Reconciliation Day in the Australian Capital Territory Date in the current year: June 2, 2025

The Indigenous people of Australia are Aboriginal Australians and Torres Strait Islanders, who are ethnically distinct from Aboriginal Australians. Since the beginning of colonization in 1788, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians have suffered widespread mistreatment through dispossession, violence, and systemic discrimination.

European settlers forcibly took Indigenous land without treaty or compensation, disrupting traditional lifestyles and displacing communities. Frontier violence was widespread, with massacres and forced removals resulting in the deaths of tens of thousands of Indigenous people. Diseases introduced by Europeans also decimated populations. This period marked the beginning of cultural erasure, as indigenous languages, customs, and knowledge systems were actively suppressed.

In the 20th century, government policies further entrenched this mistreatment. The Stolen Generations saw thousands of Indigenous children forcibly removed from their families under assimilation policies, causing long-term trauma and loss of cultural identity. Indigenous Australians were denied basic rights, including the right to vote, equal pay, and access to education and health care. Despite legal and social reforms in recent decades, disparities persist in areas such as health, incarceration rates, education and life expectancy.

The process of reconciliation officially began in Australia in 1991, with the primary goal of improving relations between the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples of Australia, who have suffered centuries of discrimination and racism, and the rest of the population. Two years later, major religious groups initiated the Week of Prayer and Reconciliation, which proved so successful that it became National Reconciliation Week in 1996.

National Reconciliation Week begins on May 27 and ends on June 3. Both dates were chosen because of their symbolism. May 27 is the date of the 1967 Australian referendum, which asked voters whether the Australian Parliament should be given the power to make special laws for the benefit of Indigenous Australians and whether Indigenous Australians should be included in the official population count. Over ninety percent of voters said yes.

June 3 (Mabo Day) is the anniversary of the landmark High Court of Australia decision in Mabo v Queensland (No 2), commonly known as the Mabo case, which recognized the pre-colonial land rights of Indigenous Australians under Australian common law.

In 2018, the first Monday of National Reconciliation Week was designated as Reconciliation Day in the Australian Capital Territory (ACT), replacing Family and Community Day, which used to be celebrated in late September or early October. It is marked by live performances, interactive workshops, cultural demonstrations, storytelling, community gatherings, panel discussions and other events and activities aimed at starting meaningful conversations about reconciliation and bringing Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal Australians closer together.