Groups and Organisations Involved in Reconciliation

Australians for Native Title and Reconciliation (ANTaR) is an independent network of Indigenous and non-Indigenous organisations that support justice for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. ‘The Sea of Hands’ is an ANTaR activity.
Reconciliation Australia is an independent, non-profit organisation that represents the ideas of many Australian people for reconciliation. It is made up of both Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians and it focuses on closing the life expectancy gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous children. Reconciliation Australia is responsible for National Reconciliation Week (NRW) which began in 1996 to provide focus for nationwide reconciliation activities. NRW runs from May 27th – June 3rd to coincide with two significant dates in Australia’s history which provide strong symbols of the aspirations for reconciliation. May 27 marks the anniversary of the 1967 Referendum in which more than 90 per cent of Australians voted to remove clauses from the Australian Constitution which discriminated against Indigenous Australians. The referendum also gave the Commonwealth Government the power to make laws on behalf of Aboriginal people. June 3 marks the anniversary of the High Court's judgment in the 1992 Mabo case. The decision recognised the Native Title rights of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as the original inhabitants of the continent and overturned the myth of terra nullius – the belief that the continent was an empty, un-owned land before the arrival of Europeans in 1788.