National Reconciliation Week is over but hopefully you are left with feelings of hope; the promise of change; and action in place of political rhetoric.
Between May 27 and June 3 every year, we commemorate two significant milestones in Australia's reconciliation journey.
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It was on May 27, 1967, that more than 90 per cent of eligible Australians voted for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples to be counted in the national census and for the Commonwealth Government to have the power to make laws on their behalf. While it was on June 3 that the now 30-year-old Mabo decision, which overturned the principle of terra nullius (land belonging to no-one), led to the creation of the Native Title Act 1993 (Cth).
Just days before the start of Reconciliation Week 2022, and barely minutes into his victory speech, Anthony Albanese pledged to uphold the Uluru Statement from the Heart. This is the 2017 treaty that calls for an Indigenous "Voice" to be enshrined in our constitution.
Then, before addressing his first media conference as Prime Minister, he had the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander flags installed behind the podium in the Blue Room in Parliament House. It was a simple but symbolic gesture, and undoubtedly deeply moving for the record number of Indigenous MPs and Senators elected to parliament.
Even at celebrations in Canberra to mark Queen Elizabeth's Platinum Jubilee, the Prime Minister committed himself to advancing reconciliation with First Nations people.
So, there is much to look forward to, and change is being felt not just at a federal level.
Earlier this month, more than 350 people attended the 12th Annual Reconciliation Bridge Walk organised by Armidale Australians for Native Title and Reconciliation (ANTaR).
And in May, Aboriginal owners celebrated the return of almost 600 hectares of land west of Armidale under a joint management agreement with the NSW Government. An outcome that took more than a decade of work by the Anaiwan Local Aboriginal Land Council to achieve.
This followed the phenomenal community support in March, of a GoFundMe campaign when in just six weeks, the Newara Aboriginal Corporation raised more than $370,000 to buy a nearly 600-acre block in Anaiwan high-country at Boorolong. The purchase means the Anaiwan people now have a place to call their own without red tape, bureaucracy or strings attached.
And at the recent University of New England graduation ceremony , 44 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students graduated including Brooke Kennedy, who graduated with a Bachelor of Science with Honours. The ceremony was particularly special as an Honorary Doctorate was conferred on local Anaiwan Elder, Colin Ahoy.
Yes, there is still much to do, but the the theme of 2022 Reconciliation Week feels perfect for the current time - so let's all be brave and make change.
