Reconciliation Week is just around the corner and Moree Reconciliation Week committee have been working hard to put together another action-packed week of festivities to celebrate how far we've come in developing strong relationships between the Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal community.
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National Reconciliation Week runs from May 27 to June 3, marking two milestones in Australia's reconciliation journey - the 1967 referendum and the historic Mabo decision, respectively.
This year's theme is 'Grounded in truth. Walk together with courage', which encourages all Australians to build positive race relationships based on truthfulness.
"Without frank discussions and truthfulness and truly honouring where we're coming from, we can't know where we're going as a society in the future," Moree Reconciliation Week committee member Jessica Duncan said.
"These conversations take courage; they're not conversations that are easy to have.
"More and more in society we're finding less often occurrances of blatant racism, but it's unconscious bias and white privilege that are more nuanced to understand."
This theme will run throughout the events planned for Moree Reconciliation Week, which, as always, begins with a Sorry Day event at Pius X Aboriginal Corporation on Friday, May 24. The event, to be held at the Pius X Chapenl at 10am, marks National Sorry Day (May 26) which recognises and commemorates the mistreatment of Aboriginal people.
The feature event on the Reconciliation Week calendar is the annual Reconciliation Week Gala Awards night on Friday, June 1. The community is encouraged to get their nominations in for the 32 awards before the closing date on Friday, May 17.
Other highlights will be the official opening at 10.30am on Monday, May 27 at the Dhiiyaan Centre and the second biennial Moree Elders Honour Roll presentation at Moree Banquet Hall from 10am on Thursday, May 30, which will see more names added to the honour roll.
A new event on this year's calendar is the Moree Walk for Reconciliation on Tuesday, May 28. The idea of Glen Crump, the walk aims to re-create the bridge walk in Sydney, with participants asked to meet at the Moree Tourist Information Centre carpark at 10am before walking along the footpath of the Dr Geoffrey Hunter Bridge to Kirkby Park (the Rocket Park), where the popular Moree Secondary College Reconciliation Cook-Off will take place from 11am.
There has also be lots of interest already for the Moree Reconciliation Bowls event at Moree Services Club from 12pm on Wednesday, May 29. The 24-team limit is filling up fast, so people are encouraged to nominate a team now by calling Rod Tighe on 0467 772 599.
Other events on the calendar include the Salvation Army Red Shield Appeal at Woolworths on Sunday, May 26, a reconiliation breakfast at Barwon Learning Centre (8am to 9.30am) and one at Moree East Public School (8am to 8.30am), a Reconciliation Liturgy at St Philomena's School (9am), a Moree East Public School parents and carers Indigenous cooking class (11.30am to 1.30pm) and a cook-off education session at the MPC (1pm to 4pm) on Monday, May 27; a reconciliation morning tea at Moree Public School (10.30am) and the Reconciliation Week Mission Beat (5pm to 6pm) on Tuesday, May 28; and a reconciliation breakfast and school assembly at Moree East Public School (8am to 8.30am) on Friday, May 31.
The week is set to go off with a bang on Saturday, June 1 when No-Fi Takes Moree with performances from Nooky, RAAVE TAPES, and Rebecca Hatch at Bank Art Museum Moree from 4.30pm to 9pm. All ages are welcome to attend the drug and alcohol-free concert, with tickets $10.
The final event will be the Reconciliation Church Service at the SHAE Academy.
