Be a Voice for Generations
This year’s Reconciliation Week theme encourages all Australians to be a voice for reconciliation in tangible ways.
Reconciliation Australia’s research shows large community support for the next steps in Australia’s reconciliation journey, including the Voice to Parliament, treaty making and truth-telling (Reconciliation Australia, 2023).
The Melbourne Poche Centre interfaces with the western academy, Indigenous intellectual capital and scholarly excellence. We have two strategic objectives, building executive leadership and creating academic pathways.
Our aim is to build local, national and international networks to support Indigenous health leadership, and work to establish ‘a rightful place’ in the academy for Indigenous intellect and scholarship.
Grounded by tanderrum, a Kulin ceremony for granting safe passage, our work is guided by the themes of Place, Relationships and Futures.
This Reconciliation Week, we invite you to consider our themes as you approach and undertake reconciliatory activities and reflections.
Place
An Indigenous ontology of place prioritises and centres the connectedness between place and its collective constituents that include humans, animals, the natural world – both living and non-living – and the spiritual world.
We draw on the power of place in our work, giving both ourselves and our stakeholders permission to be in place and culture while in the academy.
Engage with place
Learn more about Narrm with
- Koorie Heritage Trust Aboriginal Walking Tours
- Billibellary's Walk, a cultural interpretation of the Parkville campus landscape that provides an experience of connection to country which Wurundjeri people continue to have both physically and spiritually
- The Interactive map Mapping Aboriginal Melbourne from the City of Melbourne
- The First Knowledges series, an introduction to Indigenous knowledges in vital areas and their application to the present day and the future.
Relationships
Relationality refers to connectedness. No person or thing exists in isolation because to exist necessarily means being ‘in relationship’. Our work privileges Indigenous relationality and its prescribed protocols as a practice of responsibility to kin.
It’s our aim is to build local, national and international networks to support Indigenous health leadership.
This Reconciliation Week, we encourage you to build a relationship with the experiences of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, if you’re not already familiar, by engaging with published media.
Engage with Relationships
Things to watch
- In my blood it runs - https://inmyblooditruns.com
- Mabo movie - https://iview.abc.net.au/show/mabo
- Yoorrook Justice Commission public hearings
Books and essays
- Another day in the colony by Chelsea Watego
- Black and blue by Veronica Gorrie
- Born-again Blakfella by Uncle Jack Charles
- Dropbear by Evelyn Araluen
- When we encoutered the nomads by Claire Coleman
Futures
“At its heart, reconciliation is about strengthening relationships between Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and non-Indigenous peoples, for the benefit of all Australians”
This year, all Australians aged 18 and over have been afforded an opportunity to shape the future and strengthen relationships between Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and non-Indigenous peoples by voting Yes in the referendum on the Indigenous Voice to Parliament.
An Indigenous Voice to Parliament will provide Indigenous Constitutional Recognition to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. This year, you can use your Voice to give constitutional recognition to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.
Learn more about the Indigenous Voice to Parliament
- The Uluru Statement of the Heart website
The Uluru Statement from the Heart is an invitation to the Australian people. You can learn more about an Indigenous Voice to Parliament through the Interactive Digital Learning Platform. - The University of Melbourne. (2023). Statement of support for an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice to Parliament
- Davis, M., & Williams, G. (2021). Everything you need to know about the Uluru Statement from the Heart. UNSW Press/NewSouth Publishing.
- McKay, D. (2017). Uluru Statement: a quick guide. Law and Bills Digest Section, Parliament of Australia: Canberra, Australia.
- Norman, H. (2019). From recognition to reform: the Uluru Statement from the Heart. Does the media fail Aboriginal political aspirations, 45, 216-231.
- Nixon, D. (2018). A Primer for Constitutional Reform
- MDHS Dean Professor Jane Gunn MDHS Dean's February Update with Professor Marcia Langton AO
- Voice to Parliament FAQs from Reconciliation Australia