we must be more determined than ever if we are to achieve the goals of the movement—a just, equitable, and reconciled nation.
The 2021 NRW graphics are drawn from the artwork Action by Jessica Johnson. A descendent of the Warumungu/ Wombaya people north of Tennant Creek, Jessica is the owner of Nungala Creative, using her work to address issues of injustice and celebrate culture and people through her recognisably bright, positive and experimental aesthetic.
