Sydney Opera House acknowledges the Gadigal People of the Eora Nation, the traditional custodians, on whose ancestral land the Opera House sits.
For millennia the Gadigal people expressed their culture through music, dance and storytelling on the rocky outcrop of Bennelong Point. This place was known to the Gadigal as Dh-bow-gule and remains an important cultural site.
We acknowledge custodians and elders, past and present, and pay respect to the cultural authority and traditions with which they have gifted this land. We recognise the rich contribution Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures make to the diversity of the Australian community.
Sydney Opera House is committed to furthering reconciliation and ensuring that the First Peoples of this nation are valued for their contribution to Australian life.
MESSAGE FROM THE CEO
The first year with a Reconciliation Action Plan (RAP) was a rich learning experience for Sydney Opera House that demonstrated the need for ongoing commitment to closing the gap between Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and other Australians.
As a performing arts centre, a tourist destination and a national icon, Sydney Opera House is in a unique position to exhibit, promote and support Indigenous arts and culture, language and community. As an organisation, we are committed to further weaving reconciliation principles into the fabric of all that we do at the House.
This second RAP builds on progress Sydney Opera House has made so far and refines the scope of its targets. We remain focused on increasing Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander employment levels and retaining existing Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander employees. Professional development will also be a priority, with the continuation of our Indigenous Work Experience Program and our School Based Traineeship Program that was implemented in 2011/12.
This RAP provides greater opportunities for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander work to be created, produced and performed at the House, through the annual Message Sticks festival and the vision of our new Head of Indigenous Programming. We will also be partnering with The Deadly Awards to present a Sydney Opera House Deadly Award which will enable an Indigenous person to record an album with the Sydney Opera House’s Grammy Award winning sound engineers in our recording studio.
In addition to these commitments, Sydney Opera House will increase its level of community engagement with the establishment of a Community Connections Group that will provide us with guidance and an avenue for consultation with the Indigenous community. We look forward to working as a team with our many partners across government, the performing arts sector and within the community to realise the goal of reconciliation.
We commit ourselves to the actions and targets contained in Sydney Opera House’s Reconciliation Action Plan (RAP) for 2012/13.
Download Reconciliation Action Plan 2012/13
Download Reconciliation Action Plan 2011