The City of Mitcham is located on the traditional Country of the Kaurna people. Learn about the reconciliation initiatives of Council and how they put them into action.
The City of Mitcham acknowledges the Kaurna People as the Traditional Custodians of our Council area. We pay our respects to Kaurna Elders past, present, and emerging and value the contribution that First Nations people make to the community.
Council leads the way in reconciliation
Reconciliation is about strengthening relationships between Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and non-Indigenous peoples, for the benefit of all Australians.
Reconciliation Action Plan
City of Mitcham has launched its inaugural Reflect Reconciliation Action Plan (RAP) April 2024 – March 2025.
Download a copy of the Reflect Reconciliation Action Plan
City of Mitcham Mayor Dr Heather Holmes-Ross said the Reflect RAP was built on the core pillars of relationship, respect, opportunities and governance. “This RAP provides us an opportunity to better understand the ways we can advance that commitment, walking alongside our First Nations Peoples,” Mayor Holmes-Ross said. “The development of this Reflect RAP is a critical step in City of Mitcham’s ongoing commitment to reconciliation.”
Reconciliation Australia Chief Executive Officer Karen Mundine welcomed the City of Mitcham to the RAP program. “The RAP program’s strength is its framework of relationships, respect, and opportunities, allowing an organisation to strategically set its reconciliation commitments in line with its own business objectives, for the most effective outcomes,” she said. “Congratulations City of Mitcham, welcome to the RAP program, and I look forward to following your reconciliation journey in the years to come.”
The artist and the artwork
Tania Taylor is a proud Kaurna, Narungga, and Nadjuri woman and an accomplished artist with a large portfolio of sculptural and mural works, including Mukapaanthi at the Springbank/Daws/Goodwood Roads intersection in the City of Mitcham. Tania is a passionate student of Kaurna culture and represents and advocates for her people by retelling Kaurna stories through art.
Tania’s artwork featured on the cover, and in the RAP document, represents the 32 suburbs of the City of Mitcham, with tributes to its flora, fauna, people and places. The design represents a deep connection to land and a thriving culture, both throughout time and today.
The artwork shows us a representation of the lost river red gum (karra) forest. We see the sun rising in the east and setting in the west over the Australian pigface ground cover (karrkala). We see the footprints of the red kangaroo (Tarnda) travelling forward – never backwards – across Kaurna country (Kaurna Yerta) and we see the feather of the yellow-tailed black cockatoo (Tiwu).
The artwork illustrates a region of beautiful flora like the Grass Trees in the hills of the Belair region, which the Kaurna people knew as Piraldi, and the Yam Daisies (kantarilla) on the plains. It celebrates cultural and ceremonial meeting places and pays tribute to the life giving and sustaining rivers and creeks of the region. Brownhill Creek, which is known as Willawilla by Kaurna people, features prominently.
The very centre of the artwork represents ancient Kaurna culture. At its essence, the artwork captures the profound and enduring spiritual connection the Kaurna people will always have with the land, sky, and water the City of Mitcham exists on.
Our RAP
Council’s reconciliation journey began on 26 November 2019 when Council first supported the idea of a Reconciliation Action Plan within the City of Mitcham and on 24 March 2020 Council formally committed to the development of a Reflect Reconciliation Action Plan.
A draft Reflect RAP was endorsed by Council in November 2023. The draft was prepared in consultation with an Aboriginal consultant from an organisation specialising in facilitating employment opportunities for First Nations people and consulting with Government/Local Government on policy development and meaningful cultural partnership. Council also consulted with Kaurna Yerta Aboriginal Corporation and the draft RAP was approved by Reconciliation Australia.
Council has committed $50,000 to the RAP covering the registration and membership fees, RAP artistic design, cultural respect and safety training, attendance at reconciliation events, policy and practices review and the development of a strategy and business case for Aboriginal Torres Strait Islander employment at the City of Mitcham.
Reconciliation in action
The City of Mitcham has a proud and growing record of acknowledging Kaurna / First Nations history and culture which includes:
- Kaurna Acknowledgement at all Council and significant meetings.
- Flying of the Aboriginal Flag at the Civic Centre and in the Council Chambers.
- Welcome to Country or Acknowledgement of Country at Council civic and community events.
- Reconciliation Week is celebrated each year with a flag raising ceremony, art exhibition, storytelling and bush tucker morning tea and Welcome to Country at the Council Meetings.
- Inclusion of bush tucker in Citizenship Conferee gift bags.
- Constructive working relationship with the Blackwood Reconciliation Group.
- Community Grants, to organisations including the Blackwood Reconciliation Group.
- Public Art such as the Hawthorn Community Centre mural, Shepherds Hill Road mural, Mitcham Reserve Playground, and Soldier’s Memorial Gardens.
- Karuna acknowledgement at Soldier’s Memorial Gardens, Hawthorn.
- Mayor attended the Blackwood Reconciliation Groups “Uluru from the Heart Forum”.
- Working with the Kaurna Nation Cultural Heritage Association (KNCHA) on developing Wirraparinga Loop Trail Native Title section of land in Belair.
- Colebrook Home Memorial is included in induction tours for staff and Council Members.
- Supporting heritage surveys (Maggy Ragless, while the local historian, undertook a Kaurna Heritage Survey of Shepherds Hill Recreation Park with Flinders University).
- Council Members are invited to and regularly attend Blackwood Reconciliation Group Walk for Reconciliation in May.
- A panel of preferred suppliers was established to deliver culturally sensitive services on an as-needs basis. Services provided on this panel include:
- Mayoral and Elected Member advisory services
- Cultural awareness inductions
- Cultural heritage recordings and research
- Management of cultural heritage places
- Salvage and excavation
- Cultural practices for events
- Welcome to Country Ceremony
- Smoking Ceremony
- Dance (Corroboree)
- Traditional Music (Yidaki)
- Showcasing Artwork
- Education, tours and cross-cultural awareness training
- Cultural walks and experiences
- Cultural consultations
- Language and naming of public places
- Blackwood Community Hub named Tiwu Kumangka.
- Tiwu Kumangka cultural monitors.
- Tiwu Kumangka Smoking Ceremony.
- Development of Kaurna scripts for heritage walks.
- The name of the former Eden Hills landfill site Kaurna Views was rescinded.
The City of Mitcham endorses the Uluru Statement from the Heart and is committed to recognising and celebrating Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people based on three core ingredients – respect, relationships, and opportunities.
City of Mitcham has undertaken a cultural heritage survey of Waite Street Reserve, Blackwood and Hawthorndene Oval, Hawthorndene.
Produced in 2001 by title holders/Traditional Owners from the Kaurna Yerta Aboriginal Corporation the report documents the cultural heritage survey and ethnographic field assessment of the Waite Street Reserve, Blackwood; and Hawthorndene Oval, Hawthorndene.
Download the Waite Street Reserve, Blackwood and Hawthorndene Oval, Hawthorndene
