University of Melbourne to host an international truth-telling symposium

The University of Melbourne will host an international truth-telling symposium to explore how truth-telling can drive meaningful institutional change.

Bringing together leading practitioners and thinkers in history, health, education, law and cultural revitalisation, the event reflects the University’s deepening commitment to reckoning with its past and working in genuine partnership with Indigenous communities.

The International Truth-Telling Solutions: Beyond Dhoombak Goobgoowana symposium will be held at the Parkville campus, on the unceded lands of the Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung people on November 11-14.

More than 40 speakers are on the program, including:

• Travis Lovett, Executive Director of the Centre for Truth Telling and Dialogue, University of Melbourne and former Yoorrook Justice Commissioner.
• Professor Sheryl Lightfoot, expert in global Indigenous politics and Professor with the Department of Political Science, and Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy, University of Toronto. Professor Lightfoot is the keynote speaker.
• Professor Te Kawehau Hoskins, Pro-Vice Chancellor Māori, University of Auckland.
• Professor Eleanor Bourke, Wergaia/Wamba Wamba Elder and Chair of the Yoorrook Justice Commission.
• Ms Jenny Macklin, former deputy leader of the Federal Labor Party
• Melbourne Laureate Professor Marcia Langton AO, Associate Provost and Foundation Chair of Australian Indigenous Studies at the University of Melbourne, and Director of the Indigenous Studies Unit at Onemda, within the Melbourne School of Population and Global Health.
• Professor Adam Rutherford, scientist, writer and broadcaster with the BBC, lecturer in Biology and Society Genetics, Evolution & Environment, University College London

The event is open to all audiences, including members of the public.

Sessions will consider questions such as: How can truth-telling redefine approaches to science, medicine, education and law? What practical changes does truth-telling demand?

The University of Melbourne’s Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Indigenous), Professor Barry Judd, said that the University sector has a vital role to play in truth-telling, supporting dialogue and ensuring that Indigenous voices and knowledges help to shape the future of education in Australia.

“Here in Victoria, the progress towards Treaty reminds us that truth-telling is not just reflection, but reform in action,” Professor Judd said. “By connecting with both national and international leaders, we strengthen this movement and learn from global approaches to truth-telling.”

The symposium builds on the success of Dhoombak Goobgoowana: A History of Indigenous Australia and the University of Melbourne. In Woi Wurrung, Dhoombak Goobgoowana means truth-telling.

Volume 1, titled Truth, examines the University’s troubled relationships with First Peoples, including how the institution shaped ideas of race, exercised power and drew on unacknowledged Indigenous knowledge. Volume 2, titled Voice, highlights how Indigenous students, academics and communities have reshaped the University from within, telling a story of inclusion, transformation and hope.

One of the authors, University of Melbourne historian Dr James Waghorne, said that in a world dominated by opinion-making, truth telling is never more important to cut through plausible myths and ground our understanding of the world.

“This symposium builds on the innovative approach of Dhoombak Goobgoowana: A History of Indigenous Australia and the University of Melbourne, exploring truth telling across multiple dimensions,” Dr Waghorne said.

“Featuring Indigenous and non-Indigenous leaders from across Australia and the settler-colonial world beyond, the symposium asks how truth-telling should shape how history is told, how public institutions acknowledge their past, and implications for professional responses in health and justice today.”

The Dhoombak Goobgoowana books and the symposium sit within the University’s Indigenous Strategy, Murmuk Djerring (meaning working together in Woi-Wurrung language), which recognises the University of Melbourne’s place on unceded Aboriginal lands and commits to a whole-of-institution approach across five priorities: Leadership; Place, Heritage and Culture; Partnerships; Indigenous Knowledge; and Truth-telling and Justice.

The creation of a new Centre of Truth-telling and Dialogue under the leadership of former Yoorrook Justice Commissioner Mr Lovett is the next step for the institution’s truth-telling commitments, following the powerful local examples of truth-telling driving structural change in Victoria such as Yoorrook and the First Peoples Assembly.

The event forms part of the University’s ongoing commitment through the Truth and Justice Project toengage with its colonial legacy and advance Indigenous knowledge, leadership and justice.

More details on the Symposium here.