Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine the educational impulses and effects of Indigenous dialogue with the settler colonial state. Taking the "Uluru Statement from the Heart," devised in May 2017 by a convention of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, as a starting point, and contrasting this with the 1967 Referendum campaign for constitutional reform, the paper explores the role of multiple forms and contexts of education during these processes of First Nations dialogue with the settler state. Design/methodology/approach: This paper draws on historical accounts of the 1967 Referendum and the 2017 Uluru Statement from the Heart. Findings: The paper demonstrates how education provided by the state has been used by First Nations peoples to challenge education systems and to dialogue with the settler state for Indigenous recognition and rights. It also illuminates the range of views on what education is and should be, therefore, contesting the neat and settled conceptions of education that can dominate policy discourse. Finally the historical cases show the deficiencies of settler state education through its failure to truthfully represent Australian history and its failure to acknowledge and confront the entirety of the consequences of settler colonial practices. Originality/value: This paper seeks to bring issues of education, politics and justice together to illustrate how the settler state and its institutions -- specifically here, education -- are part of an ongoing project of negotiation, contestation and dialogue over questions of justice.