This Roadmap for Reconciliation contains four national strategies. These strategies set out the most important actions for individuals, communities, organisations and governments. They recommend ways to transform our commitment to reconciliation into actions, so helping the nation put right the legacy of the past.

Understanding our history

Before British settlement at Sydney Cove on 26 January 1788, Australia was owned and occupied for many thousands of years by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. Since 1788, many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples have been dispossessed and dispersed from their traditional lands.

Loss of land has had economic, social, cultural and spiritual consequences for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples spanning many generations. In addition, for more than one hundred years many Indigenous people worked for rations rather than wages. Also, many were forcibly removed from their families as children, affecting whole communities.

What happened in the past continues to have consequences today. Compared with other Australians, Indigenous people experience poorer health, limited employment opportunities, educational disadvantage and greater imprisonment. Economic disadvantage restricts life choices and is a major obstacle to self-determination.

Aboriginal people and Torres Strait Islanders often face prejudice when trying to rent a home, find a job, hire a taxi, get service in shops and banks, and when doing the simple everyday things that most Australians take for granted.

Building on achievements

Since the 1960s, there has been considerable improvement in Australia's treatment of the first peoples. More Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people are achieving recognition for their contribution to the life of the nation and success in their chosen fields. The civil rights of Indigenous peoples have been recognised through the extension of voting rights, the 1967 Referendum, and the Racial Discrimination Act 1975. Increasingly, our courts are also recognising the cultures, histories and rights of the first peoples of Australia.

In 1991, the Commonwealth Parliament established the Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation to promote a process of reconciliation between Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and the wider community for the benefit of the nation.

Our responsibility for the future

The Council has proposed two reconciliation documents. The first is Corroboree 2000 - Towards Reconciliation, which includes the Australian Declaration Towards Reconciliation.

The second is this Roadmap for Reconciliation. The Roadmap recognises that all of us have a role to play in making reconciliation a reality. Making a commitment to the Declaration can be the start of our Reconciliation journey, but fine words are not enough.

The actions proposed in this Roadmap respond to the call to do things differently. They will work best when developed and implemented in partnership with Aboriginal people and Torres Strait Islanders. They should allow for flexible local options, where possible, recognising that what works in one community might not work in another.

The Roadmap draws on the extensive consultations of the Council. It represents the Council's considered view on the key actions for going forward. The Council's final report to Parliament in December 2000 will include more detailed action proposals, based on the comments that have been received and further discussions.