Olympic champion Nova Peris has hailed sport as the great equaliser, recounting how as a young Indigenous girl it gave her the inspiration to dream when there was nothing else.
The first Indigenous Australian to ever win Olympic gold, at the 1996 Atlanta games, told the story of her mother who, as a young girl, hopped on a boat thinking she was going to school but instead ended up in a mission.
"She couldn't dream. She didn't know what her future looked like," Peris said.
"She was led to believe that she was going to be a domestic servant for white people for the rest of her life."
For Peris herself, it was watching Romanian gymnast Nadia Comaneci win gold at the 1980 Moscow games that lit her flame.
"I couldn't do gymnastics for s***. I could do cartwheels in the backyard but what I saw was something that I could dream of," Peris said.
"My mum couldn't dream. My grandparents couldn't dream. They were in the mission. They had no inspiration. They had no hope."
The Olympic hockey gold medallist recounted a photo published of her in a Northern Territory newspaper as a nine year old in the same year with five gold medals around her neck and a caption that read, 'Nova Peris - Can she bring home gold for Australia and the territory?'.
"That's no pressure on the nine-year-old kid growing up in the Northern Territory," she laughed.
"But my point was, I could dream.
"That's what sport does. It gives inspiration. It gives us hope. It's a level playing field, irrespective of your background.
"It gives us equality, human dignity and then allows us to shine."
Amid Reconciliation Week, which commemorates the 1967 referendum that recognised Aboriginal people as part of the population, and the Mabo decision which accepted Aboriginal people were in Australia before the settlers arrived, Peris underscored the importance of knowing the history and the role sport has in educating.
"People need to know what they're reconciling over and sadly it's an uncomfortable truth," Peris said.
"It's not just coaches, athletes and athlete pathways. We can't go forward having 2032 Olympics without everyone knowing the history."
The 52-year-old told of the mental and physical pressure and racism Indigenous Australians faced when talking about their history and issues including the voice to parliament.
"That's what sports does. It gives us a platform to be able to talk and it brings people together."
The Australian Olympic Committee (AOC) has invited Australians to "walk with us" as it launched its second reconciliation action plan, dubbed 'Innovate', on Thursday with a focus on achieving meaningful change for Indigenous communities through sport.
"It's a powerful message, something that's tangible, when fellow First Nation athletes can see their brothers and sisters competing so well at the highest level," AOC president Ian Chesterman told AAP.
Olympian and Australia's fastest man Patrick Johnson, who chairs the AOC's Indigenous Advisory Committee, said the next step for reconciliation is making sure there is representation at all levels of the organisation.
The body became one of the first sporting groups to back the 'yes' vote in the campaign ahead of the voice referendum later this year.
