25 Years Later: Reflecting on the Journey of the Walk for Reconciliation

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Warning: The article contains names and images of First Nations people who have died.

On what was described as a chilly and windy autumn morning, Julie Nimmo, a journalist covering the Walk for Reconciliation for Indigenous Current Affairs Magazine (ICAM) at SBS, felt both excited and nervous.

“I was making two half-hour documentaries. One was a documentary in the lead up to the momentous walk over the bridge, and that was laying out all of the concerns and issues of First Nations peoples at that time, which had been referred to as the unfinished business,” she said.

“I also intended on making a documentary about what had happened with the walk over the bridge and how people felt about it afterwards.”

A woman with curly hair is wearing a black sweater and smiling as she sits in front of a mirror and a console table decorated with family photographs.

Julie Nimmo (pictured) had one of the last interviews with Dr Evelyn Scott the night before the march across the Sydney Harbour Bridge. Credit: Jennifer Scherer

The second documentary came into fruition, but without a plan.

“No-one really had a strong sense of how many people were going to turn up. So I was really assigned to be on the bridge early that day and be prepared for absolutely anything to occur,” Nimmo said.

The event was held over two days. The first event, held on 27 May 2000 at the Sydney Opera House, brought together Indigenous and non-Indigenous leaders. The Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation presented the federal government with two documents: the Australian Declaration Towards Reconciliation and the Roadmap for Reconciliation.

The second event was the Walk for Reconciliation across the Sydney Harbour Bridge that took place on 28 May 2000.

The night before the walk

Nimmo, now the editor of the ABC’s Indigenous Affairs team, was one of the last journalists to spend time with Scott, as well as her colleague and a prominent historian and activist, Jackie Huggins, the night before the walk.

“The two of them were in the hotel room having a cup of tea, and it was one of the last things that I did for the day; talk to them about what their hopes were for the culmination of the Corroboree 2000 weekend, but also in truth, what were they expecting for Sunday?” Nimmo said.

An elderly woman, wearing a hat and a colourful scarf around her neck, smiles.

The late Evelyn Scott at the north Sydney meeting place before the historic walk over the Sydney Harbour Bridge in May 2000. Source: SBS News

“They both shared that they really didn’t know how many people were going to turn out; they certainly had high hopes and had put an enormous amount of planning into how a successful day could turn out, but no-one was certain. And that was how I left these two incredible women that evening,” Nimmo said.

“The night before the walk, I went home without a concrete idea of what was going to occur on Sunday.”

A ‘triumph’

The next day, about 250,000 people walked across one of the country’s most recognisable landmarks in unison.

SBS journalist Anton Enus was also covering the event, stationed on the Harbour Bridge, gathering reaction from the crowd.

One participant told Enus: “I think it’s a chance for the people of Australia to acknowledge what has happened in the past to make sure it doesn’t happen again.”

Another said: “Exhilaration would be the best word for it and it will give further momentum to the course of reconciliation. It’s great to see the spirit of the people gathered here, and I think there is a feeling of triumph in the air.”

People walking across the Sydney Harbour Bridge with a man holding an Aboriginal flag in front.

Walks were held in 2000 to demonstrate a desire for reconciliation. Source: AAP / Dean Lewins

When reflecting on the day, Nimmo described it as “one of the best days at work I’ve ever had in my life”.

“Early in the morning when it was still dark, we were all pretty nervous about what might unfold, but as people started to arrive and cross the bridge, it was just absolute elation,” she said.

“There was so much joy in the air.”

Frances Rings, now the artistic director of Bangarra Dance Theatre, was also part of the coverage team that day.

A woman wearing a white shirt and jeans is smiling.

Frances Rings, now the artistic director of Bangarra Dance Theatre, also covered the event in May 2000. Credit: Jennifer Scherer

“The waves of people that were coming across the bridge and just this sense of collective positivity,” Rings said.

“The mix of people from all different generations, from different cultural backgrounds, from different socioeconomic backgrounds, with Blackfellas, with our leaders and with our young people, with our families, and our peers — that mix and that collectiveness was this sense of, we’re all one community.”

A notable absence

The event was hailed a resounding success, despite the absence of then-prime minister John Howard.

Howard addressed a significant event for Corroborree 2000 at the Sydney Opera House, but refused to issue an apology to Indigenous Australians for the harm caused by laws and policies, particularly those impacting the Stolen Generations.

He said at the time that it was not the responsibility of the present government to apologise for the wrongdoings of the past.

“The government does remain firmly committed to the ongoing process of reconciliation, we may have difference to how that may be achieved,” he said at the 2000 address.

The apology came later in 2008, under the Rudd government.

A crowd is gathered at a bridge. Some of them are carrying colourful balloons, banners and the Aboriginal flag.

Then-prime minister John Howard refused to apologise to the Stolen Generations. Source: SBS News

Scott, who led the walk for reconciliation, also delivered an address at the Opera House in 2000.

“Our struggle for Indigenous rights and equality is bound up inextricably with the rights of all Australians, our freedom is your freedom,” she said.

Reflecting on the day, Nimmo said there’s a moment that will stay with her forever.

“Dr Evelyn was famous for always wearing her beautiful black hat, but by the time she had crossed the bridge … she took her hat off and looked back at all of the people who were still walking across,” she said.

“I remember her saying, well, there you go. It’s happened and it’s now a people’s movement.”

‘A shift in the nation’

The Walk for Reconciliation set something powerful in motion. Just months later, Aboriginal athlete Cathy Freeman won a gold medal for Australia in the women’s 400 metres race at the Sydney Olympics.

Rhoda Roberts, an experienced arts executive and the SBS Elder-in-Residence, said: “There was this groundswell of support, it seemed.”

A woman wearing blue glasses and a denim shirt is sitting in a dimly lit studio.

Rhoda Roberts is an experienced arts executive and the SBS Elder-in-Residence. Credit: SBS

“That emotional victory affected all Australians. She went from Cathy the Indigenous athlete to ‘Our Cathy’,” Roberts said.

“That massive bridge walk — pretty amazing. There was a shift in the nation.”

Twenty-five years on, some of the outcomes of the Walk for Reconciliation have still not been recognised, including the call for a treaty, one of the recommendations from the Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation.

Karen Mundine, CEO of not-for-profit foundation Reconciliation Australia, said: “We can’t not talk about the Referendum [Indigenous Voice to Parliament] — it’s had a big looming over reconciliation.”

Reconciliation Week is bridging the past and future for First Nations Australians image

“I think what’s important there, what preceded all that was the Uluru Statement from the Heart — I think that really just encapsulates what were the aspirations of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, not just over the last five or 10 or even 25 years,” Mundine told SBS News.

“There’s certainly stories or there’s certainly the aspirations I’ve known my entire life. I’ve heard my mum, my uncles, my aunts, talking about these ideas of wanting to have a say in our lives and being able to have choices.”

But there is still optimism for the future.

“I think reconciliation is not dead … I’ll always be optimistic. I’ll always be hopeful,” Rings said.

“I’ve got children and I want them to know that there’s a world that believes in them. There are people, there’s community, our society believes in their future.”

— This story has been produced in collaboration with Living Black