From connection
to action.

What happened?

I got involved with ChangeFest 2018 in Logan. When the local host started talking about it, they really didn't involve us as First Nations people, even though we sat at the table with them. I just thought what a missed opportunity.

I said to them six weeks out, you're inviting all these people to this ChangeFest, you haven't even sat with us.

Credit to Logan Together, their team jumped on, and we helped plan ChangeFest 2018. I didn't know what ChangeFest was going to be about either. I didn't know Collaboration for Impact was running this way before Logan. It was a real eye-opener. I thought Wow, we're not just doing this work in Logan, it's actually right across Australia. I didn't feel so alone.

Out of this comes this beautiful story of us as First Nations people and Collaboration for Impact. Over the years we've had our fights, we've had our differences and everything, but we stuck at it. We continued to work out our friendship because I told them, I've told you I'm not walking away, no matter how hard it gets. But I also want you all to be committed as much as I'm committed to you.

And I think that's what made us where we are today. We can talk about anything together. Whether we're facing some hard decisions or hard things that we've got to talk about, we can do it without feeling uncomfortable in those places because we respect each other and we're getting to know each other.

We're working better, but we're also open to figuring it out and working it out. And, as you do in a relationship, you have your honeymoon thing, and then the next minute somebody throws a spanner in the works, and you go twenty steps back. But we're in this together.

Something we're figuring out is that Collaboration for Impact has got to bring me in from the beginning, whereas before, they'd always bring me in when there was a problem. From now on, I've said you can't just have these conversations without me. You can have the first initial conversation, but then the second one, we've got to step up as a team.

I think [the relationship with Collaboration for Impact] is the best thing that ever happened to me, and I think it's rippling over into ChangeFest because a lot of people have made great relationships as well.

Why is this significant?

This story is significant to me because CFI showed up. They put themselves out there, and they didn't promise what they couldn't deliver. We valued each other as well; I wasn't just a token black to them. I actually felt valued as a First Nations person, and they really valued what I had to say.

What happened?

Imagined Futures has been in the First Nations space quite a bit. But we've really been wanting to engage at a deeper level where we can have conversations with First Nations Elders and leaders in a deeper way about how we might work together to support some of the most vulnerable people in our community.

We saw ChangeFest as a practical mechanism for deepening relationships. Something we could offer to the First Nations community, rather than just coming and asking for their advice. It's so rare that you get a practical mechanism we can all rally around to help nurture and build those relationships.

We were also really informed by local Elders, who had spoken to me about their desire to do something at a regional level. We began by working with our local government partners (City of Fremantle, City of Melville and City of Cockburn) who already have established relationships with First Nations Elders and leaders, to see whether they had an appetite to progress an application to host ChangeFest25. And there was, which was very exciting.

CFI came out to meet us. It was tricky because working in collaboration is hard, and it became clear that everyone had a different understanding of what that was. We had to revisit things: Is there an understanding? Is there actually a desire to host ChangeFest here?

From there, we formed an Elders and Leaders group to consider everything we need to have in place for the ChangeFest gathering. Telling the story of Walyalup was such a beneficial process; the story absolutely shaped the gathering.

There were ups and downs along the way, the messiness and the difficulty grasping what ChangeFest was in practice. Everyone loved the principles. We could all get a sense of the promise, but not quite grasp what it actually was. It meant that there were times when we felt untethered. In a lot of ways, it was just a leap of goodwill from everyone.

Existing relationships were critical for navigating through. The City of Fremantle has very deep and enduring work in this space and has such a long history of really listening to local leaders and acting on their views. So, in a lot of ways, this work was harking back to that.

Having a lot of trust really held things together when it felt rocky — having good people who have a history of delivering good things together. Aunty Faith was hugely instrumental. Towards the middle of the year, there was a real loss of energy. Aunty Faith flew over. There was a sundowner with everyone, but there was also a session with local Elders and leaders only. Aunty Faith was able to speak with local Elders in a way we couldn't. The energy was really restored after her visit.

There were so many things happening at the same time. We went through a journey of saying, We feel like you're just asking too many questions of the Elders and Leaders group. We need to strip that back. What do we need their input on? What can they trust us to progress, knowing that we know the story? There was a lot of pivoting, a lot of seeing what's working and what's not.

It really was a weaving together of many different approaches. All of this was so important to the deepening of a relationship and building of trust. To see it all play out at the gathering, it was such a celebration of Whadjuk leaders. It was wonderful to see that actually come to fruition, and the pride that the Elders and leaders group had in the process.

