Education and sustained conversations are important to progressing reconciliation in Australia, central Victorians say.
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May 27 to June 3 marks National Reconciliation Week, a time to reflect on shared histories, cultures, achievements, and relationships between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians.
Rhianna Kerr, a young Dja Dja Wurrung woman, said it was important for reconciliation that non-Indigenous people kept an open mind and were receptive to learning.
"Learn as much as you can when you have the opportunity to, because the sort of stuff you learn off of Aboriginal people and elders, you won't learn anywhere else," she said.
Some people did not understand why they had to work towards reconciliation, she said, because they had not learnt why it was important.
She said work also needed to continue year-round.
Reconciliation was often only discussed during this week and NAIDOC Week, Rhianna, said, which seemed "tokenistic".
She said reconciliation was instead something the community should be having conversations about throughout the year.
Rhianna said it was more important now than ever that all Australians were 'In This Together' - the theme of the week this year - and continued that going forward.
Kath Coff, a Yorta Yorta woman living on Jaara country, also said education was vital to reconciliation.
"Reconciliation will only happen when a lot more non-Indigenous people open their hearts and minds to the true history of this nation," she said, including the stories and lives of Indigenous people.
Kath said reconciliation would involve Indigenous and non-Indigenous people moving into a new space together, which could be tricky - everyone would "have their L-plates on".
Real change happened, she said, when Indigenous people were acknowledged, listened to and taken seriously from the beginning.
Dja Dja Wurrung elder Uncle Rick Nelson said he could only speak for his community, but he loved what he was seeing in the Castlemaine area.
"I have lived here for 40-plus years and I have seen the community do a 180 degrees turnaround," Uncle Rick said. "There is now so much support for the Aboriginal cause. There really is a change.
"People want to learn more about Aboriginal culture and learn more about the history and the local Indigenous people from our own community."