National Reconciliation Week 2025
National Reconciliation Week 2025 at JNC
At JNC we acknowledge the mistreatment of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people who were forcibly removed from their families and communities.
National Reconciliation Week (May 27 – June 3) is a time for Australians to share histories, culture, and achievements. This week encourages each of us to consider how we can contribute to Reconciliation. The dates are the same every year, commemorating two significant milestones in the reconciliation journey – the successful 1967 referendum and the High Court Mabo decision on land rights, respectively.
Englart, John. IMG_2859. 21 Feb. 2018. Flickr, https://www.flickr.com/photos/takver/39683170934. Accessed 3 June 2025.
At JNC we recognise that trauma and injustices persist for First Nations People in our Nation today and acknowledge that we cannot find solutions to systematic issues without first recognising the truth of Australia’s history.
This year’s National Recocniliation Week theme ‘Bridging Now to Next’ encouraged us to reflect on past lessons and understand what work we must do as individuals, communities and nationwide on Reconciliation. After the disappointing outcome of the 2023 Voice referendum, it is timely to reflect on how we can move forward and contribute to a community, and a country, that is strengthened by respectful relationships between First Nations peoples and the non-Indigenous community.
This National Reconciliation Week JNC created a collaborative community art project involving various JNC groups. As part of this project, participants engaged in conversations about Reconciliation – particularly around this year’s theme ‘Bridging Now to Next’, which reflects the ongoing connection between past, present and future. During these discussions, group participants used the leaf template provided by Reconciliation Australia (available here to view) to draw on or write reflections based on their conversations about Reconciliation.
During this craft activity JNC facilitators hosted conversations with groups about Reconciliation and what it means for our work here at JNC.
On May 23 JNC began the process of the artwork with our Women’s Space. This group was tasked with painting the background of a large canvas. Following this, groups including Knitting, Active Minds, Outreach and English Group participated in conversation and decorating of the individual leaves to contribute to the large canvas.
These groups discussed the importance of recognising traumas and the shameful history of Australia. Reconciliation Australia emphasises that as a nation, to move forward together it is critical to participate in the five dimensions of reconciliation including; Race Relations, Equality and Equity, Institutional Integrity, Unity and Historical Acceptance. Our JNC groups discussed many of these pillars of Reconciliation and discussed what it may take at an individual, organisational and political level to move forward toward Reconciliation.
The design of this artwork was created by JNC staff, Bambi, First Nations Families Caseworker, and Gail, Aboriginal Community Engagement Facilitator. The final artwork has two Spirit Women as trees, with the leaves scattered around. The roots in the artwork represents the complex layers that make up community: friends, families, organisations, and how these build the structure of who we are as a group. The Spirit Women reaching up represents the tree trunks and how we as a community can reach new potential, beginnings, and reconciliation. The leaves represent who we are as individuals, branching together and leading the way to future reconciliation. Finally, the orange shape in the middle is the heart of the tree, and the heart of the community, representing culture, common thoughts, feelings, and locations where we can come together and bridge now to next.
JNC commits today and every day to contribute to Reconciliation.
