The Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation was established in 1991 "to improve the relationships between Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and the wider Australian community." The Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation was established in 1991 as a statutory authority under the Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation Act 1991. Its first Chairperson was Patrick Dodson.

The Council's main task was "to improve the relationships between Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and the wider Australian community."

The Council comprised 25 community leaders "drawn from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities, the industries which have most impact on Aboriginal people and from business and other sectors." Council members were appointed by the federal Government.

The Council was given a 10 year life, which ended on the 31st December 2000. In the final period of its term the Council focused on three key goals, one of which is the issue of "documents of reconciliation", in respect of which it sought to:

"Achieve recognition and respect for the unique position of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as the Indigenous peoples of Australia through a national document of reconciliation and by acknowledgment within the Constitution of this country."

To this end, the Council, following an extensive community consultation process, produced a Document Towards Reconciliation with a corresponding set of strategies, the Roadmap for Reconciliation.

At the end of 2000, the Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation released its final report, with recommendations stressing the need for comprehensive action to address the significant issues of 'unfinished business'. This included a recommendation that the government initiate a process to unite Australians by way a formal agreement or treaty. Indigenous calls for a treaty process in Australia had re-emerged during 2000, in part prompted by the Council's consultations over its final recommendations.

The Council also proposed legislation providing a formal framework for advancing the reconciliation process, as well as the establishment of a foundation, Reconciliation Australia, to continue the Council's work.

The Federal Government took almost two years to formally respond to the Council's recommendations. The Government's response was disappointing, rejecting most of the Council's recommendations, including those which set out processes for formally advancing the reconciliation process. Even before release of the Government's response, Prime Minister Howard flatly rejected the idea of discussing the merits of a treaty process, branding the initiative as inappropriate and divisive.

In January 2001, the Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation was replaced with Reconciliation Australia. Federal Government funding for the new body and for the reconciliation process as a whole has been dramatically reduced.