It’s a cool Canberra evening. The famous tee-pee shape of Parliament House dominates the skyline to the south-west and the Australian War Memorial’s red parade ground expands out to the north-east. Here, in Reconciliation Place, we gather on the grass and sand to celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the Australian Institute for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies.

As a delegate to the 2014 National Indigenous Studies Conference, I was treated to an evening of high tea consisting of warm scones with jam and cream, kangaroo meat with baby boccaceli, lamb and chutney on a fancy bread thing, cheese and crackers, sandwiches, mini deserts and the most delicious fancy teas I’ve ever tasted.

But the highlight was most certainly the opportunity to share some unique cultural experiences.

Members of the Yolngu and Bininj lands have traveled from the far north of our country to share with us the Lorrkkon Ceremony and Bunggul Djama. This is the first time…