Why is this story significant?

This change is significant because it is actually a different way of working. One of the reasons we've been so circumspect about engagement with First Nations Elders and leaders is that we didn't want to set up another advisory group. We wanted to lay the foundations for working together where there is trust and understanding from the beginning.

This is work that we've been thinking about and engaged in for a long time, and there's a thread for where it will go in the future. It's the bit that I'll take away the most.

What happened?

On Day One of ChangeFest25, Imagined Futures partners hosted a session on grounding culture. The session showcased three community-led initiatives placing Aboriginal culture connection as the base for healing, identity, and belonging for children and young people.

There is a local Elder who sits on our Elders and Leaders Group and has been involved with Imagined Futures in the past, but it wasn't really until they came to this session that they really understood the work that Imagined Futures does more broadly. The work we do in schools, the work we do with Aboriginal children in care.

After the session, the Elder said to me, "I'd like to talk to you. I'd like a meeting with the District Director for Child Protection". And I responded, "Absolutely, we can set up a meeting".

I feel like they realised that, through Imagined Futures, they could access these people who are working in different spaces, and could be part of feeding into how practices might be done differently at the local level.

This is significant because the Department of Communities is trying to reach out to Elders but is not getting a response back. However, the real shift I felt from the Elder was a sense that maybe this time might be different. What is so interesting about this shift is that the offer to engage had been made before, but it needed to have a different context.

Why is this story significant?

I feel like the potential is really with our First Nations communities going forward. That's where we're hoping the biggest change will be felt, so that is why this story is so significant for me.

What happened?

ChangeFest has evolved from a conference to a movement, and the governance story has the same arc. They're intertwined: as the governance model has strengthened and increasingly centred First Nations leadership, the evolution of the movement has rippled out from there.

ChangeFest was initially set up to be a one-off conference; then, the gift of the ChangeFest statement came midway through that first gathering in Logan. The Elders went into a room and came out saying, 'this is what it means to really centre First Nations leadership; and by doing that it also works for everyone'. The last seven years have been an exercise in learning how to do that in genuine ways. In dialogue with the Elders we've needed to explore how we hold shared leadership when we all hold different parts of the risk. That hasn't been easy, but it's been important to ensure shared leadership is truly reflected in practice.

The work we've done has partly been about building relational trust and making sure it goes beyond individuals – it can't just rest on one or two key relationships. I think the relationality strength has grown, particularly with the Elders and us in CFI.

From this basis we've been able to strengthen the governance model, which has resulted in stronger cultural authority. Going into Mildura we set up the Advisory Group, which included some Elders, and after Mildura we strengthened the model: the Advisory Group became more of a cross-sector group and the Elders and Leaders Group began meeting more regularly, with a growing connection between the two. We then reflected that national model in how we held shared leadership locally, for the gathering.

From this position of stronger cultural authority we are starting to explore the bigger purpose and narrative of ChangeFest. The day after the Voice referendum result I met with Aunty Faith and we both had a moment of, 'What do we do now?'. I was telling Aunty Faith about the impacts ChangeFest has had on communities: while the referendum wasn't successful, we've seen communities across the country shift how they work in many ways – from people with settler backgrounds shifting how they hold power, to bringing more First Nations leadership into the work. As Aunty Faith and I reflected on that, we realised we need ChangeFest now more than ever.

ChangeFest is about more than just looking at how government partners with communities, or how we improve services for children and young people: it's about connecting songlines in ways that centre First Peoples, and then enabling that to work for all people and communities. If we can create a new national story about nation rebuilding across the nations and reconnecting those songlines to be able to dream into the future, that's a story of truth and hope for our country. Over the last two years CFI and the Elders have laser-focused on that.

All the other work happening in the place-based ecosystem – the technical work of data infrastructure or how governments contract into communities, for example – that is needed and important. But if the only thing we do in ChangeFest is bring it back to a bigger purpose for why this country needs community-led change to be central to its future and how this can help write a new narrative across the continent – well, that will be a mighty good outcome.

ChangeFest provides support for people in the ecosystem, but it does that from the basis of embodying the principles. It's a transformative process: you can't just create an organisation that does that, it needs to happen through being in the work together. By ChangeFest embodying shared leadership and showing what we're learning – including that it's not all easy and we don't always get it perfect – I do hear people say, 'Now I get it; I can see it. I've experienced even a little bit of that for three days and I can take that back.'

