Award won

2020 Queensland Reconciliation Awards

The top award in the state’s 2020 Queensland Reconciliation Awards has been awarded to Aboriginal community-controlled IWC and its partner Kultchafi for a ground-breaking pictorial screens project.

The project has won IWC the Premier’s Reconciliation Award, with Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk saying: “This wonderful initiative showcases the benefits of approaching reconciliation as a community. It focused on the First Nations Peoples and the trauma experienced in their lifetime; a platform for true reconciliation and a healing process for the community.

IWC and Kultchafi are committed to Reconciliation in Action.

Kultchafi CEO Ara Harathunian said: “The pictorial screens showcase the Sacred Places of the Traditional Owners, and also bring into the community arena the trauma of the horrific massacres which took place in this region in the mid-19th century.”

There are 11 screens in total, with two focusing on the massacres that continue to resonate in the region today. The title of the award entry was: “Screens share Aboriginal history to support Reconciliation.”

Mr Harathunian said: “We should like to thank the Traditional Owners and Elders who worked with us on this project, which we believe is an Australian first. We are honouring the past while looking to a brighter future together, as one community, that has respect of our Aboriginal history.”