Celebrating National Reconciliation Week
- marketing8445
- Jun 3
- 3 min read
Updated: 6 days ago

Marist180 is blessed to have a significant number of First Nations employees, all of whom we value as colleagues and team members, and likewise that we learn a great deal from.
Tony Moran, Marist180 Cultural Coordinator, has offered the following reflection on National Reconciliation Week. Tony’s Torres Strait Islander heritage is of the Kaurareg and Erub peoples, from the Islands of Waiben and Erub. (Thursday and Darnley Islands, as they are known respectively). The Kaurareg people are of the Kala Lagaw Ya language group (Western and Central Torres Strait Islands) and the Erub of the Meriam Mer language group (Eastern Torres Strait). Tony’s family also have bloodlines through Aboriginality to the Ngunnawal People of the Canberra region.
‘Reconciliation Week holds deep meaning and is a time for all Australians to learn about our shared histories, cultures, and achievements, and to explore how each of us can contribute to achieving reconciliation in Australia.
The 2025 theme, ‘Bridging Now to Next’, speaks to the importance of understanding truth, culture, and history as we build a stronger future together. Our young people continue to lead with powerful words; respect, information, togetherness, family, and understanding. These are not just values; they are actions that guide us from this moment into what comes next. Reconciliation is not a destination but a journey we walk together; with open hearts, listening ears, and a shared commitment to understanding injustice of the past and acknowledging and learning through these lessons. This will provide the foundations of unity for our future generations.’

This week, Marist180 joined together with Blacktown City Council and Wesley Mission, to acknowledge Reconciliation Week, and express, in both philosophical and practical ways, a strong statement in support of our organisational commitment to Reconciliation.

Wesley, Blacktown Council and Marist180 joined forces to provide hospitality and welcome to those who came together. Besides the BBQ, face painting and other community resources were on offer to those who made their way to Dawson Mall. We particularly acknowledge and thank 3 colleagues-Tony Moran, Alajah Wright and Kayla Bird-for their time, energy and efforts in making this event come to life.

Kevin Rudd, the 26th Prime Minister of Australia, delivered the 2015 Australian National University Reconciliation lecture. In this address, Rudd, who had made a formal apology to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, particularly to the Stolen Generations whose lives had been blighted by past government policies of forced child removal and assimilation some seven year earlier, offered the following.
‘Indigenous reconciliation is a challenge not just for Australia. It is a challenge for the 350 million Indigenous peoples of the world and the settler communities and countries in which they live. Indigenous peoples around the world are amongst the most poor and oppressed. As in Australia, throughout history, they too have been pushed to the margins. The sad reality is that many countries have simply given up on the universal moral challenge of reconciling with their Indigenous peoples. Sometimes this is the product of indifference. In others it is a question of political inconvenience. For others still there is a sense of ‘learned helplessness’: that because Indigenous disadvantage has become so entrenched, simply nothing works. Let Australia yield to none of these. Let Australia instead, as we attend to our own real challenges in achieving reconciliation in our own land, encourage others around the world to do the same. And so too, together, indeed "bend the arc of history”’.
This Reconciliation Week, we commit to ‘Bridging Now to Next’, and bending the arc of history, to build on, support and foster, as Tony wisely observes: ‘understanding truth, culture, and history as we build a stronger future together.’
