Reconciliation Week 2025.
Reconciliation Week (27 May - 3 June) invites all Australians to reflect on our shared history and consider the role we each play in building a fairer future.
The 2025 theme, Bridging Now to Next, reminds us that reconciliation is not linear, it is shaped by both progress and setbacks. While we've seen powerful acts of unity, such as the 2000 bridge walks, we've also had setbacks like the result of the 2023 Voice Referendum, highlighting the continued resistance to truth-telling and change.
For non-Indigenous people, reconciliation requires more than symbolic gestures. It calls for deep listening, learning, and sustained action. This includes confronting the realities of colonisation and how its impacts continue today, while also unlearning the colonial myths many Australians have been raised with.
True reconciliation means challenging dominant narratives, centring First Nations voices, and walking alongside Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in the ongoing fight for justice. This journey will look different for everyone, but wherever you are, these resources offer an opportunity to engage with stories, histories, and perspectives that can guide us toward a more truthful and respectful future.
New eLearning Opportunity: Koora, Yeye, Boorda (ECU staff only)
As part of ECU's ongoing commitment to reconciliation, staff can now access the Koora, Yeye, Boorda module in the Staff LMS. This new learning opportunity explores Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander histories, cultures and ECU's place on Noongar Country.
Everything You Need to Know About the Uluru Statement from the Heart – Book
Written by Megan Davis and George Williams, two of Australia's best-known constitutional experts, this book focuses on how our Constitution was drafted, what the 1967 referendum achieved, and the lead-up and response to the Uluru Statement. Everything You Need to Know About the Uluru Statement from the Heart Importantly, it explains how the Uluru Statement offers change that will benefit the whole nation. Everything You Need to Know About the Uluru Statement from the Heart
Always Was, Always Will Be – Book
Always Was, Always Will, written by Thomas Mayo, is a reflection on the Voice referendum, Australia's history of rejection of Indigenous rights, and a message of hope. Published in September 2024, leading up to the first anniversary of the failed Voice referendum, the book is essential reading for those who want to keep the positive momentum going and the number of allies growing. Publications | Thomas Mayo
Code of Ethics for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Research - Guideline
The Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies (AIATSIS) Code of Ethics for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Research sets national standards for conducting ethical Australian Indigenous Research. The Code emphasises the rights of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples to be fully engaged in research processes that impact them. It is built on four key principles: Indigenous self-determination, Indigenous leadership, impact and value, and sustainability and accountability. Code of Ethics | AIATSIS corporate website
Indigenising Curriculum in Practice – Podcast
Co-hosted by Professor Tracey Bunda and Associate Professor Katelyn Barney, this podcast series focuses on how Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander and non-Indigenous staff are Indigenising the curriculum at the University of Queensland. Each episode is an interview with Indigenous and/or non-Indigenous staff across the faculties at the University of Queensland, providing practical suggestions and advice on how to begin Indigenising the curriculum across the disciplines. Indigenising Curriculum in Practice | Bunda & Barney
Universities Accord – ReportsThe Australian Universities Accord is a comprehensive reform initiative aimed at transforming Australia's higher education system to be more inclusive, equitable, and responsive to national needs. Finalised in 2024, the Accord outlines 47 recommendations, with several specifically focused on improving outcomes for First Nations peoples.
- Final Report
- Universities Australia's Indigenous Strategy 2022-2025
- Indigenous Strategy Annual Report
- Universities Australia response to the Joint Standing Committee on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Affairs (JSCATSIA) Inquiry into Improving the Economic Self-Determination and Opportunities for First Nations Australian
First Nations Voices in Education – Learning Resource
Staff explore six short films, accompanied by the First Nations Voices in Education professional learning resource, which amplify First Nations voices and experiences within the Australian education system. The resource begins with an introductory session and overview film; the following five sessions all centre around a short film highlighting the voices and experiences of five First Nations education champions. The resource concludes with the summary session, an opportunity for future planning and self-reflection. Narragunnawali - First Nations Voices in Education
Great Journeys Undertaken by Aboriginal People in Ancient Times in Western Australia – Research Publication
Based on research from ECU's Kurongkurl Katitjin Centre for Australian Aboriginal Education and Research and the Western Australian Aboriginal Journey Ways Project through Main Roads Western Australia, this study documents personal, traditional and archaeological knowledge relating to the main coastal and inland routes throughout the state over the millennia. Converging contemporary Western and Nyoongar Aboriginal knowledge perspectives, this publication reimagines the epic journeys of ancient Aboriginal people in the Western Australian region. Great Journeys Undertaken by Aboriginal People in Ancient Times in Western Australia
Talking Strong: the National Aboriginal Education Committee and the development of Aboriginal education policy - Book
This comprehensive history by Leanne Holt traces the journey of the National Aboriginal Education Committee and its members from its inception in the mid-1970s to its completion in 1989. The committee travelled Australia listening to teachers and communities tell their stories. They had the belief that an education in harmony with their own cultural values and identity was the best means for Indigenous people to achieve self-determination. Talking Strong: the National Aboriginal Education Committee and the development of Aboriginal education policy
Talkin' Up to the White Woman: Indigenous Women and Feminism (20th anniversary edition) – Book
Distinguished Professor Aileen Moreton-Robinson undertakes a compelling analysis of the whiteness of Australian feminism and its effects on Indigenous women. From an Indigenous woman's standpoint, as a Goenpul woman and an academic, she 'talks up', engages with and interrogates western feminism in representation and practice. Talkin’ Up to the White Woman: Indigenous Women and Feminism
Noongar Wellbeing - Podcast
Wellbeing as we know it now has been constructed from a Western perspective, so what does the oldest continuing culture in the world have to say about methods of wellbeing? On Noongar Wellbeing, Ballardong Whadjuk Noongyar woman Brooke Collard explores ideas on creating the tools to care for yourself and your community. Noongar Wellbeing
