Walking Together – A Closer Look At Our History
Much has been written and discussed about reconciliation recently. Many people have asked “But what is it?’
Australians For Reconciliation is a project of the Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation.
This council was formed, as an act of legislation, in 1992.
It is a result of the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody.
The vision of the council is: “A united Australia which respects this land of ours; values the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander heritage, and provides justice and equity for all Australians”
The council consists of 25 members, from both the aboriginal and wider community.
Patrick Dodson was the first chairman. He was suc¬ceeded in December 1997 by Evelyn Scott.
Other notable members are Sir Gustav Nossal, Senator John Woodley and Ray Martin.
The council is guided by steering committees in each state and territory.
The ACT Steering Committee covers the area including Goulburn, Yass, Canberra, Bombala and Cooma.
It covers six local government regions and Goulburn is now well represented on this committee.
In Goulburn. Reconciliation has been well publicised since January this year.
The first meeting of the Goulburn Reconciliation Group took place on June 18, and was very well attended.
Great progress was made at this meeting, and a number of future issues were decided.
These included a study circle – an informal discussion of issues relevant to reconciliation.
Study Circles address the eight key issues adopted by National Council:
- Understanding country – the importance of land and sea in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander societies.
- Improving relationships – with few exceptions, relationships between Aboriginal peoples and the wider community have been poor.
- Valuing cultures – Aboriginal cultures arc special, because their values are those of Australia’s first peoples.
- Sharing history – Australia’s history began long before Captain Cook arrived in 1770 – about 40,000 years before.
- Addressing disadvantage – statistics show that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples are the poorest, unhealthiest, least employed, worst housed and most imprisoned Australians.
- Custody levels – indigenous people are arrested at an alarming rate. This was the reason for the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody, set up in 1989.
- Destiny – greater opportunity for aboriginal people to control their own destinies.
- Formal document – agreement needs to be reached on whether the process of reconciliation would be advanced by a document, or documents, of reconciliation.
Each of these issues will be addressed, in greater detail, over the next eight weeks. Copies of the Study Circle guidelines, along with videos and computer CDs, are available for inspection or loan from the Goulburn City Library, TAFFE library, or the Southern Region Community College, in the Huntly Arcade.
Craig Hill
Goulburn Post
3rd July 1998
I am excited to announce that I intend to run as an independent candidate for Bonner at the 2025 federal election.
I know it’s a long way out, but I feel that I should start now, and put the years ahead into working out policies and strategies, and making sure I am ready for it.
Having spent 25 years campaigning for social justice, it is clear that governments formed from either of the major parties simply don’t listen to the community. The only way to get heard, it seems, is to get into parliament.
In particular, I will be learning from people on social media and in the community what the people of Bonner and the Australian public want from a representative in parliament.
My focus will still be on social justice, but there are many other areas where I have had work experience that I believe I can contribute to in parliament.
These include education, health, foreign affairs, the environment, climate change, the economy, taxation reform, social security reform, immigration, political accountabilty and sustainability, among many other things.
I don’t intend to be a candidate who runs on just one or two platforms. The work of a parliamentarian should benefit all people across Australia in all aspects of social and political life.
And of course, as a disabled person, I will still be fighting for a better deal for the aged, disabled and marginalised.
Any assistance you can give, whether financial, assisting with policies or campaigning, will be greatly appreciated.
I am excited to announce that I intend to run as an independent candidate for Bonner at the 2025 federal election.
I know it’s a long way out, but I feel that I should start now, and put the years ahead into working out policies and strategies, and making sure I am ready for it.
Having spent 25 years campaigning for social justice, it is clear that governments formed from either of the major parties simply don’t listen to the community. The only way to get heard, it seems, is to get into parliament.
In particular, I will be learning from people on social media and in the community what the people of Bonner and the Australian public want from a representative in parliament.
My focus will still be on social justice, but there are many other areas where I have had work experience that I believe I can contribute to in parliament.
These include education, health, foreign affairs, the environment, climate change, the economy, taxation reform, social security reform, immigration, political accountabilty and sustainability, among many other things.
I don’t intend to be a candidate who runs on just one or two platforms. The work of a parliamentarian should benefit all people across Australia in all aspects of social and political life.
And of course, as a disabled person, I will still be fighting for a better deal for the aged, disabled and marginalised.
Any assistance you can give, whether financial, assisting with policies or campaigning, will be greatly appreciated.
I am excited to announce that I intend to run as an independent candidate for Bonner at the 2025 federal election.
I know it’s a long way out, but I feel that I should start now, and put the years ahead into working out policies and strategies, and making sure I am ready for it.
Having spent 25 years campaigning for social justice, it is clear that governments formed from either of the major parties simply don’t listen to the community. The only way to get heard, it seems, is to get into parliament.
In particular, I will be learning from people on social media and in the community what the people of Bonner and the Australian public want from a representative in parliament.
My focus will still be on social justice, but there are many other areas where I have had work experience that I believe I can contribute to in parliament.
These include education, health, foreign affairs, the environment, climate change, the economy, taxation reform, social security reform, immigration, political accountabilty and sustainability, among many other things.
I don’t intend to be a candidate who runs on just one or two platforms. The work of a parliamentarian should benefit all people across Australia in all aspects of social and political life.
And of course, as a disabled person, I will still be fighting for a better deal for the aged, disabled and marginalised.
Any assistance you can give, whether financial, assisting with policies or campaigning, will be greatly appreciated.
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Craig Hill Media and Consulting 
Thanks for providing this background, Craig. We recently spent six weeks traveling in Australia and read and heard many references to reconciliation. I’m trying to understand the aboriginal question and how it compares to the situation of native Americans, our indigenous people who arrived in North America some 20,000 years ago. I grew up in the mid West where native Americans live mostly on reservations in poor housing with inadequate educational and health services.
I look forward to more posting on this topic.
Jack
Posted by jackandmarilynerickson | March 3, 2012, 09:22I’ll put a couple more postings up later. I have also lived on the Aboriginal communities in Australia, which seem very similar to the Indian reservations. I have a few stories about that which I will also post in the future.
Posted by Craig Hill | March 3, 2012, 09:32