There’s something about walking that changes the way you think. You slow down. You notice more. You actually have time to sit with things instead of rushing past them. That’s what makes the Walk for Truth feel so important; it’s not just about getting from one place to another, it’s about what happens along the way.
Led by Uncle Travis Lovett, the walk from Naarm to Canberra is a big one. Huge. Hundreds of kilometres. But the real weight of it isn’t in the distance. It’s in the stories being carried, shared, and heard as people move across Country together.
Because the truth is, a lot of this country’s story still isn’t widely understood. Not properly, anyway. The impacts of colonisation: violence, dispossession, the Stolen Generations, aren’t just things that happened “back then.” They’re still shaping people’s lives. The documentaries we have released over the past few years prove this. And for a long time, those truths have either been watered down or left out of the conversation altogether.
The Walk for Truth is asking people to stop skimming the surface and actually sit with that.
What feels different about it is that it’s not just talk. It’s not another statement or campaign that comes and goes. It’s people physically showing up. Walking side by side. Listening to Elders. Hearing stories in the places they actually happened. There’s something about that that hits differently. You can’t really distance yourself from it.
And while there’s a clear goal, pushing for a proper, national truth-telling process led by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, it doesn’t feel like it’s only about policy. It feels more personal than that. It’s about understanding. About respect. About being honest about where we’ve come from so we can have a better shot at where we’re going.
It also makes it clear that this isn’t something First Nations people are meant to carry on their own. It never was. There’s a role for everyone here, and a big part of that is just being willing to listen. Properly listen, as some Elders put it, truth-listen; without getting defensive or trying to rush to a neat conclusion.
Not everyone is going to walk the full distance, and that’s okay. Some people will join for a day, some will support in other ways, and some might just follow along and start having conversations they haven’t had before. That all matters. It all adds up.
Because this kind of thing doesn’t change overnight. There’s no quick fix for something this deep. But what the Walk for Truth does is create a space to start, or keep going, in a more honest way.
At the end of the day, it’s a pretty simple idea. People walking together, listening, learning, and asking the country to do the same.
The truth has always been there. This is just about whether we’re ready to face it, and to walk forward with it.
Learn more about the National Walk for Truth!