Ngunnawal elder Aunty Violet Sheridan has ambitious hopes for reconciliation between Indigenous and non-Indigenous people in Australia.
"I've got two great grandchildren, and I want by the time they have their great grandchildren that there be no more racism," she said on Monday at the National Arboretum 2022 Reconciliation Day event.
"I think at the moment reconciliation is at a standstill. We can talk about it, but we have to move forward and make progress."
The theme for 2022's Reconciliation Week is "Be Brave. Make Change."
Ms Sheridan said the day was an opportunity to share Indigenous culture with young non-Indigenous Australians.
"We need to work with the next generations. We want to share our culture, we want to share our language because they are the young ones that are going to take it to the future," she said.
Ms Sheridan's hope for younger generations to pave a new path forward towards reconciliation seemed bright - despite the cloudy skies - on Monday, as many Canberrans attended the event with their children and grandchildren.
Educator Rodolfo Caivans, who has native Argentinian heritage, brought his four-year-old son to the event to better understand Indigenous cultures.
"This is my first Reconciliation Day in Canberra. I am excited because it's the first time I connect with the real Australia," he said.
"I'm really proud that I'm here with my son, so that he can understand [Indigenous cultures] ... Down here, it's a much more strong identity, so I try to show my son the resilience and how we are all a community."
Penny Kendall, who is non-Indigenous, attended the event with her granddaughter Tildie.
She said a Reconciliation Day event in the 1990s became a "turning point" for her.
"I was in a crowd, just sitting with the kids and a crowd of Aboriginal Dunghutti women from Kempsey, and someone sang the Archie Roach song Brown Skin Baby," she said.
"It was so beautiful being in that crowd ... we were all in tears.
"It's that connection."
Florence Ho, who has lived in Canberra for one year, came to the Arboretum with her seven-year-old daughter Abigail to help extend her appreciation for Aboriginal culture.
Ms Ho said her daughter had been learning about Indigenous cultures at school.
Canberra-based artist and Yidinji man Greg Joseph said he hoped the "special day" would engender respect among Australians of all stripes.
"There's not enough respect for each other: our beliefs, who we are, the colour of our skin. That's the big message - just respect each other and I think the world would be a better place," he said.
The ACT is the only jurisdiction in Australia to have a public holiday for reconciliation. Ms Sheridan suggested other states and the Northern Territory follow suit.
"We have an Australia Day - I would like to see Reconciliation Day be made national," she said.
Ms Sheridan also said the new Labor government, which has spoken strongly of its intent to implement the Uluru Statement of the Heart, was a sign of hope.
"I'm so happy to have this new government, to have a new Prime Minister that is a leader," she said.
"That is going to take us forward and will make change for the better, to bring us together as black and white people."
The Uluru Statement was issued on in May 2017, after a national constitutional convention of 250 delegates from First Nations around Australia.
It called for a voice, a treaty and truth-telling.
Ms Sheridan said Indigenous people should revisit the Uluru Statement of the Heart to make an argument to the wider community.
"We need to go back to the drawing board again and explain to the wider community why we want their support in this referendum, why we want a Voice to Parliament," she said.
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