Happy Reconciliation Week
May. 27th, 2019 04:04 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
mesotablar It is the 27th of May, which means it is the first day of National Reconciliation Week!
The week always runs from the 27th of May to the 3rd of June, which are both very special days. Days that we Australians should all remember.
On the 27th of May 1967 there was a vote in Parliament that changed the Australian constitution to recognise that Aboriginal people were Australian and should be counted as Australians when reckoning the numbers of the people of the Commonwealth.
The 3rd of June 1992, five months after his death, the High Court of Australia ruled in favour of Eddie Mabo to recognise that Australia was not terra nullius when the English decided to colonise. Aboriginal people were here first and have been here for thousands of years.
Think of the timeline, 1967 and 1992. So in my parent's lives Aboriginal people were legally recognised as Australian citizens and within my own lifetime they were legally recognised as having been living in Australia before colonisation. Those are very important things but they have happened so recently it is so shameful. 1967 was only 52 years ago!
It was only last year (!!!!!Last Year!!!!!) that on 21st of March that Native Title for most of the Adelaide area was granted to the Kaurna people. People in Adelaide have been recognising the traditional owners for years but it took 18 years through the courts for the Native Title to be legally recognised. AND Adelaide is still the only state capital that has recognised Native Title!
These things are important, but they shouldn't be taking years or decades to achieve. Australians, we need to hurry up and close the gap!
More info:
https://www.reconciliation.org.au
Native Title: What does it mean and why do we have it?
Connection to Country
The week always runs from the 27th of May to the 3rd of June, which are both very special days. Days that we Australians should all remember.
On the 27th of May 1967 there was a vote in Parliament that changed the Australian constitution to recognise that Aboriginal people were Australian and should be counted as Australians when reckoning the numbers of the people of the Commonwealth.
The 3rd of June 1992, five months after his death, the High Court of Australia ruled in favour of Eddie Mabo to recognise that Australia was not terra nullius when the English decided to colonise. Aboriginal people were here first and have been here for thousands of years.
Think of the timeline, 1967 and 1992. So in my parent's lives Aboriginal people were legally recognised as Australian citizens and within my own lifetime they were legally recognised as having been living in Australia before colonisation. Those are very important things but they have happened so recently it is so shameful. 1967 was only 52 years ago!
It was only last year (!!!!!Last Year!!!!!) that on 21st of March that Native Title for most of the Adelaide area was granted to the Kaurna people. People in Adelaide have been recognising the traditional owners for years but it took 18 years through the courts for the Native Title to be legally recognised. AND Adelaide is still the only state capital that has recognised Native Title!
These things are important, but they shouldn't be taking years or decades to achieve. Australians, we need to hurry up and close the gap!
More info:
https://www.reconciliation.org.au
Native Title: What does it mean and why do we have it?
Connection to Country
