Reconciliation Week

National Reconciliation Week*  is a time for all Australians to learn about our shared histories, cultures and achievements. The first step can often be self-education by exploring online resources and undertaking a personal reading goal to improve your knowledge of Australian history from a First Nations perspective.

• The Indigenous history page here on our website provides a very brief history or touch point on the traditional owners and custodians of Melbourne’s northeast – the Wurundjeri willam clan, along with links to online resources.

• Maggolee developed by Reconciliation Victoria, includes information on policy and programs, protocols and cultural awareness, Traditional Owner groups and local Aboriginal organisations, Aboriginal languages, key local contacts, news and events. It also contains information about each of the 79 Victorian local government areas.

• Aboriginal Change Makers is an education resource created by Worawa College in partnership with Parliament Victoria, designed specifically for Victorian students to learn about Aboriginal figures in history.

• Each weekly episode of ABC's Little Yarns podcast travels to a different Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Nation to listen to the sounds of country and hear some language words. Designed for children but adults too!

• NTIV will include special programming for Reconciliation Week  Their website is also another good resource for First Nations news, feature articles and radio

• The First Peoples exhibition at Bunjilaka Aboriginal Cultural Centre at Melbourne Museum has been developed with Elders and other members of the community. Visit in person or take a virtual tour through the spaces.

• NRW 2022 will also mark the 30th Mabo Day.  Stream this Kanopy video on Eddie Mabo’s fight for traditional land rights to be recognised by law.

• Ivanhoe, Mill Park and Thomastown Libraries receives the Koori Mail newspaper, which can be accessed in the library.

• There are many items in the collection to explore. Search keywords “Aboriginal Australians” as a starting point in the catalogue.

Suggested reading of more “classic” titles from the Banyule Reconciliation Collection include:
Snake circle (series) by Roberta Sykes, 1998- Autobiographical series about the first Australian indigenous person to graduate from a United States University.

My Place by Sally Morgan, 2020 (First published 2007).  The story of the author's discovery of her family's past and the fact that she grew up under false pretences.

Dark emu: Black seeds: agriculture or accident by Bruce Pascoe, 2017. This book reexamines colonial accounts of Aboriginal people in Australia citing evidence of pre-colonial agriculture, engineering and building construction.

Growing up Aboriginal in Australia edited by Anita Heiss, 2018. Includes 52 accounts by Aborignal Australians from various walks of life discussing issues of colonisation and assimilation, activism, significance of country, culture and language, identity, family, racism and more.

#reconciliationweek

*NRW is held 27 May-3 June