Historic truth-telling walk reaches milestone

Dechlan Brennan
Dechlan Brennan Published May 30, 2025 at 2.00pm (AWST)

The historic Walk for Truth, led by truth-telling Commissioner Travis Lovett, has recorded its 5,000th registration.

The near 400km walk, which began on Sunday in Portland on Gunditjmara Country - where colonisation started in Victoria - will end on June 18 at Parliament House in Melbourne on Wurundjeri Woi-Wurrung Country.

Mr Lovett, one of five Commissioners for the Yoorrook Justice Commission - the country's first truth-telling body, which is documenting the "real" history of Victoria since colonisation - is hoping to draw attention to Yoorrook's final report, which includes an Official Public Record, and its call for Victorians to acknowledge the past and walk towards a shared and equitable future.

The final report is expected to encompass more than 100 recommendations covering all facets of government intervention in First Peoples' lives since colonisation.

On Thursday, the Walk for Truth recorded its 5,000th registration for individual sections of the walk, with 1,000 people having already taken part.

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Mr Lovett said he was "humbled by the incredible support" he had received so far from people of all walks of life, who turned up in "rain, hail or shine".

The Kerrupmara Gunditjmara man said that reaching 5,000 registrations this early showed Victorians "want to come together to walk towards a better future for everyone".

"School children have lined up along the school fence to welcome us as we walked past, kids have made signs in support of Yoorrook, and people have travelled from as far away as Perth and New Zealand just to be here," he said.

"This walk is about bringing people together to have a yarn and understand the full story of our history here in Victoria – and that's exactly what is happening."

The Walk for Truth has already visited the Convincing Ground massacre site outside Portland - home of Victoria's first documented massacre - and the World Heritage Listed Budj Bim Cultural Landscape.

Speaking last year about the massacre, Mr Lovett said the European whalers "used their guns to fend off the Kilcarer Gundidj people" from accessing their resources.

"Despite brave resistance during the Eumeralla Wars, the Gunditjmara population was decimated in what was a highly unequal contest," he said.

Having reached Port Fairy, where a millennia-old practice of exchanging message sticks took place between Traditional Owners, the Walk travelled to Warrnambool and a visit to Moyjil on Friday.

It will then move inland, visiting the Framlingham Mission and Mount Noorat on its way to Colac. It will then snake through Geelong, Werribee and Footscray in Melbourne's west before the final day walk to Parliament House.

It is a place that, since 1856, "has made decisions that have affected, controlled, and segregated" First Nations peoples' lives in Victoria, Mr Lovett previously told National Indigenous Times.

"But it's also the place where we can transform our future," he said.

The Commissioners have been gathering evidence from Victorians over the last four years, hearing hundreds of truths from people across the state.

Mr Lovett said they have heard stories of both the "ongoing impacts of colonisation in the state," but also the "strength, resistance and the contributions of our people".

"There's been a lot of injustices here in the state of Victoria," he noted.

On the Walk for Truth and its legacy, Mr Lovett is hopeful.

"I hope more and more Australians will register and join the Walk for Truth as we move across the landscape towards Parliament House – the place where decisions are made that can transform the future," he said.

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National Indigenous Times

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