It’s time to change it up is the theme for this year’s National Reconciliation Week.

The City of Unley, as it has since 2007 and hot on the heals of reconstituting the Kaurna recognition at meetings of Council, will be hosting an event this coming Friday, the 29th May. It will be held in the Town Hall and it will commence at 10.00 am.

National Reconciliation Week is held every year 27 May – 3 June.

Each year National Reconciliation Week celebrates the rich culture and history of the First Australians. It is the ideal time for everyone to join the reconciliation conversation and to think about how we can help turn around the disadvantage experienced by many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. (Reconciliation Australia website)

This year the focus will take the national theme of “It’s time to change it up”. The event will be led by musician Ellie Lovegrove and dancer Damien Ralphs, two younger Kaurna people, who have taken part in a range of activities in the past years with different audiences. The work will be more of a contemporary take on Indigenous culture which is a new direction for Council.

We have invited schools to attend and some schools have taken up the offer of doing short 5 minute presentations on the theme of Reconciliation arising from their studies. As we stand, we have over 100 students attending from Kiranari, Parkside Primary, Unley Primary, Goodwood Primary School and Concordia College.

The event will be introduced by the Mayor and will be a mixture of Indigenous greetings and their cultural significance, interactive music and dance and presentations by local schools. We will attempt to retain informality about the morning to evoke the spirit of togetherness.

Come along, join us and see for yourself.

To find out more about National Reconciliation Week check at their website.