National Reconciliation Week – 27 May to 3 June every year – is a time to recognise the shared histories, cultures and achievements with First Nations peoples. ANMF (Vic Branch) is committed to reconciliation, and as nurses, midwives and carers who work with and provide care to First Nations Australians, it is essential that we better understand our shared stories.
It doesn’t have to be difficult. National Reconciliation Week is a week of events, many celebratory. They range from film screenings and art exhibitions to choir performances – Midnight Oil’s Beds Are Burning is the Voices for Reconciliation 2026 song – and BBQs. Events will be listed on the Reconciliation Australia calendar.
This year’s National Reconciliation Week theme, All In, makes clear that reconciliation isn’t a passive activity, and it is not solely the responsibility of First Nations peoples, who have carried the weight of championing, explaining and acting for far too long.
ANMF is committed to reconciliation
ANMF (Vic Branch) is all in for reconciliation, and has recently submitted our Innovate Reconciliation Action Plan (RAP) to Reconciliation Australia for endorsement. This is our second RAP. The first, a Reflect RAP, can be viewed at anmfvic.asn.au/reconciliation.
As part of our reconciliation journey, earlier this year the Branch held its first Yarning Circle with First Nations members. This important event, an initiative of ANMF First Nations members, marked the beginning of an ongoing, member-led consultation process.
The aim was for Branch leadership to listen deeply to First Nations members about their experiences with, and aspirations for, our union. To really listen, hear and take on board feedback without deflecting, excusing or – at this stage – offering solutions. That work will come in time, working alongside First Nations members.
First Nations members interested in future Yarning Circles or the ongoing conversation are welcome to connect with members of the ANMF Blak Caucus, a First Nations member-led collective.
The Branch begins this process of yarning with First Nations members in our state’s Treaty ‘active’ era and amid ongoing work for a national truth telling and Treaty process.
What is National Reconciliation Week?
National Reconciliation Week occurs every year from 27 May to 3 June. These dates commemorate two significant milestones in Australia’s reconciliation journey: the successful 1967 referendum, and the 1992 High Court Mabo decision respectively.
27 May 1967
Before 1967, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples did not have the same rights as other Australians under the constitution, and many aspects of their lives were controlled by the state governments. These included the right to:
- Vote in state elections
- Marry whomever they chose
- Move to wherever they chose
- Own property wherever they chose
- Be the legal guardian of their own children
- Receive the same pay for the same work
- Drink alcohol.
Because the state governments made these laws, Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander people living in Queensland had different rights (none) compared with those who lived in New South Wales, for example.
On 27 May 1967, the nation’s most successful referendum saw more than 90 per cent of Australians vote to alter our constitution in order to recognise Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples in the Census and to give the Federal Government, instead of state governments, power to make laws for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.
3 June 1992
On 3 June 1992, the Australian High Court delivered the Mabo decision, the culmination of Eddie Koiki Mabo’s challenge to the legal fiction of ‘terra nullius’ (land belonging to no one) and leading to the legal recognition of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as the Traditional Owners and Custodians of lands. This decision paved the way for Native Title.
National Sorry Day
The day before National Reconciliation Week, 26 May, is National Sorry Day, which was first held in Sydney in 1998 and is now commemorated nationally to remember and honour the Stolen Generations.
