The Uluru Statement from the Heart
The Uluru Statement from the Heart was the keystone achievement of the National Constitutional Convention, held at Uluru in 2017.
This gathering of First Nations people represented a remarkable coming together of Australia's uniquely diverse indigenous peoples, and was the culmination of the 'Dialogues' process.
This gathering of First Nations people represented a remarkable coming together of Australia's uniquely diverse indigenous peoples, and was the culmination of the 'Dialogues' process.
The Uluru Statement from the Heart explained in 30 seconds.
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We seek constitutional reforms to empower our people and take a rightful place in our own country. When we have power over our destiny our children will flourish. They will walk in two worlds and their culture will be a gift to their country. We call for the establishment of a First Nations Voice enshrined in the Constitution. Download the text of the Uluru Statement from the Heart:
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The Uluru Statement was designed to be a hopeful and generous offer to all Australians - an invitation to walk with First Nations people to imagine and create a better future for all Australians. While it acknowledges the hurts of the past, its eyes are firmly on the future, and the opportunity to become a uniquely flourishing and dynamic country when we listen to and respect all Australians:
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In 1967 we were counted, in 2017 we seek to be heard. We leave base camp and start our trek across this vast country. We invite you to walk with us in a movement of the Australian people for a better future. |
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For an overview of the Uluru Statement and the Dialouges, and their impact in influencing the design of the Voice constitutional proposal, see this Expert Explainer from two leading legal experts invovled in the Referendum Council process
The National Constitutional Convention
The Uluru Statement from the Heart was the apex work of the First Nations peoples who first engages with the Dialogues and the gathered together in May 2017 for the First Nations National Constitutional Convention at Uluru.
The First Nations National Constitutional Convention was convened by the bipartisan-appointed Referendum Council, and met over four days from 23 to 26 May 2017. The purpose of the Convention was to discuss and agree on an approach to constitutional reform to recognise Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. Discussions at the Convention built upon a discussion paper produced by the Council (and published in more than ten traditional languages) and reflected the diversity of views raised by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities in through the Dialogues process.
Delegates were selected from participants in regional Dialogues held around the country.
The First Nations National Constitutional Convention was convened by the bipartisan-appointed Referendum Council, and met over four days from 23 to 26 May 2017. The purpose of the Convention was to discuss and agree on an approach to constitutional reform to recognise Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. Discussions at the Convention built upon a discussion paper produced by the Council (and published in more than ten traditional languages) and reflected the diversity of views raised by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities in through the Dialogues process.
Delegates were selected from participants in regional Dialogues held around the country.
.The final Statement was presented to the Australian people by 250 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people at the First Nations National Constitutional Convention at Uluru on 26 May 2017... The Statement calls for:
- a First Nations Voice to be permanently included in the Constitution
- the establishment of a Makarrata Commission to supervise agreement-making and truth-telling about our history
These two proposals were seen as the best way of advancing the ends of recognition and better engagement of Australia's First Nations poeple
While a small number (7 of 243) walked out in opposition before the final consensus resolution was passed, the majority of delegates at the Convention backed the Uluru Statement.
This was an internationally significant achievement of direct participatory democracy - an act of extraordinary consensus building from an incredibly diverse group of people and interests:
This was an internationally significant achievement of direct participatory democracy - an act of extraordinary consensus building from an incredibly diverse group of people and interests:
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This Convention gave rise to a national Indigenous consensus position on how Indigenous people want to be constitutionally recognised. This was an unprecedented breakthrough. Although seven out of 250 delegates dissented, it was still an extraordinary consensus and a historic moment in Indigenous peoples’ struggle for constitutional recognition. Most the of the Indigenous advocacy of the past tended to emanate from particular regions. Never before had a national Indigenous consensus position been achieved. The majority position was powerfully expressed in the poetic Uluru Statement from the Heart. |
Shireen Morris - Senior Lecturer, Maquaire University (2019)
The Federal Government has committed to implementing the Uluru Statement in its entirety - that is both Voice and Makarrata. The current referendum is the first stage in implementing that commitment.
The Uluru Statement from the Heart
The artefact
In keeping with the tradition of the Yirrkala bark petitions and the Barunga statement, the Uluru Statement was made in the form of a physical artefact - a physical manifestation of the agreement recoded upon it.
