The road to reconciliation

Ten years after delivering the inaugural Australian National University Reconciliation Lecture, Professor Patrick Dodson returned to celebrate the anniversary of his address on 25 November 2013. His full speech is below. The road to reconciliation in Australia has been a long, slow and incremental one. It is often bumpy and difficult to navigate. Sometimes we lose our way or get off track and encounter things that challenge our commitment. At one point I think I even described it like being bogged in a sandy spot, and having to engage four wheel drive. As most are aware, we began the official journey - the formal decade of Reconciliation - in 1991 when the Keating Government legislated to create the Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation.