A call and walk for reconciliation

In 1997, the Australian Human Rights Commission released The Bringing Them Home Report that recommended the government take action to respond to issues facing the Stolen Generations.

This same year at the Reconciliation Convention, then Prime Minister Johm Howard referred to the ongoing struggle of Indigenous Australians as a ‘blemish’ on history. This statement prompted many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander audience members to turn their backs on him in protest.

The year before, Howard stated that he “profoundly rejected the black armband view of Australian history” and noted that Australians “have been too apologetic about our history in the past”. This heightened tensions between the government and Aboriginal and reconciliation groups.

On 28 May 2000, the ‘Walk for Reconciliation’ had a record setting 250,000 people marching together over five and a half hours across the Harbour Bridge in support of reconciliation. Notably, Prime Minister Howard did not attend despite the overall success.