The statement is placed in the centre which is where the power resides. Surrounding the statement are signatures of over 250 delegates who attended the conference and reached consensus. There are 100 First Nations represented in the statement by signers who included the name of their nation. |
The TExt of the Uluru Statement
The text below is the statement that emerged from the Uluru National Constitutional Convention, knows as the Uluru Statement from the Heart. Written as an invitation to the Australian people, the Uluru Statement from the Heart aims to bring Australians together to recognise Indigenous Australians in the Constitution:
We, gathered at the 2017 National Constitutional Convention, coming from all points of the southern sky, make this statement from the heart:
Our Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander tribes were the first sovereign Nations of the Australian continent and its adjacent islands, and possessed it under our own laws and customs. This our ancestors did, according to the reckoning of our culture, from the Creation, according to the common law from ‘time immemorial’, and according to science more than 60,000 years ago.
This sovereignty is a spiritual notion: the ancestral tie between the land, or ‘mother nature’, and the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples who were born therefrom, remain attached thereto, and must one day return thither to be united with our ancestors. This link is the basis of the ownership of the soil, or better, of sovereignty. It has never been ceded or extinguished, and co-exists with the sovereignty of the Crown.
How could it be otherwise? That peoples possessed a land for sixty millennia and this sacred link disappears from world history in merely the last two hundred years?
With substantive constitutional change and structural reform, we believe this ancient sovereignty can shine through as a fuller expression of Australia’s nationhood.
Proportionally, we are the most incarcerated people on the planet. We are not an innately criminal people. Our children are aliened from their families at unprecedented rates. This cannot be because we have no love for them. And our youth languish in detention in obscene numbers. They should be our hope for the future.
These dimensions of our crisis tell plainly the structural nature of our problem. This is the torment of our powerlessness.
We seek constitutional reforms to empower our people and take a rightful place in our own country. When we have power over our destiny our children will flourish. They will walk in two worlds and their culture will be a gift to their country.
We call for the establishment of a First Nations Voice enshrined in the Constitution.
Makarrata is the culmination of our agenda: the coming together after a struggle. It captures our aspirations for a fair and truthful relationship with the people of Australia and a better future for our children based on justice and self-determination.
We seek a Makarrata Commission to supervise a process of agreement-making between governments and First Nations and truth-telling about our history.
In 1967 we were counted, in 2017 we seek to be heard. We leave base camp and start our trek across this vast country. We invite you to walk with us in a movement of the Australian people for a better future.
Voice / Treaty / Truth
The Uluru Statement sets out two new institutions that the First Nations people wish to see created: the Voice, and subsequently a Makarrata Commission. This second body will aim for national healing through a process of 'truth telling' and 'treaty'/agreement making:
Voice |
Voice is a short way of referring to a constitutionally enshrined Voice to the Parliament. This means the creation of a independent body that would advise the Parliament and government on legislation and policy areas that affect Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. The model supported by the Uluru statement called for a constitutional Voice that could not be abolished by mere legislation. This requires a referendum would amend the Constitution to authorise the Parliament to make a law guaranteeing a First Nations voice to Parliament.
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Makarrata |
Treaty or Makarrata. Makarrata is a word from the language of the Yolngu people in Arnhem Land. Since the 1980’s it has commonly been used to refer to “treaty”; it means coming together to heal wounds of the past. In practice, a “Makarrata/Treaty commission” would supervise an agreement-making between First Nations and the Australian governments at a national and regional level.
Truth refers to “Truth-telling” as another function of the Makarrata Commission, to tell the truth about the Aboriginal side of Australian history and to bring awareness about the impact of colonisation and dispossession. The Commission would capture these stories as well as stories of co-existence, to create a path for reconciliation between First Nations and Australians. |
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Makarrata is another word for Treaty or agreement making. It is the culmination of our agenda. It captures our aspirations for a fair and honest relationship with government and a better future for our children based on justice & self-determination. |
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Uluru Statement Organisation, Makarrata
Further Resources
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Professor Megan Davis is an Aboriginal scholar. In this video ‘The Voice to Parliament: Megan Davis’ she explains; her family history, the importance of the Uluru Statement from the Heart, the Voice to Parliament and the benefits of seeking recognition for indigenous Australians.
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Other Links
The Official website of the Uluru Statement from the Heart contains a wide range of resources and information
Other useful resources include:
Other useful resources include:
- Shireen Morris, Insights for design of direct public participation: Australia’s Uluru process as a case study (2019) Melbourne Forum on Constitution Buliding
- Referendum Council, Media Release: National Convention (2017)
- Parliamentary Library, Quick Guide: Uluru Statement from the Heart (2017)
- Referendum Council, Final Report of the Referendum Council (2017)