The Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation has established a network of Australians for Reconciliation (AFR) coordinators across Australia. The AFR coordinators in your State or Territory can help your community to improve relationships and spread information to advance reconciliation. They can also help with information and resources on how to join a Local Reconciliation Group or a Learning Circle in your area. Reconciliation starts with you. Remember that regardless of what you do, big or small, it all counts. There are many ways you can show your support for reconciliation. Here are a few ideas:

• Organise a reconciliation sporting or social event such as a BBQ or picnic and invite people from both the local indigenous and wider communities.

• Join a local reconciliation group and lend your support. If your area does not have one you might consider starting one. An AFR coordinator can help you. (see contact details)

• Reconciliation is about sharing history. Find out about the indigenous history of your area. Ask a local indigenous person to come and talk to you and your group.

• Ask your school, club, sport association, or workplace to join the AFR network and form a Learning Circle group.

• Ask your local school if they have talked with your AFR coordinator about what schools can do to advance reconciliation. Many students, both primary and secondary, across Australia have participated in activities such as painting, writing stories and inviting local indigenous people to their school to talk about the dream stories and indigenous history of their area.

• Consider drafting a formal Statement of Reconciliation for your organisation or group. For more information and assistance with this rewarding project, contact an AFR coordinator.

Making a commitment to reconciliation is more than a sentimental gesture. By making a pledge you will give yourself an opportunity to think about what reconciliation means to you and what you can do to advance it.

• Talk to others, your family, friends and work colleagues about reconciliation and how to advance it within your community.

• Order and distribute reconciliation resources at your workplace, club, faith group or school. Contact your AFR coordinator to see what is available.

• Organise an eight-week Learning Circle for 6-10 people. Copies of the Australians for Reconciliation Study Circles Kit can be ordered from your AFR coordinator. (For more information see sheet on Learning Circles.)

• Set up a reconciliation information stall at events such as fairs and fetes, conferences, exhibitions and other special events and gatherings. Your AFR coordinator can help you plan and order materials.

• Lobby your local council to promote reconciliation; for example, to fly the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander flags during National Reconciliation Week and NAIDOC week and on other special occasions.

• Encourage small businesses to exhibit posters and distribute reconciliation materials from their reception and customer areas. Many businesses already do this. An AFR coordinator can help with arrangements.

Local governments across Australia have played a positive role in advancing reconciliation in their area. For example, some local governments have established their own reconciliation committees - forging relationships, developing local agreements, identifying local indigenous history and heroes, displaying Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander flags on appropriate occasions and making available reconciliation material in government offices. Some councils have recognised local Aboriginal places and officially re-named them with Aboriginal names. Faith groups throughout the nation have established Learning Circle groups to talk to each other about reconciliation and what the group can do to advance it. AFR coordinators can be contacted on a toll free number or by email as follows:

ACT	1800 804 330	Email: mopar@cyberone.com.au
NSW	1800 060 266	Email: arrilla@netlink.com.au
NT	1800 060 268	Email: ards.govan@oct94.net.au
QLD	1800 060 267	Email: complan@ozemail.com.au
SA	1800 060 270	Email: dmaccc@dove.mtx.net.au
TAS	1800 659 363	Email: suzie_sereda@vision.net.au
VIC	1800 060 265	Email: williamsc@wva.org.au
WA	1800 060 269	Email: afrwa@iexpress.net.au

The Council's homepage address is: http://www.austlii.edu.au/car/

The Council's email address is: car@dpmc.gov.au