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Sunshine Coast Reconciliation Group (Caloundra)
The Sunshine Coast Reconciliation Group (Caloundra) grew from a Social Justice Group within the Caloundra Catholic Church in 1997. It remains committed to Social Justice, religious neutrality but with strong links to the Catholic community.
The self-imposed task of furthering reconciliation is never easy but a small band has undertaken worthwhile and diverse initiatives.
Amongst these initiatives have been obtaining books on Indigenous issues from donors for the Caloundra libraries, working with the library on Indigenous projects, producing a bibliography of library held publications which relate to local Indigenous history, sending letters to local papers in response to racist events and comments, tutoring Aboriginal students in local schools and at home, addressing local schools, participating in Aboriginal and multiracial culture days, hosting picnics and luncheons, obtaining computer software from Microsoft and installing it on students’ computers and sending two delegates to New Zealand for a "Natural World Summit for Young Indigenous Women".
We were represented at the 2005 Reconciliation Business Forum hosted at Parliament House Brisbane by the State Development and Innovation Department. We support local Indigenous businesses and organisations.
We obtained a Regional Arts Development grant through the Caloundra City Council to explore, in conjunction with the University of the Sunshine Coast, an Indigenous Film Festival. With current resources this can not proceed but the exercise made valuable contacts.
Further afield we have made donations in support of projects in Cape York, the Kimberleys and New South Wales.
We meet on the fourth Thursday of most months at Kabbarli Aboriginal Home and Community Care Centre in Caloundra at 7 pm.
For over four years we have produced a nearly-every-monthly newsletter, which is available to members or, by e-mail, to anybody who asks for it. Contact the Editor: E-mail kwhisson@bigpond.net.au
Newsletters are now accessible on the www.isx.org.au website. Go to Forums, then Indigenous Public Affairs Issues and Events and find the topic which relates to Caloundra Reconciliation or Sunshine Coast Reconciliation. Comments to the website or to me are welcome. All issues of the newsletter are available in the library of the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies (AIATSIS) in Canberra.
Reproduced with the permission of the Sunshine Coast Reconciliation Group Inc and Reconciliation Queensland Inc.