National Reconciliation Week 2025
Each year during National Reconciliation Week (NRW), we come together to explore how each of us can contribute to achieving reconciliation in Australia.
The dates for NRW remain the same each year: 27 May to 3 June. These dates commemorate two significant milestones in the reconciliation journey – the successful 1967 referendum, and the High Court Mabo decision respectively.
The NRW theme for 2025, Bridging Now to Next, reflects the ongoing connection between past, present and future. This theme calls on all Australians to look ahead and move forward together as past lessons guide us.
Join us to commemorate National Reconciliation Week at our cultural events.
National Sorry Day | Monday 26 May
Every year on 26 May, National Sorry Day acknowledges the mistreatment of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander People who were forcibly removed under race-based policies set up by both State and Federal Governments from 1910 to the 1970s. On this day we acknowledge the strength of Stolen Generation Survivors and reflect on how we can all play a part in the healing process.
Learn more about the Stolen Generations at the following resources:
Read about the Stolen Generations
Read the Bringing them Home Report
Watch the documentaries Stolen Generations A Film by Darlene Johnson and Telling Our Stories – Our Stolen Generations
Welcome and Smoking Ceremony | Tuesday 27 May
Where: Crown Street Stables
When: Tuesday 27 May at 11am
Moonee Valley City Council invites Councillors, community and staff to attend this year’s Reconciliation Week Welcome and Smoking Ceremony.
Uncle Perry Wandin will perform a Welcome and Smoking Ceremony before we are entertained by Yidaki virtuoso Ganga Giri and dancers. The event will also feature an Indigenous food experience presented by Killara Foundation.
Register via Eventbrite
Mabo Day | Tuesday 3 June
On Mabo Day we celebrate the achievements of Mer Island man Eddie Koiki Mabo and his battle to have the legal fiction of terra nullius overturned by the High Court of Australia.
Panel discussion | Tuesday 3 June
Where: Clocktower Centre
When: Tuesday 3 June, 11am-12pm
Uncle Mark Rose and Shelly Ware will participate in a panel discussion facilitated by Uncle Charles Pakana on education and what's happening in the Reconciliation space.
Light refreshments available. Free event - register via the Clocktower Centre.