National Reconciliation Week 2026

This year’s Federation University Annual Reconciliation Lecture will be delivered by Scientia Professor Megan Davis AC and will reflect on the 2023 referendum as a moment of political loss that sharpens, rather than diminishes, the case for constitutional recognition of First Nations peoples. The referendum did not mark the exhaustion of reform; it exposed the depth of the political, institutional and civic work required to secure it.

For National Sorry Day, the Square will light up purple to acknowledge the Stolen Generations and the ongoing trauma caused by those government policies that forcibly removed First Nations children from their families.

Watch a curated selection of videos on the Big Screen, which tell the meaning, history and significance of National Sorry Day, and tell First Peoples stories about the ongoing impact of the Stolen Generations.

Drop in to the Koorie Heritage Trust (KHT) on National Sorry Day for a moment of reflection on what this significant day means. Enjoy a cup of tea or coffee while creating a badge to wear in support of Sorry Day and what it means to you. Registrations are encouraged to assist with catering and materials.

Fed Square will light up the colours of National Reconciliation Week: pink, light blue and light green, to mark National Reconciliation Week each evening. The week commemorates two significant milestones in our nation’s reconciliation journey: the 1967 referendum on 27 May and Mabo Day on 3 June.

The successful 1967 referendum was a watershed moment in Australian history. 90.77% of Australians voted ‘yes’ to end constitutional discrimination against First Nations people. From that date forward, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders were recognised as Australian citizens and included in the national census.

Mabo Day acknowledges the historic 1992 High Court decision which overturned ‘terra nullius‘ – the legal fiction that Australia was uninhabited before European settlement – paving the way for Native Title.

Celebrate Mabo Day with a vibrant evening that honours culture, community, and the extraordinary legacy of Eddie Koiki Mabo – a man whose courage and determination reshaped the history of this country. Join us for a heartfelt celebration featuring authentic Islander food, live music, spoken word, video and a joyful ukulele sing-along. The evening brings together Torres Strait Islander performers based in Narrm, including MC Leon Filewood, singer Kee’ahn, musician Jessie Lloyd and randals dad.

Registration is free, but please RSVP online.

Experience the quiet power of art as both witness and healing in Yeerung’s Journey, a major solo exhibition of paintings, carvings and personal belongings by Brabrawooloong Gunnai artist, Ray Thomas.

Spanning more than forty years, Yeerung’s Journey offers insight into Ray’s evolution as both an artist and a cultural leader. Working across painting, drawing, sculpture, printmaking and, more recently, large-scale murals, Ray has developed a distinctive and powerful visual language grounded in family, Country, memory and lived experience. His work speaks to both personal and collective histories, expressing resilience, cultural continuity and healing.

occupation studies: ngayanhurra bayarral Birrarung (they tried to tame Birrarung) is a new multichannel audiovisual artwork by artist Tahlia Palmer (Yuwaalaraay/Gamilaraay and mixed European descent), developed in collaboration with Jasper Cohen-Hunter (Wurundjeri Woi-wurrung). Through immersive sound and moving image, Palmer and Cohen-Hunter interrogate the colonial occupation and regulation of the Birrarung (Yarra River), revealing how non-First Peoples altered a living waterway that had sustained Wurundjeri people for countless generations.

The second iteration of the Country Road + NGV First Nations Commissions celebrates land, legacy, community, stories and lived experiences of eight artists from every state and territory who have created ambitious new commissions with the support and guidance of established First Nations cultural leaders and industry mentors. Experience these powerful works and their stories up close in an exhibition spanning weaving, photography, sculpture, possum-skin-cloak making, moving image, sound and design.

Wurrdha Marra means ‘many mobs’ in the Wurundjeri Woi-wurrung language. The name comes to the NGV from the Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung Cultural Heritage Aboriginal Corporation and supports the purpose of this space in sharing the work of First Nations artists, from emerging to senior figures, and across time and place.

With over 150 works, Bark Salon is the largest-ever staging of the NGV’s dynamic and expansive holdings of bark paintings. Exhibited on the ground floor of NGV Australia within Wurrdha Marra, Bark Salon showcases the breadth of bark painting as a genre, tracing genealogical shifts in form, aesthetic, narrative and politics.

Traversing geographies, cultures and mediums, MOTHER presents diverse stories drawn from across the NGV Collection. The exhibition features work by First Nations artists, alongside contemporary and historical Australian and international art.

Wander through Fed Square, along Birrarung Marr Walk or the Edge Terrace looking out to the river, to hear wurrung dhumbunganjinu (we speak language) – a sound work created by Wurundjeri artist and language specialist Brooke Wandin. You’ll hear the voices of Brooke and her family, sharing and revitalising woiwurrung language, as they tell the story of the Birrarung river, its place names across Country, and the way it flows. An accompanying video artwork also screens each day between 6pm and 7pm on the Big Screen.

Each evening on our Big Screen, you can watch a video artwork telling the story of the current Wurundjeri season. Rather than being date or calendar-driven, these seasons change depending on what is going on in the environment. Commissioned by Fed Square, this series presents seven video artworks by emerging First Nations artists across the year. Working with cultural advisor, Wurundjeri Elder Jacqui Wandin, each of the artists has brought their art to the telling of the story of the Wurundjeri seasons.

Watch a curated selection of videos on the Big Screen, which tell the meaning, history and significance of National Sorry Day, and tell First Peoples stories about the ongoing impact of the Stolen Generations.

See a new video artwork by Kulin country-based Pibbulman Noongar artist Pierra Van Sparkes, commissioned by KHT and Fed Square for the Big Screen.

See the five-screen moving image work, Baan Biik Woora Woora Water, Land and Sky (2025), by artist Mick Harding (from the Yowong-Illam-Baluk and Nattarak Baluk clans of the Taungurung people). The work brings to life the vibrant sounds and movements of Country and native wildlife. It now sits pride of place in ACMI’s Fed Square foyer, greeting all visitors who enter ACMI via the heart of Melbourne’s Arts Precinct. The work acknowledges that Australia’s museum of screen culture is, and always will be, situated on Aboriginal land.

Discover some of the fascinating local Aboriginal history and heritage of the land around Fed Square on a First Peoples-led walking tour, at KHT. You’ll meet at Koorie Heritage Trust, before heading through the Square to discover the significance of the Tanderrum trees. The walk will take you down to Birrarung Marr Walk, where you’ll learn about the “river of mists”, and hear some of the stories of the people of the Kulin Nation.

As part of ACMI’s online film offering that you can rent at home, their Focus on Warwick Thornton collection includes a curated selection of feature films, documentaries and short films that have been shot and directed by Kaytetye man and internationally celebrated director and cinematographer Warwick Thornton, as well as films that have inspired him. Thornton’s debut feature film as director Samson & Delilah (2009) won the coveted Camera d’Or at the 62nd Cannes International Film Festival. 

Celebrate the 34th anniversary of the Torres Strait Islander Flag, designed in 1992 by Bernard Namok after winning a local competition held by the Islands Coordinating Council. Join Caleb Thaiday (Meriam/ Erub Kebi Le) to learn more about the history and significance of this important Australian flag, then create your own tribute with a custom bracelet or key ring. This is a free drop-in workshop, although registrations are required.

Register to join in the June Weaving workshop at KHT to mark the end of National Reconciliation Week. Come along to make a pair of earrings or a keychain using locally harvested grasses. Explore the joy of working with Indigenous materials and learning a traditional skill.