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Yoorrook’s Chair, Professor Eleanor Bourke, reflected on the Commission’s legacy in an historic address to the Melbourne Press Club in May 2025.

As Victoria’s formal truth-telling process nears its end, the ABC’s Four Corners program spent time filming with the Yoorrook Justice Commission, hearing from witnesses and examining how we move forward as a nation.   The episode was titled, Truth / Yoorrook.

One of the first mass protests by First Peoples in Victoria’s history, it inspired action across the country for years to come

Yoorrook represents Victoria’s commitment to understanding our shared history so we can build a better future together. The Commission has finalised its major hearing blocks and closed submissions. So, what is Yoorrook up to now?

In the 1965 Freedom Ride from ‍12-26 February, Arrernte man Charles Perkins led a group of university students across NSW to shine a light on injustice towards First Peoples.

The passing of the Constitution enabled Australia’s six British colonies to become one nation, the Commonwealth of Australia, on 1 January 1901. The Constitution didn’t acknowledge the long history of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples in Australia.

On 23 December 1901 the Immigration Restriction Act became law. The colonies had restrictive immigration laws before federation, but the Act formalised the idea of a ‘White Australia’ as national policy.

In 2024 the Yoorrook Justice Commission investigated the systemic injustices faced by First Peoples in land, sky and waters, education, health, and housing. From hearing evidence at the site of the first recorded massacre in Victoria to the premier’s historic visit to Coranderrk, it has been a year filled with powerful moments.