The Boroondara Reconciliation Strategy (the Strategy) formalises Council’s commitment to reconciliation in Boroondara.
Reconciliation is an ongoing journey that aims to bring together and strengthen relationships between Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and the wider Australian community. It’s about helping all Australians understand our shared history and how the past affects the lives of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples today. Reconciliation is about respecting and valuing Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander heritages and peoples. It aims to achieve equality in life expectancy, education, employment and other areas of disadvantage.
We developed our Strategy by listening to local Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and organisations. This helped us understand the role Council and our community can play in reconciliation. Our Strategy is based on the understanding that to progress reconciliation, we must continue to build and develop respectful, flexible and genuine relationships. We must also make sure that these relationships are built on cultural understanding and cooperation with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and organisations. We heard that it’s important for truth telling to be central to the reconciliation healing process. This includes acknowledging the impacts of colonisation on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples in Victoria.
The Strategy provides a 4-year vision and action plan for implementing reconciliation initiatives with Wurundjeri Woi-wurrung Cultural Heritage Aboriginal Corporation (WWCHAC) and other stakeholders in the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander sector and the broad community.
As we continue our reconciliation journey, we are committed to listening and learning from WWCHAC and all local Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and other stakeholders to implement this Strategy.
