Background
The City of South Perth started its reconciliation journey in 2010, when Council resolved that the City should develop an ‘Indigenous Engagement Strategy’, which was intended to lead to the establishment of a Reconciliation Action Plan (RAP).
In 2013 the City’s Aboriginal Engagement Strategy was endorsed by Council, and since then the City has been implementing the actions outlined in the Strategy. The majority of the actions have now been met and strong relationships have been built with the local Aboriginal community. Some of the implemented actions include:
- Establishment and facilitation of Aboriginal Reference Group
- Acknowledgement of Country and/or Welcome to Country at civic events and functions
- Aboriginal flag is flown out the front of the Civic Centre
- Written and oral Aboriginal history in the City’s library collections
- NAIDOC week celebrations
- Aboriginal design/art/names included in some City buildings (e.g. meeting rooms)
- Noongar/Bibbulmun history on the history page of the City’s website
- Cultural awareness training for City officers and Elected Members
- Noongar language on some signs in the City, including entry signs.
As a result of the positive reconciliation work undertaken by the City in recent years, the Aboriginal Reference Group has supported the City to develop this Reconciliation Action Plan.
Consultation to develop the draft RAP was carried out from June to December 2018 with the Aboriginal Reference Group, the community, stakeholders and Elected Members. The following year Reconciliation Australia gave feedback on the draft RAP. After the local government elections in October 2019, the City’s new Council deferred making a decision on the draft RAP in order to review the document in more detail, which was done through a series of workshops in late 2019. A workshop was also held with members of the Aboriginal Reference Group and the South Perth Residents Association to discuss the draft RAP. In March 2020, Council endorsed the draft RAP to go out for public comment. The Aboriginal Reference Group has provided feedback on the draft RAP ahead of this public comment period.
