“We acknowledge all First Peoples of the land on which live, walk and work on. We honour them and their Ancestors for their survival, continued traditions and spiritual connection to and caring of country, land, sky, water and sea. We pay respect to their Elders past and present and will continue to support their right to self-determination.
We are committed to Reconciliation and respectfully recognise that sovereignty has never been ceded.”
Respectful Warning: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander attendees are advised that this page may contain images, videos and documents of deceased persons. The page contains words, descriptions and discussions that may be culturally sensitive and may cause distress.
RECONCILIATION ACTION PLAN
The 2021–2023 Innovate Reconciliation Action Plan provides a framework for parishes, schools, ministries and Commissions to engage with and support the national Reconciliation movement.
Our vision for Reconciliation and Declaration of Support
First Nations Artist - Stevie O’Chin
A Kabi Kabi, Waka Waka, Koa and Yuin woman
The Anglican Church Southern Queensland’s vision for Reconciliation is a future of openness where the First Nations Peoples will be restored to a place of equity, dignity, and respect.
We fully support the national Anglican Church of Australia’s Joint Affirmation of Faith and Justice with First Nations Peoples (carried by affirmation at General Synod, October 2007) and have sought practical ways to do so, including our association with Reconciliation Australia and the prescribed process of Reconciliation Action Plans. Our Diocese supports the subsequent call of the Anglican Board of Mission for a Constitutionally-Entrenched First Nations Voice (November 2017).
In 2017, the First Nations peoples of Australia presented the Uluru Statement from the Heart to the Federal Government and Australian people as an expression of their aspirations for bringing about true and lasting Reconciliation, including:
The Constitutional Change – enshrining a First Nations Voice in the Australian Constitution that would empower First Nations peoples
The Legislative Change – the establishment of a Makarrata Commission to supervise a process of agreement-making with Australian governments and oversee a process of truth-telling about Australia’s history and colonisation.
Reconciliation - Community & Church
Sandra King OAM - Quandamooka, Bundjalung
Traditional Custodians
Aunty Dr Rose Elu - Koedal and Thabu, Saibai Island
2021 Queensland Senior Australian of the Year Award
Canon Boggo Pilot
Torres Strait Islander Priest
Gold Coast Anglicans
Answered the call for help to make specially-made dolls for First Nations children in-care
Bishop Chris McLeod – Gurindji
Black Lives Matter
NAIDOC Week
Heal Country – What does it mean?
Aunty Sandra King
Heal Country – What does it mean?
Lalania Tusa
Reconciliation Week
Anglican Church Southern Queensland Archbishop Phillip Aspinall acknowledges National Sorry Day and pays respect to the Stolen Generation who were forcibly removed from their families and communities and acknowledge the work that the Anglican Church of Southern Queensland and it’s commission and agencies to break down barriers through our Reconciliation Action Plan rejoicing in the celebration of National Reconciliation Week.
Archbishop Phillip Aspinall’s National Reconciliation Week 2022 Message
Events
Upcoming Events
Join this discussion with:
Dr Jackie Huggins: Aboriginal Australian author, historian, academic and advocate for the rights of Indigenous Australians, and
Cheryl Buchanan: Member, Library Board of Queensland, Guwamu Nation Elder and lifetime campaigner for social and environmental justice. She has a long history of campaigning.
Join this discussion with:
Gaja Kerry Charlton: Teacher/Yugerra Elder/ First Nations consultant, facilitator and author
Michael Aird: Director - Anthropology Museum & UQ Amplify Lecturer. School of Social Science and author of the well-known ‘Brisbane Blacks’.
Previous Events
Reconciliation Week 2022
Reconciliation Week 2021
Aunty Dr Rose Elu – Koedal and Thabu, Saibai Island
Torres Strait Island Elder – 150th Coming of the Light
A Conversation with The Rev’d Aunty Lenore Parker
A Conversation with Father Bruce and The Rev’d Gloria Shipp
Meet some of our First Nations Workers
Click the images to learn more about our First Nations Workers.
Reconciliation Photo Gallery
Contact Us
About the Artist - Stevie O'Chin
Three stunning interrelated Aboriginal dot paintings, representing our Diocesan Regions and commissioned by the Reconciliation Action Plan Working Group, are travelling individually around our Diocese and are being displayed as a reminder of our Christian call to Reconciliation. Each artwork represents a geographical faith Region of our Diocesan community – the Northern, Southern and Western Regions – and join together as one united piece, with the Pacific Ocean bordering the joint work’s right-hand-side.
These three artworks tie in directly with the Diocesan Reconciliation Action Plan and will travel around our community as a reminder of our Christian call to Reconciliation. At key Diocesan events the three paintings will come together as a symbol of ‘Being Together’ and that we are one Church.
The dot paintings were created by talented emerging artist Stevie O’Chin, who belongs to the Kabi Kabi and Koa peoples on her father’s side and the Yuin people on her mother’s side. Stevie O’Chin said that the intricate circles in each artwork represent our Diocese’s Marks of Mission and share common motifs.
“Each circle has ‘U shapes’ that surround the symbols – these symbolise people gathering together to worship, and the blue dotted rings around each symbol in the circles mark the spiritual healing power of God,” Ms O’Chin said. “The seven symbols painted within circles in the tri-Regional landscape represent the seven Marks of Mission of the Anglican Church Southern Queensland.”
Dot painting is an ancient and deeply symbolic practice of the world’s oldest continuously living culture and started with sand, soil, and body ‘canvases’. Now one of the most internationally recognised Aboriginal art forms, First Nations artists commenced dot painting on framed stretched canvases in the 1970s.
Ms O’Chin said, “that she carries on a family legacy of Aboriginal dot painting. My paintings are inspired by my surroundings and stories told to me by my parents and family elders.”
Executive Director of Parishes and other Mission Agencies Commission and RAP Working Group member Dr Stephen Harrison said, “that the three artworks support the Diocesan Reconciliation Action Plan (RAP) and symbolise our Diocesan community’s collective commitment to Reconciliation.