Travis Lovett, Executive Director of the University of Melbourne’s Centre for Truth-telling and Dialogue and a former Commissioner of the Yoorrook Justice Commission, Australia’s first formal truth-telling process walked 900km from Parliament House Melbourne to Parliament House Canberra, to call for a National truth-telling Process, to “bring our country together to heal. He says, We want to move forward as First Peoples, but we also want to move forward as a country as well and bring us all together. This is your opportunity – we’re extending an opportunity out as First Peoples. We understand there’s a lot going on in the world right now, but there’s also a lot going on in Australia around division and tension and so forth as well. And I think that, again, the National Walk for Truth is about extending that opportunity for people to come, listen, learn, engage with our lived experience – not to name and blame people – but come and learn from us. Come and walk with us because that’s what our Elders have always advocated for; extending the hand out. Come and walk with us and what a beautiful way to be able to do that, that out on country together as equals.
Professor Barry Judd, Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Indigenous) at the University of Melbourne, in a speech made at Reconciliation Place said:
We come together on this final day of the National Walk for Truth – an act of endurance, reflection, and purpose. This walk has never been only about distance. It has always been about something deeper: a walk towards truth, towards recognition, and towards a more honest national story.
There is something powerful about walking – step by step, day by day. It asks patience. It asks commitment. And it asks us to stay with something, even when it is difficult. That is what truth asks of us as well.
We meet at a moment in our national life that is both challenging and consequential. These are times in which populism, myth and misinformation can shape our public conversations. And in such times, it is easy to retreat – to emphasise difference, to harden positions, to deepen division.
But this walk stands for something else. It reminds us that, regardless of whether we are Indigenous or non-Indigenous Australians, we share a common responsibility – to seek truth, to listen carefully, and to find the ground that binds us together.
And the truth is this: contemporary Australia is shaped by three undeniable foundations.
First, it is built on the deep and enduring inheritance of Ancient Australia – on more than 65,000 years of continuous cultural practice, knowledge, and connection to Country.
Second, it is shaped by British institutions and traditions introduced from 1788.
And third, since the end of the Second World War, it has become a profoundly multicultural society -enriched by people, cultures and stories from across the world.
These truths are not in competition – but they are not equal in their place.
Because our task as a nation is to accept all three – and to especially recognise and accept the first. The truth of Ancient Australia is foundational. It is not simply one strand of the story – it is the ground on which everything else rests. And if we are serious about truth, then this is where we must begin.
If we are to heal as a nation, we must tell the truth about our past – fully and honestly. And in doing so, we can begin to build shared stories of origin – stories that all Australians can recognise, can stand within, and can embrace.
This moment asks something of all of us – not just to walk for truth, but to stand for it, to speak for it, and to act on it. We know the truth of this country – what remains to be seen is whether we have the moral courage to act on it.