Earlier this month, Victorian TAFE Network staff and students, and members of the community, came together in recognition of National Reconciliation Week.
Starting the day after National Sorry Day (26 May) and ending with Mabo Day (3 June), National Reconciliation Week is an opportunity to deepen our understanding of and reflect upon our shared history with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and acknowledge and pay respect to their culture and achievements.
This year’s theme, Bridging Now to Next, encouraged us all to stand together, informed and empowered by the lessons of the past, as we continue forward in our journey towards Reconciliation.
This journey is core to TAFE, with each TAFE across the Victorian TAFE Network marking their commitment to Reconciliation this week, and encouraging students, staff and communities to do so too. Throughout Victoria TAFEs drew on the knowledge and guidance of Aboriginal Elders, leaders, and staff to host a range of ceremonies, interactive showcases and workshops (featuring Indigenous art, culture, and history), film screenings and community events.
Read more below to see what a selection of TAFEs across Victoria did to mark National Reconciliation Week.
Wodonga TAFE
Wodonga TAFE started off National Reconciliation Week with a solemn observation of National Sorry Day. Emerging Elder, Derek Murray, led them in a powerful Smoking Ceremony and Alison Reid, who shared a deeply personal and powerful presentation on the Stolen Generation.
Throughout the week the Koorie Education Unit conducted Cultural Learning Sessions, with over 100 active participants including staff, students, and members of the broader Albury/Wodonga community. Each day hosted a different activity to help participants connect and learn from each other:
- Tuesday – Traditional boomerang making with Ben Davey
- Wednesday – Create your own set of clapsticks with Summer Matthews
- Thursday – Weave your own set of earrings with Dawn Shaw
- Friday – Cultural arts painting session with Aunt Marg Murray, hosted by Wodonga Council’s “Amplify” youth group, with support from the Koorie Education Unit.
Wodonga TAFE have also been collecting donations for Children’s Ground and successfully surpassed their goal to raise $1,500 to support the charity and their invaluable work in creating change for future generations of First Nations Australians.
Box Hill Institute
National Reconciliation Week is an important week on the Box Hill Institute calendar as it’s a valuable opportunity to reflect on the history of our First Nations peoples, promote mutual respect and understanding and the importance of Reconciliation. Box Hill Institute’s commitment to this is highlighted through the work they are doing this year to develop their first Reconciliation Action Plan.
At their Elgar campus in Box Hill the Institute began National Reconciliation Week by raising the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander flags followed by a special Reconciliation Week event where their education departments arranged a faculty showcase of Indigenous culture, history, and stories. A huge number of students and employees took part in a range of creative and immersive activities, and the Institute’s education faculties were able to engage in conversations with attendees about Indigenous artwork, building techniques, use of native ingredients in cooking and beauty.
The Institute also shared videos throughout the week featuring their Executive Team and other leaders talking about their learnings, experiences, and insights in terms of what Reconciliation means to them. In the coming weeks, Uncle Shane Charles will run a series of special on campus workshops to share how people can deliver more meaningful and personal Acknowledgements of Country.
Melbourne Polytechnic
Melbourne Polytechnic was proud to celebrate National Reconciliation Week, guided by the 2025 theme, Bridging Now to Next, inviting all Australians to reflect on our shared histories, and look forward to our shared futures.
In the lead-up to National Reconciliation Week celebrations, the Koorie Services Centre shared information with students and staff including inviting feedback on Melbourne Polytechnic’s Reconciliation Action Plan. The Centre also shared educational resources outlining the historic and contemporary significance of National Reconciliation Week and the 2025 theme.
The Koorie Services Centre in collaboration with the Student Life at MelbPoly (SLAM) team also hosted two special events at Melbourne Polytechnic’s Fairfield and Preston campuses, where students and staff were Welcomed onto Wurundjeri Country by local Elder Uncle Perry Wandin.
Following the Welcome and Smoking Ceremony, attendees enjoyed lunch prepared by Blak business Jarrah Catering and the musical stylings of Ngiyampaa singer-songwriter and Melbourne Polytechnic alumni, Pirritu.
Bendigo TAFE & Kangan Institute
This National Reconciliation Week Bendigo TAFE and Kangan Institute walked together from Melbourne to the Murray.
They came together with community across campuses from various Countries – Wurundjeri in Cremorne and Broadmeadows, Dja Dja Wurrung in Bendigo, and Yorta Yorta in Echuca – to reflect, learn, and act on Reconciliation.
The institute’s Reconciliation events included traditional Smoking Ceremonies and staff, students and visitors engaging in storytelling, dance, and other activities that fostered connection, learning and understanding.
Libraries became cultural hubs, hosting pledge stations and screenings of Ringtone, a film in language celebrating culture through sound. Hundreds of attendees shared personal commitments to Reconciliation, adding leaves to the handcrafted pledge trees – symbols of growth and shared accountability.
Chisholm Institute
To celebrate National Reconciliation Week the Chisholm institute hosted several events and activations including a special ‘crafternoon’ event where participants made bracelets using beads in the Aboriginal flag colours, and distributed Reconciliation badges and colouring-in pages around campus.
Chisholm’s Dandenong library also erected two trees for people to add leaves to. The activation encouraged participants to write personalised messages on the leaves that reflected on their own Reconciliation journeys and their commitment to Reconciliation going forward.
A formal Reconciliation event was also held at the institute’s Frankston campus, where Uncle Lionel gave a talk about Reconciliation and led a Smoking Ceremony.
The Victorian TAFE Network is proud to be continuing to take an active role in our own Reconciliation journey and to have provided a range of contemporary and innovative opportunities to learn, reflect and engage with our community across this year’s National Reconciliation Week. The week has been a deeply humbling and meaningful opportunity to listen, learn and walk together towards a more unified future and we look forward to continuing this journey in the year to come.
