May is Swiss and was born overseas.

Reconciliation is about unity and respect between Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders and non-Indigenous Australians. It is about respect for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander heritage and valuing justice and equity for all Australians.

When looking back in Australian Aboriginal history, it’s like reading a book full of nightmares. They started as soon white people set foot on Australia in 1770 when Captain Cook entered Botany Bay. The British Government did not recognise the rights of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and their special connection with the land. Instead, they claim the land for the British Crown and declare that Australia is ‘terra nullius’ – land belonging to nobody.

When the first settlers arrived in 1788 the devastation for indigenous people began. There was lots of killing, incarceration, forced removal from land, wars, disease, restriction of movement and attempts at forced assimilation.

Only 1 in 4 aboriginals survived the colonisation. Only in the early 1900’s did the indigenous population start to increase again and in this period, legislation was introduced that describes the relationship as one of ‘protection’.

By 1911, laws were taken up in all states giving government total control over the lives of Indigenous Australians, dictating where they could live and be employed. It also makes all children of Aboriginal people wards of the state, meaning they can be removed without permission.

In 1948 the indigenous were finally counted as Australian citizens but they still had no right to vote till 1962 (not in Queensland until 1965). After a decade-long campaign by Indigenous and non-Indigenous people working side by side to move the nation forward, a referendum held in May 1967 is the most successful this nation has ever seen. More than 90 per cent of Australian voters said YES that Indigenous people should be counted in the national census of the population. In December 1976, the federal parliament passed the Aboriginal Land Rights (Northern Territory) Act.

It was the first legislation in Australia that permitted Indigenous people to claim land rights for country where traditional ownership could be proven. In 1991 the reconciliation movement started. The council for Aboriginal reconciliation held its first meeting in Canberra. But the legacy of the past, which was made worse by continuing policy failure means that the lives of many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people continue to be affected by poor health, unemployment, imprisonment, homelessness, substance abuse and family violence.

As a European immigrant, I was shocked reading about how indigenous people got treated once the white settlers arrived in 1788.

Indigenous people are the oldest race surviving, around 60,000 years, and that shows me that they had an incredible knowledge of how to live and the strong bond they have to the land. You would think as a first world country we would have helped make their lives better after they suffered so much devastation.

How could it be ok indigenous people to be killed by white settlers by pushing them off cliffs, poisoning their water, taking their kids away and taking the right to force our way of living, our beliefs and goals on a totally different culture just because they are black and then expect that everything will be ok?

We don’t do that anymore as much and extreme now but we still don’t treat them as a respectful individual.

There is a lot of racism here in Australia. I mean, how can it be that they are still not 100% recognised in our constitution? It is 2017 now! We actually have to have programs like “Closing the Gap” because it seems not to be common sense to treat indigenous people with respect.

Their health is heaps worse than the health of white people; they have to deal with racist comments daily. How come that some white Australians think that Indigenous people have it better, they get more welfare payment, they get this and that, they are lazy and they are druggies and criminals ... some are but so are we.

And also consider what they went through in the last 200 years, a lot of indigenous people suffer intergenerational trauma.

People you need to educate yourself!

Read about the tragic history they went through, don’t just listen to the myths and stereotypes about indigenous people.

Meet Aboriginal people and talk to them, be interested in their culture, ways and protocols, learn about the cultural differences, put yourself in their shoes and you will find that they are individuals just like us.

Actually you probably would learn a lot more, and in my eyes that is one step towards reconciliation!