Michael Long’s anniversary walk to support Voice to Parliament yes vote

The group is set to arrive at Parliament House in Canberra next month to mark the 20th anniversary of the historic walk.

AFL legend Michael Long with Member for Solomon Luke Gosling during the dual Essendon premiership player's Long Walk from Melbourne to Canberra in 2004. Picture: Supplied

Territory AFL dual premiership player and Indigenous rights campaigner Michael Long will set off from Melbourne on Sunday for the 20th anniversary of his Long Walk to Canberra.

Earlier this year, Mr Long, a proud Anmatyerre, Maranunggu and Tiwi man, announced the 2024 event would be brought forward in support of the Yes vote for an Indigenous Voice to Parliament.

The 20th anniversary walk will begin on Wurundjeri Country at the Melbourne Town Hall on Sunday, with Australians encouraged to join Mr Long as he makes the more than 650 kilometre journey.

The group is set to arrive at Parliament House in Canberra on September 14 and will once again be joined by Member for Solomon Luke Gosling, who was beside Mr Long on the original walk in 2004.

“I am proud to be walking alongside Longy and other First Nations leaders to mark the 20th anniversary of The Long Walk,” he said.

“I heard Michael on the radio in 2004 posing simple questions and almost two decades on these questions still need an answer — where is the love for First Nations people? Where is the voice? And where is the vision?

“The words Michael Long spoke in 2004 still ring true: ‘This isn’t about Indigenous Australians and non-Indigenous Australians – this is about all Australians’.”