Walking Together 2023 announced

The second Walking Together conference will take place on 12 August at Newtown Mission. The event will include a Forum about the proposed Voice to Parliament.

The forum will include presentations from Thomas Mayo and others.

Thomas Mayo is a Kaurareg Aboriginal and Kalkalgal, Erubamle Torres Strait Islander man. He is the National Indigenous Officer of the MUA, and the author of several books, articles, and essays.

Following the presentations, audience members will be able to ask questions of a panel, which will include the keynote speakers.

The panel will also feature Rev. Bill Crews, CEO of the Bill Crews Foundation and the Exodus Foundation, and Nathan Tyson, Director of First Peoples Strategy and Engagement from the Synod of NSW and the ACT.

Registrations will open and more speakers will be announced soon.

The first Walking Together conference took place on Sunday, 23 October 2022. Keynote speakers included Rev. Mark Kickett, Dr Anne Pattel-Gray, Rev. Dr Garry Deverell, and Naomi Wolfe.

During his address, Rev. Kickett presented a keynote session devoted to the history of the Congress and what needed to happen in order to better promote its vision.

“The place that the First Nations People have in our church is paramount,” he said.

Rev. Kickett said that colonialism was, in the words of J. Kehaulani Kauanui from Wesleyan University, “A structure, not an event”

At the inaugural conference, NSW and ACT Moderator Simon Hansford said he looked forward to, “many more years of this gathering.”

Walking Together takes place on Saturday, 12 August 2023, at Newtown Mission from 9.30 am. It will conclude at 12.30pm. For more information, visit the official website here.