During the three days before ChangeFest25 we saw the fruit of the governance changes and the relational work that's happened to centre First Peoples through the Elders and Leaders Group, and I saw them really step into their authority and power. It was almost immediate: once they experienced being centred and having their leadership really acknowledged, they then invited in allies.

I feel really proud. There's still a lot of ongoing, almost lifelong work for our country; but I feel like ChangeFest is setting a strong trajectory with those who choose to be part of the nation re-building.

Why is this significant?

It's important for ChangeFest to embody its principles because then the hundreds of people and communities and institutions that come to ChangeFest are more likely to take that back out – it is the quickest way to scale.

People have told me they felt like ChangeFest25 really got to the point of demonstrating what shared leadership in our country can look like. If we didn't embody it and centre those principles, it all just ends up back in the technical work of frameworks and tools. Lots of us spent years building tools and frameworks and that hasn't shifted the system; it hasn't shifted how we think about power or equity. But the stories I hear of change are when people experience something: hear Elders speak and invite allies in – that kind of thing.

We want to operate at multiple scales: we talk about things at the personal level, but we also try and reflect it in the structural work – for example, governance, or the narrative about nation building work, or looking at community or regional level models. My hope is to have coherence across all the scales, so that people can take away what it means to them personally, but they've also got examples and inspiration for how they think about this work at a community or government level.

The story of shared leadership has also meant we're clearer about the core purpose of ChangeFest: what it stands for and what it doesn't. As a result, we've become a space to have the most important conversations. In the peacebuilding session someone said 'Oh, this is the session. I've been in this work for years and we keep skirting around the issues, or talking about them in terms of data or young people; but finally, this is the conversation that's the most important to have'. I feel like we couldn't have had that conversation if we didn't genuinely have the shared leadership through the governance of ChangeFest.

I think something becomes a movement when it becomes a better way of being. By getting stronger in how ChangeFest is governed, making decisions about the boundaries for the work, and getting more coherent about how the principles are embodied – that's how we start to see the movement evolving. It becomes a movement for a way of being and working, where people take things back to communities or government or elsewhere. After ChangeFest25 I think we've seen that shift.

What happened?

Initially, I was unsure how the First Nations engagement for ChangeFest25 would work. I had preconceived ideas of what we would do, and I basically had to let everything go. As someone who feels across, and capable in the engagement space, I was now coming into a situation, as part of the core Leadership group for ChangeFest25, where it felt like I really actually don't know a lot about how to do this work. I just had to open myself up to seeing how it goes.

What changed for me over the course of the project was my understanding of what it means to put First Nations voices at the centre. It's always spoken about, but I was actually able to see it in practice. Sitting down and yarning, listening to the Elders and hearing everything that they say, in their own way, and in a way that relates to them, their place, and their journey.

We always want things to go quickly, we want timetables met, but you have almost to throw that out. There was a lot of checking. Is that what you mean? This is what we're taking from it. Sometimes we couldn't get a decision within the group, and so we tried talking to each person individually. That backfired on us a couple of times because it was the consensus-building that needed to happen in the room with everyone together.

It all came together at the opening ceremony in Esplanade Park. I had a moment of deep insight and reflection, seeing the Elders on stage, and realising that the gathering was really centred around First Nations voices. It was a real highlight. Often in our careers as practitioners, you don't necessarily see it, or you don't achieve it. You try a lot. It doesn't work a lot of the time.

Cultural governance is such a complex space. ChangeFest was an example of how it could work. We can apply what we learned from ChangeFest to the work we're doing now with the leadership group. But even in this very early stage, it's got to come from the Aboriginal community. You have to start there every single time.

Why is this story significant?

The City of Fremantle's Reconciliation Action Plan and truth-telling approach are part of my role, and we've got some pretty ambitious goals. The connection between this change and the work we already do, is why this change stood out for me.

What happened?

At the start of the project, it was like stepping around in the dark, not 100% sure what centering First Nations voices was going to look like in practice. We, the local leadership team, were really relying on Collaboration for Impact to guide us. Being on the other side of the country, that's not easy.

Getting things, such as the terms of reference, right from the beginning, was crucial. That took a bit of time, and then it was about persistence. Having that regular meeting spot and never faltering on the decision-making, and the role the local Elders and leaders were playing. Not having Wadjelas (white fellas) saying this is how it's going to be, or trying to speed up the decisions, and just allowing it to flow.

