There are 56 plaques on the Australians of the Year Walk in Canberra but only one is shielded by a piece of perspex.

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Canberran Russell Ayres brought the plaque to our attention after he spotted it while walking along Lake Burley Griffin, near the National Library of Australia.

"The main thing that jumped out at me is that it's the plaque for 2014 and it marks the placement of Adam Goodes as Australian of the Year," he said.

Russell asked Curious Canberra to find out why the plaque was covered, although he had some suspicions.

"I knew that Adam Goodes as a public figure had been very controversial and so I was concerned that might have been why," he said.

Former Sydney Swans player Adam Goodes confronted racism before and after he was named Australian of the Year. A young Collingwood supporter called him an ape in 2013, and he was booed repeatedly during matches in 2015.

Vandalised in 2015

The Australians of the Year Walk near Commonwealth Avenue Bridge in Canberra. ( ABC News: Sonya Gee )

The National Capital Authority (NCA), which manages the Australians of the Year Walk, confirmed that the plaque had been vandalised in January 2015.

"The NCA has affixed perspex to this plaque as a temporary measure to protect it from further damage. We are currently exploring different fabrication techniques to mitigate future vandalism," a statement said.

The perspex has been in place for close to two years and there is no timeline in place for its removal.

This Canberra Times article showed the vandalism more explicitly.

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A member of the public first noticed the damage and drew attention to it on Twitter.

"While it may not meet a legal threshold, in terms of our discrimination legislation or racial vilification legislation, it's clearly an expression of racism," ACT Discrimination Commissioner Karen Toohey said.

"The perspex is one response but there's also got to be other responses supporting that so that people don't feel empowered to go and do this sort of thing."

The temporary perspex covering has been in place for almost two years. ( ABC News: Sonya Gee )

She said members of the Indigenous community experience racism often.

"People within the community have reported to me that if they made a formal complaint every time they experienced racism, they would be spending all their time doing that," she said.

Russell, our Curious Canberran, was reflective when he found out why the plaque had been protected.

"As somebody who is a white... well-educated male... I think it's beholden on people like me to imagine - so what is the world like for Adam Goodes?"

'What is it like to be an Aboriginal person?'

Social worker Tanya Keed runs an after school fitness program for Indigenous kids. ( ABC News: Sonya Gee )

While Adam Goodes politely declined to be interviewed for this story, we found a way of showing Russell how racism is addressed within Canberra's Indigenous community.

Curious Canberra teamed up with Ask Me Anything, a local organisation that runs workshops in high schools aimed at combatting racism.

In these sessions, teenagers can ask a diverse panel of volunteer presenters anything.

"A lot of the times when you're learning about diversity issues, you rely on your friends and your local network to provide answers for you," Ask Me Anything presenter and Bangerang man Scott Kneebone said.

"Four out of 10 Australian have never met an Indigenous person, so we provide an opportunity for school kids to ask those questions."

Ask Me Anything facilitated a workshop with an all-Indigenous panel at Caroline Chisholm School, where students were reading Follow the Rabbit Proof Fence by Doris Pilkington Garimara.

Tanya Keed, a Dunghutti woman and member of the school community, joined Scott on the panel and answered one of the first questions - "What is the meanest thing that ever got said to you?"

"The meanest thing that was ever said to me was, 'You're black, you'll achieve nothing,'" she said.

Another student put up his hand to ask, "So what is it like to be an Aboriginal person?"

"Awesome, deadly! I stand black, proud and deadly," was Tanya's response.

"I suffered racism, it paralyses you, it disempowers you if you let it. But it's the best. We have got a heritage, we have got a culture, we have got a sense of belonging - if you want to be a part of it."

'Call it for what it is'

Scott Kneebone is a public servant, baseball coach and father-of-three. ( ABC News: Sonya Gee )

Scott hoped the Ask Me Anything workshop would empower Indigenous students.

"You start talking about positive culture, positive identity, people become more resilient," he said.

It's an approach he uses at home when he teaches his children about racism.

"We introduce culture as something you should be proud of. There's a very long history here, 65,000 plus years, it's older than an ice age… that's an exciting place, a proud place to come from."

As the high school workshop wrapped up, a student asked Scott if he had any advice for young people who experience racism.

"If you hear racist talk, speak out even though there's not someone being directly affected. Call it for what it is," he said.

"It can mean having difficult conversations with friends but that's the price."

Editor's note: The perspex covering has been removed, as seen on February 15, 2017.

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