Reconciliation in the Park welcomes questions, storytelling, culture sharing

FOR almost two decades, Reconciliation in the Park has welcomed the community to learn about and celebrate First Nations people and culture.

The annual event will run for the 17th time at Johnstone Park this weekend.

Organiser Kiri Tawhai said the event embodied the spirit of reconciliation, with First Nations people and non-Indigenous allies working side by side to bring it to life each year.

She said that involving non-Indigenous allies and First Nations voices in the event planning from the early stages is key to its success.

“Having Community represented by our First Nations event programmer is kind of the magic of it, because we’re literally walking what reconciliation should be about walking together,” Tawhai said.

“[Reconciliation in the Park] is an opportunity for people to see what culture embedded in things could look like, from the music on the stage to the storytelling to the wonderful free activations that we’ve got.”

Accessibility is a huge focus for the event, with free entry removing any financial barriers.

Tawhai encouraged those who have attended before to return but also enthusiastically invited people who are unsure how they can support reconciliation to come along as well.

This year’s event is focused on the Reconciliation Week theme, All In.

“This year’s theme is really saying that reconciliation is everybody’s business,” Tawhai said.

“I think the beautiful thing about that is a lot of the time, people don’t know where to start if they don’t have that knowledge, but this really invites people to just to give it a go, do some learning, do some reading.

“For people that don’t know where to begin there is such an opportunity to learn.

“We will have representation of so many different people from so many different places, so many First Nations people from different places ready to have that yarn with you.”

Tawhai said one of the easiest ways to dive into the event is to arrive at 10am, in time for the ceremony and Welcome to Country.

Entertainment and market stalls will then run until 3pm.

“One of the highlights we’re going to have is the weaving,” Tawhai said.

“We also have Ngiyampaa man and First Nations singer-songwriter Pirritu. He is an up-and-coming, rising, musician that is so deadly. In the past we’ve had First Nations performers here and it almost seems to be that space where big stars tend to launch.

“We joke that we can’t afford them the next year.”

Reconciliation in the Park will be held on Sunday 31 May at Johnstone Park.

Reconciliation Week runs annually from 27 May to 3 June.