10th ANU Reconciliation Lecture 2013: The road to reconciliation: Some reflections on the politics and challenges of reconciliation

Abstract

Professor Patrick Dodson is a Yawuru man from Broome in Western Australia. He has dedicated his life work to being an advocate for constructive relationships between Indigenous and non-Indigenous people based on mutual respect, understanding and dialogue. He is a recipient of the Sydney International Peace prize. He was a Royal Commissioner into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody, inaugural Chair of the Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation and Co-Chair of the Expert Panel for Constitutional Recognition of Indigenous Australians.

Professor Dodson lives in Broome with his family, where he is involved in social, cultural, economic and environmental sustainability through his roles as Chair of the Lingiari Foundation and Executive Chair of Nyamba Buru Yawuru. He is Adjunct Professor at the University of Notre Dame Australia in Broome where he lectures in spirituality and the challenge of reconciliation. His brother, Professor Mick Dodson AM, is also a national Indigenous Australian leader and is Director of the National Centre for Indigenous Studies at ANU.

In this lecture, Professor Patrick Dodson reflects on the politics and challenges of Australia's reconciliation journey.