THE SUMMIT IS NOW SOLD OUT. CLICK 'GET TICKETS' IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO JOIN A WAITLIST. The key event of the Danjoo Koorliny Social Impact Festival will be back again this year. Since 2015 our Social Impact Festival has been the largest social impact festival in the world. The sold-out 2019 and 2020 Danjoo Koorliny Summits have inspired a large-scale, long-term, systems-change movement designed and led by Aboriginal leaders to help us all become better carers of everything. (Click here to view program.)

Danjoo Koorliny Walking Together has now become a year-round movement for walking together towards 2029 (200 years of colonisation in Perth) and beyond, be it in Western Australia, Australia, or around the world. The Danjoo Koorliny Social Impact Summit is an annual key event that brings us together to see what has shifted in the last year and set our focus for the year(s) ahead.

This year will focus on the emerging collective vision for 2029 and beyond, and the pathways that will take us there. (Please note the new venue this year.)

(We have scholarships available. Please apply here.)

The leaders of Danjoo Koorliny Walking Together are Dr Noel Nannup OAM, Dr Richard Walley OAM, Professor Emeritus Colleen Hayward AM and Carol Innes. They are also working together with various Elder groups in Noongar country and throughout Western Australia. There are 10+ others who stepped up to support the Danjoo Koorliny Walking Together project - they include Farley Garlett, Daniel Morrison, Elisha Jacobs-Smith, Ezra Jacobs-Smith, Louise O'Reilly, Nicole Crnko, Shaye Hayden, Sharon Wood-Kenney, Jason Barrow, Narelle Thorne and others. There are also project leads including Oral McGuire, Glenda Kickett, Barry McGuire, Gordon Cole, Robyn Smith-Walley, Jason Barrow and others. They are supported not only by the Centre for Social Impact UWA team but also many other individuals and organisations who align towards a vision for 2029 and beyond. We also respectfully acknowledge those people who we have lost along the way and who have contributed so much to our journey so far.

The Story of the Social Impact Festival and the 2019 Festival
The Social Impact Festival was created in 2015 by CSI Director Prof Paul Flatau and Festival Co-directors Katie Stubley and Claire Dodd (née Stokes). Dr Noel Nannup has been delivering the keynote lecture at the Festival Opening since 2016 (when Dr Richard Walley delivered the Welcome). In 2018, Noel also presented on food and land during the afternoon session on the first day of the Social Impact Summit, and returned, unexpectedly, for the whole of the next day, saying this was where the spirit needed him to be. In 2019 Noel was invited by festival co-director Katie Stubley to design and lead a one-day Summit as part of the festival. Noel replied that he would be willing to do so, but only in partnership with Dr Richard Walley, Prof Emer Colleen Hayward and Carol Innes. When Katie and John Stubley (CSI UWA) met with these four leaders, the leaders stated their desire to design and lead not just one day, but the whole festival, with the summit now taking place over two full days. During this meeting, it was made clear that if we are talking social impact in this place, Aboriginal people have had a blueprint for environmental, cultural and social harmony for over 60,000 years - Noongar country is a hub of environmental, cultural and social harmony - and this is something that can help not just Aboriginal people, but everyone (Dr Richard Walley). Noel later met with Prof Paul Flatau, and the resulting Danjoo Koorliny Walking Together Aboriginal-designed and -led process towards 2029 and beyond was agreed upon.

The 2019 Danjoo Koorliny Social Impact Festival was a first-of-its kind event. It was designed and led by the leaders mentioned above, and featured many other local Elders and leaders who provided wisdom to help us all co-plan and co-create a better future for everyone. The 2019 summit outlined – through keynote lectures, yarning panels, panel presentations and workshops – positive change already underway in a number of social areas and the most important steps for moving forward together towards 2029, and beyond.

The theme of Danjoo Koorliny Walking Together has set a new direction for the Social Impact Festival. Each festival will now build upon this theme. In 2019 we began with the season of Makuru (the season of 'fertility' with the corresponding social theme of 'conversation'), and last year we moved into the season of Djilba (with the theme of 'incubation'). The whole year following the festival works with the theme set during that festival. This year we will meet during the season of Kambarang - 'birth'.

Danjoo Koorliny has now become a year-round movement as we walk together towards 2029 and beyond.

This year's summit will take place across two days on October 6 & 7. We look forward to seeing you there.

All relevant COVID measures will apply.

Major Supporter: Lotterywest
Danjoo Koorliny Key Partner: Commonland
Community Partners: Cultural Corridors, Reconciliation WA, Western Australian Aboriginal Leadership Institute.