ABSTRACT

In 1991 the Australian Commonwealth Parliament unanimously passed the Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation Act 1991 (CAR Act), instituting a ten-year process of reconciliation between Indigenous and non-Indigenous people. The process, which was to be achieved in time for the centenary of Australian federation in 2001, had three broad goals: to educate the wider Australian community about reconciliation and Indigenous issues; to foster an ongoing national commitment to address Indigenous socioeconomic disadvantage; and to investigate the desirability of developing a document of reconciliation and, if favoured, provide advice concerning its content. These goals were to be promoted and advanced by the Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation (CAR) (Tickner 1991, 2-3; CAR Act 1991, 3-4; CAR 1994, 182-4).