GATHERING STRENGTH: S1E2 - Talking

Deep conversations about Indigenous human rights revealing what’s happening in First Nations communities all over the world.

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When Aunty Gracelyn Smallwood had dinner with activist and former South African President Nelson Mandela, he dropped a truth bomb.

“I did a PhD on First Nations Australians human rights violations. I’ve lectured all around the world. Nelson Mandela invited me over to talk on my PhD.

“And Nelson Mandela said at dinner, ‘in my country of South Africa, we’re having reconciliation with the truth. In my sister’s country of Australia, they’re trying to reconcile without the truth, and that will never happen.”

This Gathering Strength series is a deep dive into complex conversations about struggle and progress for mob.

Aunty Gracelyn says she became a human rights activist as a child because she was never shy about asking questions. Seven decades later, having shared the Indigenous struggle with Nelson Mandela and working relentlessly here in Australia, her passion has never wavered.

Jerome Wano is an emerging first nations leader who’s proudly waving the flag for Indigenous peoples on the world stage. He’s travelled to the United Nations in Switzerland and met with First Nations people in the US to exchange views on human rights issues.

When Jerome and Aunty Gracelyn talk, the world listens. It’s an empowering conversation about Human Rights for men, women and children. Stay tuned to the very end of this episode to hear Aunty Gracelyn sing her favourite Patsy Cline song, Crazy.

Thanks also to other community members featured in this episode including Thomas Mayo, Gaja Kerry Charlton, Bruce Simpson, Jerome Wano, Vonda Malone, Alf Lacey, Mundanara Bayles along with Commissioners Scott McDougall, Natalie Lewis and Katie Kiss.

 

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Rights Made Real is a podcast from the Queensland Human Rights Commission.

This series, Gathering Strength, is based on interviews conducted during the Bandarran Marra’Gu summit in Queensland in 2025.

You can follow Queensland Human Rights Commission on Instagram or LinkedIn.

This series was produced by Deadset Studios: Host Solua Middleton, executive producer Kellie Riordan, supervising producer Rebecca Levingston, and producer/editors are Liam Riordan and Melissa May. Strategist is Ann Chesterman.

Theme music by Clay Cassar-Daley.

Thanks to the technical staff at the State Library of Queensland.

This podcast was recorded on the land of the Turrbal and Yuggera people. We acknowledge Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as the First Australians and Traditional Custodians of the land on which this show was made.

 

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Rights Made Real is a podcast from the Queensland Human Rights Commission.

The functions of the Queensland Human Rights Commission include promoting an understanding and acceptance, and public discussion, of human rights in Queensland and making information about human rights available to the community.

The content presented in this podcast is distributed by the Queensland Human Rights Commission as an information source only. The information may include the views or recommendations of other organisations or people, which are not necessarily the views of the Commission. The Queensland Human Rights Commission makes no statements, representations or warranties about the accuracy, currency or completeness of any information available in this podcast.