Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation

The Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation

Chairperson's Introduction

Ms Evelyn Scott was appointed Chairperson of the Council in December 1997. She has been involved in Aboriginal affairs for over 30 years and has played an instrumental role in the establishment of Aboriginal legal services, housing societies and medical services in Queensland.

This Strategic Plan for the Council's final term provides the framework within which Council seeks to fulfil its responsibility to promote a process of reconciliation which will reach the hearts and minds, and touch the lives, of the whole Australian community. The Council will cease to exist on 1 January 2001, but through this Strategic Plan it aims to ensure that the work of reconciliation will go on.

The Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation was established by the Commonwealth Parliament in 1991. The preamble to the Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation Act 1991 explains why the Parliament agreed unanimously that the nation needs this formal process:

Australia was occupied by Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders who had settled for thousands of years before British settlement at Sydney Cove on 26 January 1788;
many Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders suffered dispossession and dispersal from their traditional lands by the British Crown;
to date there has been no formal process of reconciliation between Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders and other Australians;
by the year 2001, the centenary of Federation, it is most desirable that there be such a reconciliation;
as a part of the reconciliation process, the Commonwealth will seek an ongoing national commitment from governments at all levels to cooperate and to coordinate with the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission as appropriate to address progressively Aboriginal disadvantage and aspirations in relation to land, housing, law and justice, cultural heritage, education, employment, health, infrastructure, economic development and any other relevant matters in the decade leading to the centenary of Federation, 2001.

The Council has worked since 1991 to promote the understanding and appreciation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures and achievements and to foster a community commitment to coexistence and a reconciled nation. This work has resulted in an overwhelming response from the Australian public--the people's movement for reconciliation has become visible across this nation. By embracing reconciliation as we approach the centenary of Federation, Australia is demonstrating the maturity of a nation which has pride in its diversity and the shared history of its peoples.

In its last term, the Council calls on its fellow Australians to join together across this land and demonstrate a commitment to reconciliation. Through the people's movement for reconciliation, we are establishing a lasting foundation for reconciliation which will ensure that Australians can proudly celebrate the centenary of our nationhood in 2001, and continue working together to achieve the Council's vision of a united Australia which respects this land of ours; values the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander heritage; and provides justice and equity for all. It is with this hope and great confidence that the Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation sets out its program of activities for this final term.

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