At the ChangeFest25 gathering, what I noticed was the empowerment of the local Elders and leaders who were involved in ChangeFest. I saw local Elders and leaders getting up on stage, secure in their views and their roles within the community as well. I could see that growth over the course of the gathering and throughout the whole project.

Collaboration for Impact, they're not government, they're not a peak body, they're something different. They can create a national movement and then offer a framework that gets built to suit each place. Our Elders, having had that experience, are very keen to go to Cairns. So, the story is still being written because the Elders want to go to the next one, and we've got to make it happen.

Why is this story significant?

The story is significant to me because the Elders were empowered to lead the community.

What happened?

At ChangeFest25 I noticed a greater coherence, collegiality, and connection within the Elders and Leaders Group. The story behind this starts right back at the very first ChangeFest gathering in Logan, with the actions of the Elders stepping into their power and having the hard conversations with the organisers. They said, 'this is not good enough – it's not right'. That led to the drafting of the ChangeFest Statement at that first gathering.

The Statement was then revised in Larrakia/Darwin; while I wasn't there when it happened, I believe this was an important point in the story of how the Elders' governance role evolved. The Elders came together and started to form a collective view of what ChangeFest means for them, and through this process what had begun as a 'Logan' view became much more a reflection of the collective.

Then, as part of the Mildura ChangeFest in 2024, the Elders and CFI spent a lot of time sitting by the river yarning about what needed to happen next. It hadn't all been smooth sailing before that: again, I wasn't there, but my understanding is that Tassie ChangeFest was a bit tricky culturally. But often from periods of angst or tension comes a shared commitment, and I think the Elders emerged from that conversation in Mildura, on the banks of the Murray, with a stronger sense of who they were as an Elders Group, what they wanted to do in that role, and how they wanted to work together.

I think the other piece has been Aunty Faith stepping into her power, both in herself and within the Elders Group. This has been pivotal. Two days after the referendum result, Aunty Faith got online with Anna and said, 'Now more than ever we need ChangeFest, and now more than ever I need to commit to this. We can't rely on government - they're not going to give us what's needed. We're going to have to take it for ourselves in our own communities, and therefore ChangeFest is important.'

Aunty Faith, Anna, and I have worked hard this year to bring the Elders Group together in a more cohesive way, so they can step into their power as leaders for this movement. We've been working online throughout the year and having great yarns; we've held it fairly lightly and informally, but I think it's built a shared understanding and relationships across that group. Bringing Mildura Elders into the group as well as Elders from Walyalup/Fremantle meant that when we came together for the 2025 gathering people were really ready to step into it. It's been building for a little while, but I think the opportunity to come together in person before the gathering through the Elders Lunch helped cement that group as a group, and cement the idea that they are the leadership and the governance for this movement – they are an important part of that.

I think the Elders Lounge at ChangeFest25 was also well received. The positioning of the Lounge placed the Elders in the centre of the gathering, and I think that was really important. After last year's gathering we felt we needed to pay more attention to the Elders; I left feeling we needed to ensure that they had some kind of space where they could sit and feel comfy and yarn. When Aunty Faith and I visited Walyalup a few months ago, she chose that space for the Elders Lounge; and then luckily Saint Pat's Op shop were able to lend us some couches and tables and so on. There is always more we can do – but it was progress.

All those bits of the story have brought us to where we are now, with the Elders Group stepping into its power. I heard evidence of this change in the Elders' voices, in the way they talked about their role being much more active this time – that they had more agency compared to previous gatherings.

Why is this significant?

The role of Elders sharing power across First Nations and other communities is at the heart of the movement, and the evolution of the Elders Group into a powerful governance body that leads with cultural authority demonstrates the ChangeFest principles in action. We're not just saying, 'Hey, you out in the communities need to do this stuff'; it's actually the way we all need to do our work. For ChangeFest 25 we were able to demonstrate that we're trying to live our principles, embody them across all the work we do: from the way we built ChangeFest and put the program together, to the way we think about the governance of the movement as a whole.

We may not always get it right, but hopefully that inspires others to embody and enact the principles in their work, whatever that may look like; and hopefully, through the gathering and through some of those sessions, we were able to show where there are other places and people who are already doing it. ChangeFest is not unique in that work – we know that. But we do have a unique platform for demonstrating what can be done when there's cultural authority and leadership; when we share power and work together.

