By addressing unresolved mistrust and the deep wounds caused by colonisation, the trustbuilding team organises events and dialogues that bring non-Indigenous Australians and First Nations Peoples closer together. We are walking alongside communities on the path to building trust and recognition.
Australia’s history of colonisation continues to impact the health of its communities. Colonisation has resulted in inequity, racism and the disruption of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures. The divide between non-Indigenous Australians and First Nations Peoples has remained deep and painful.
The trustbuilding project began as a response to the invitation by First Nations leaders to all Australians to join in ‘a movement towards fair and truthful relationships’. Their vision for the movement was expressed in the ‘Uluru Statement from the Heart’, issued in 2017 at a national convention to consider changes to the Constitution, which has no recognition of the 60,000 years of First Nations’ possession and heritage on the Australian continent.
The agenda of establishing a First Nations Voice to Parliament at a national level, a Makarrata Commission to oversee forming a treaty and truth-telling process, has only been taken seriously by the change in the federal government in 2022. An educational campaign explains to Australians what it would mean to vote in favour of the Voice to Parliament in a referendum.
IofC Australia’s trustbuilding project grew from the intention to participate in a movement towards this national agenda, launched as ‘Our Uluru Response’.
The trustbuilding methodology is used to connect and transform relationships in safe spaces. In-depth workshops and dialogues are co-designed with First Nations people to reveal the true history, facilitating personal change and enabling acceptance of the other.
Relationships are built between non-Indigenous Australians and First Nations Peoples through dialogues and events, such as yarning circles and historical site visits.
The team's work has reached over 3,447 people directly through 82 trustbuilding activities, such as the TURRUK immersive workshop series and historical site visits.
'Congratulations on running such a profound initiative. It was clear from all I spoke to that people were learning and making deeper connections to understanding the situation for Indigenous Australians through the teaching of Uncle Shane and the speakers. I found it very moving and keep reflecting on the day.'
~ Program Director, Wade Institute University, Melbourne.
'My visit to Myall Creek was one of the first times I connected on a deeper level with an Aboriginal person. Through deepening this relationship, I began finding similarities between Indigenous intergenerational trauma and the genocide experienced by my Jewish family in WW2. The connection has been profound and enabled me to identify with "belonging to Australia first" before describing myself as a Jewish immigrant.'
~ Participant
Margaret Hepworth
Executive Officer IofC Australia
Sarah Naarden
Trustbuilding Project Manager
Uncle Shane Charles
Cultural Integrity Advisor IofC Australia
Mike Brown
IofCA Our Uluru Response Chair
Ron Lawler
Trustbuilding International Liason IofC Australia
Amiel Nubaha
IofC Australia Board Member
David Clisby
IofC Australia Board Member
Caroline Edwards
IofC Australia Advisor
Aurecon Engineering