National Reconciliation Week 2025 – Bridging Now to Next
The National Reconciliation Week (NRW) 2025 theme, Bridging Now to Next, reflects the ongoing connection between past, present and future. At a time when Australia faces uncertainty in its reconciliation journey, this theme calls on all Australians to step forward together. Bridging Now to Next urges us to look ahead and continue the push forward as past lessons guide us.
In the #NRW2025 theme artwork created by Kalkadoon woman Bree Buttenshaw, native plants − which are known for regenerating after fire and thriving through adversity − symbolise our collective strength and the possibilities of renewal. This is a time for growth, reflection, and commitment to walking together.
Australia’s history of reconciliation is not a linear one, we have made great strides and experienced disappointing setbacks. Twenty-five years ago, Corroboree 2000 brought together Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander and non-Indigenous leaders in a historic call for reconciliation. We continue that work in 2025, inviting all Australians to join us in Bridging Now to Next – building a more united and respectful nation.
In 2025, Reconciliation Tasmania hosted three National Reconciliation Week events –
- Pataway / Burnie held on Tuesday 27th of May at Burnie Arts & Function Centre
- Launceston held on Wednesday 28th of May at the Tailrace Centre
- Nipaluna / Hobart held on Tuesday 3rd of June at MyState Bank Arena
Speakers
Nipaluna / Hobart – Jim Everett-Puralia Meenamatta
Jim Everett-Puralia Meenamatta was born at Flinders Island, Lutruwita/Tasmania in 1942. He is from the clan Plangermairreenner of the Ben Lomond people, a clan of the Cape Portland nation in North-east Tasmania.
Jim left primary school at 14 years to start work. His working life includes 15 years at sea as a fisherman and merchant seaman, Australian Regular Army for 3 years, and over 50 years formal involvement in the Aboriginal Struggle.
He has a long history in the public service in Aboriginal Affairs, and has traveled Australia, and overseas visiting many remote Aboriginal communities. Jim began writing poetry at an early age. He wrote his first play, We Are Survivors, in 1984, and produced, directed, and acted in it. His written works now include plays, political and academic papers and short stories. Jim has produced and been associate producer in many documentary films. He is published in many major anthologies.
Jim lives on truwana / Cape Barren Island writing and maintaining involvement in cultural arts nationally.
Jim was the keynote speaker at the NRW Breakfast in Nipaluna / Hobart on Tuesday 3 June.
Photo credit: Jillian Mundy
Pataway / Burnie and Launceston – Thomas Mayo and Kate Warner
Thomas Mayo is a Kaurareg Aboriginal and Kalkalgal, Erubamle Torres Strait Islander author who was born and raised in Darwin. After working on the wharves in Darwin and Sydney, he took on leadership roles within the Maritime Union of Australia. Thomas Mayo was elected as an Assistant National Secretary in 2023.
As a signatory to the Uluru Statement from the Heart in 2017, he has been instrumental in driving the national campaign for constitutional recognition of Australia’s First Nations peoples ever since.
Thomas Mayo’s books discuss First Nations people’s struggle for justice, recognition and equity. In 2024, The Voice to Parliament Handbook, written by Thomas Mayo and Kerry O’Brien, was named the Book of the Year as well as Social Impact Book of the Year and Non-Fiction Book of the Year of the Australian Book Industry Awards (ABIAs).
Kate Warner is an Emeritus Professor of Law at the University of Tasmania, where she served for many years before her appointment as Governor of Tasmania in December 2014. Throughout her term as Governor, Kate committed herself to advancing relations with Aboriginal people, looked for opportunities to acknowledge the truths of our history, and proactively took initiatives to demonstrate recognition of and respect for Aboriginal people.
In 2021, the Premier commissioned Kate, and her colleague Tim McCormack, to consult with the Tasmanian Aboriginal community to “find an agreed pathway to reconciliation”. In their report, Pathway to Truth Telling and Treaty, Kate and Tim shared their vision for Tasmania as one “where our Aboriginal people’s profoundly long and deep connections to Country are respected, where our unique Aboriginal heritage is cherished, where we properly understand what it really means for all of us to be Tasmanian and to gather together in peace, in pride and without shame.”