The evolution of the Elders Group has also planted seeds for the work we want to do in 2026, which is to start capturing the story of ChangeFest from the Elders' perspective: what ChangeFest means for them and how the movement supports that, and what the possible futures might be. We want to bring that story to life for the movement, and for First Nations communities and other communities right across Australia. From the work that's been done through all these transitions, I think we're now ready to do that.

What happened?

At ChangeFest25 I noticed a greater willingness to question the role of institutions. There were a few discussions about needing to have the brave conversations – not just assuming that institutions know best. This means asking institutions what they're trying to do and how; where have they got that imprimatur from, what's the role they intend to play, and how could they do that differently in service of communities. I noticed that thread both during the sessions and in people's reflections afterwards.

For example, I heard a bit of disappointment from the philanthropy and data sessions. There was a sense of, 'we've had these conversations before – how are we going to progress this? What's the role we can play, particularly those of us with the power to really shift the conversation so we can make change?' It also came through in the Day 3 reflection sheets, where people wrote down ideas for the future. People talked about having more spaces for difficult conversations and bringing together diverse perspectives, so we can all grow and learn together.

If we think back to 2018, the reason why that first gathering happened was because Australia was just learning about what was then called collective impact or place-based change. But it was on the cusp of a wave: folks who were involved at the time like Logan Together, Collaboration for Impact, Health Justice Australia, and Griffith University felt that communities around Australia are starting to grasp this thing, and saw an opportunity to come together. What they wanted to do next was present a case to the institutions for why more investment and institutional effort were required to progress the work.

Since then a bunch of stuff has happened, and the idea of place-based approaches has really taken off. It's no longer a scattering of communities – now communities all across Australia are giving it a go in a multitude of different ways. We're not just relying on collective impact as a methodology now either – we've broadened the church and there are a range of ways to do this work.

Using the two loops model for systems change, as you move from one system to another a range of activities are needed to support the new system coming about. I wonder if we're at the peak of the old system now, with institutionalisation of the work and the formation of stewards that hold on to a way of doing it; and I wonder if we're about to see the shift to a new way of doing the work. There is something in the way that community-led systems change has shifted over time, from a bunch of disparate communities to a movement. In the two loops model one role is to connect those communities and amplify the work they're doing so you can then codify and understand it – I guess, to institutionalise it. Another role is then to see how the system needs to shift and help make the transition to the next.

Perhaps we can use the about the Voice referendum as a metaphor: there was a realisation that those big institutions are going to let you down. They serve a purpose, but they can't do everything – we expected government to deliver this amazing thing, but it wasn't able to. So instead, that's a role we need to further through movement building and community activism rather than through institutional responses. Institutions still have their role; but let's be clear on what that is and what it is not, and let's share the work in a way that makes sense according to what different roles are needed.

I'm very much taken by something Cormac Russell talks about. We've got communities that are under-utilised in the power, authority, skills, and values they hold in solving problems for communities, and at the same time workers in organisations are burning out because of workload. We've over-egged what we think institutions should do and under-egged what we think community should do, and we're all poorer as a result. So there's a general philosophical thread about rebalancing power, resourcing, authority, value, and roles across communities and institutions.

There's also quite a specific thread in the context of the movement, which is the very significant investment that's gone into new institutions – for example, PLACE Australia, Thriving Kids in Queensland, IDAC. Significant investment has been put into these institutions, and they have a valuable role to play. And I wonder if there are questions to be asked about 'where else do resources need to go? Do these institutions have all the answers for the challenges we're experiencing, and where else is there a shift required?' So, I think there's both a philosophical thread and a real practical example of it happening in the movement.

I've been lucky enough to read through the ideas that were collected on the last day of the gathering and there's a strong thread coming through of people seeing that they have an active role in this movement; that it is more than coming together and having a nice couple of days. People are seeing that there are things we could do together that could really shift the systems that surround our communities.

Why is this significant?

We're trying to shift ChangeFest from a movement of connection to one of action. It's important work for us to do in community-led systems change: that power-shifting piece means we need to elevate the power of communities, and that potentially means diminishing to some extent the power that institutions have. Cormac Russell talks about how we have given institutions roles that they shouldn't have; that they don't need to have. If we were to resource communities – not just with money, but also with power and authority – to pick up some of those roles, we could rebalance the work in a useful way.

We collected more than a hundred ideas sheets on the last day of the gathering, and the fact that so many people participated in that process when they were tired and thinking about going home, is a signal of commitment. There's more to be done, but it's a signal of shifting ideas about what it is to be part of the ChangeFest movement.