Walking together for National Reconciliation Week 2025
It’s National Reconciliation Week, a time for all Australians to learn about our shared histories, cultures and achievements, and to explore how each of us can contribute to achieving reconciliation in Australia.
There’s a huge range of events happening all over the country that explore this year’s theme of ‘Bridging Now to Next’. Here at Perth Festival, we’re taking part in a staff RAP (Reconciliation Action Plan) Challenge devised by our Cultural Liaison Alta Winmar. It’s designed to take us out of the office and around Boorloo to really get a better understanding of our connection to Noongar Boodjar and the past, present and future. Some of our team were also lucky enough to attend the Reconciliation WA breakfast in Wayalup and experience their amazing program.
In the RAP Challenge we are encouraged to explore where we live and work by reflecting on local history, landscape and culture through taking part in six challenges. Some of these can be done individually and others are designed for team participation. It’s a great opportunity to get us working and thinking together and to really appreciate this amazing place and its people.
One of the popular challenges is to take the 2025 Reconciliation Week theme literally, and to take a walk over the Derbarl Yerrigan on Matagarup Bridge or Boorloo Bridge. Staff have also been encouraged to attend an official Reconciliation Week event or go beyond the city and out to the hills to explore the significance of these areas.
Each of the challenges offers questions for reflection and asks us to post our photos and thoughts from our RAP Challenge experiences to our company Slack. Everyone in the team is then invited to come together for our annual Reconciliation Week BBQ, where we to sit round a fire and have a yarn. As Alta explains it, ‘respecting and engaging with others, whether as a team or individually, and being willing to work together and connecting with people, is not a challenge – it’s an opportunity’, and we all feel pretty lucky to be taking part.