National Reconciliation Week is celebrated annually from 27 May until 3 June, with these two dates marking significant events in our nation's history. On 27 May 1967, Australia's most significant referendum saw more than 90 per cent of Australians vote to give the Australian Government power to make laws for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and recognise them in the Census.

On 3 June 1992, the Australian High Court delivered the Mabo decision, the culmination of Eddie Koiki Mabo's challenge to the legal fiction of 'terra nullius' (land belonging to no one) and leading to the legal recognition of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as the Traditional Owners and Custodians of lands. This decision paved the way for Native Title. 

In 1996, the Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation launched Australia's first National Reconciliation Week. In 2001, Reconciliation Australia was established to continue to provide national leadership on reconciliation.

Click here to learn more about National Reconciliation Week.