Truth-telling and healing
Queensland is taking steps towards truth-telling. Truth-telling will help build community understanding of Queensland’s shared history and support the process of healing for individuals, communities, the state and help Close the Gap.
Hearing the truth about Queensland’s shared histories helps us to understand how past laws, policies and practices have, and continue to impact Aboriginal peoples and Torres Strait Islander peoples. It will help Queenslanders understand how modern Queensland came to be.
Truth-telling will build understanding of Queensland’s shared history, so we can acknowledge the past and move forward respectfully. It will inform a way forward for Aboriginal peoples and Torres Strait Islander peoples and the Queensland Government to work together in the future.
Telling the truth about our past and accepting our shared histories is where healing for Queensland begins.
There are three key elements to Queensland’s truth-telling and healing:
- The local truth-telling process provides an opportunity for communities to learn about their local history by providing people access to records and information such as archives, museums and libraries, to assist communities to explore local and state history.
- The Truth-telling and Healing Inquiry will conduct inquiries into and document the impacts and effects of colonisation on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, increase community awareness and understanding of the impacts and effects of colonisation and provide advice and make recommendations to the Queensland Government in accordance with the Inquiry’s Terms of Reference.
- The First Nations Treaty Institute will support Aboriginal peoples and Torres Strait Islander peoples to record the impacts and effects of colonisation on their communities to inform their participation in future treaty negotiations.
Next steps
The Inquiry will provide opportunities for all Queenslanders to engage with the truth-telling process, if they wish. Details will be published on their website, once available. Information and updates will also be shared on this website and via the Path to Treaty e-newsletter.
More information
- Read more about the Institute and the Inquiry appointments
- To stay informed about truth-telling and healing in Queensland, subscribe to Path to Treaty News
- For Truth-telling and Healing Inquiry queries please email truthtellingandhealingestablishment@dsdsatsip.qld.gov.au.
Please note this mailbox has been set up by the Department to capture public enquiries while the Inquiry sets up its own communication channels.