Wadawarrung elder Bryon Powell conducted the ceremony with children, visitors and dignitaries outside Ballarat Library before a traditional welcome to country inside.

The small crowd gathered for the ceremony learned how the smoke is used for cleansing, its significance and the intricacies of the indigenous ritual.

“It takes away all the negativity, all the bad karma,” Mr Powell said of the ceremony that indigenous peoples have conducted for thousands of years.

Mr Powell said National Reconciliation Week was an opportunity for the community to learn from the past, understand the past and move together in to the future.

“It’s young ones who need to understand the past more than the older ones because they have no connection. They don’t know, they haven’t lived it, so if we can give them knowledge now as they grow it will make them understand better what history is about.”

The smoking ceremony and welcome to country were part of a day-long event at the library to mark National Reconciliation Week.