Meet our new Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Justice Officer

‘Alla’ which means hello in Awabakal language. I am Felicity McCallum and I’m an Awabakaleen (Awaba woman) from the Awabakal region, which is also Wanungine-Wallambine Country, about 140 km north of Sydney on the east side of Australia. 

It is such a deep honour to be appointed as the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Justice Officer for Common Grace. Before stepping into this role I have felt so grateful to you, the Common Grace movement, for all the work you do and what you symbolise in our nation – a movement of people holding a vision for a just and peaceful continent. 

My Catholic faith and my obligations as an Awabakaleen have instilled in me a dedication to national reconciliation. In my life this has played out in many roles – as a teacher to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children, as an Aunty, a lecturer, a consultant on reconciliation to ecumenical church organisations, as a leader on reconciliation action plans and as a student. Recently I was awarded my Doctorate, on the twin disciplines of Theology and  Australian Indigenous History from Charles Sturt University. My thesis considered how faith can help illuminate the path forward on reconciliation, and my research was grounded by the experience of my people, both my Awabakal and Celtic Ancestors. It considered both the good, such as the flourishing of miraculous friendships, and the bad, their experiences of confrontation and oppression.

A key insight from the theorists and theologians I considered in my thesis was that much of the damage done in Australia came about because of the posture of domination and rivalry that the colonisers held in their engagement with First Nations people. Jesus reminds us that our interactions with all others should be guided by a posture of love, in imitation of the self-giving God of love we worship. The moments in Australia’s history where we see this way of love at work provide us, even now, with a path towards reconciliation and hope.

Stepping into this role with Common Grace, I see myself supporting our work by bringing my lifetime of experience and knowledge together with a commitment to be a good listener, by cultivating that capacity to listen to community, the wider movement of Common Grace, and the National heart's thirst for justice.

I’m excited about working together creatively to grow deep, good and right relationships. I know that by being authentic, and by fearlessly truth-telling and truth listening, that Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians can reimagine who we are together, we can become stronger as we conceive of ourself afresh. 

We can make all things new.