National Reconciliation Week 2023

National Reconciliation Week (NRW) in Australia (27 May - 3 June) is held to celebrate Indigenous history and culture and to celebrate and promote respectful relationships between Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and other Australians.

These dates commemorate two significant milestones in the reconciliation journey— the successful 1967 referendum, and the High Court Mabo decision respectively.

Reconciliation must live in the hearts, minds and actions of all Australians as we move forward, creating a nation strengthened by respectful relationships between the wider Australian community, and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.

The theme for this year "Be a Voice for Generations"encourages all Australians to be a voice for reconciliation in tangible ways in our everyday lives – where we live, work and socialise.For the work of generations past, and the benefit of generations future, let’s choose to create a more just, equitable and reconciled country for all.

This week is also an opportunity for all Australians to learn more about Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures and histories, to participate in events, to share that knowledge and help grow as a nation.

Be Part of taking actions that Make Change. 

We, Sisters of Mercy Parramatta Congregation, came to this area in 1888. For over 60,000 years, this area comprising present day Parramatta has been occupied by the Burramattagal people, a clan of the Darug, who first settled along the upper reaches of the Parramatta River. Burramattagal is thought to be derived from the Aboriginal word for 'place where the eels lie down' to breed (within the Parramatta River).