AFL legend’s Long Walk for the Voice comes to town

By Nicola Ceccato

Sep 1, 2023

Providing a voice: Michael Long will take his Long Walk for the Voice to Mooroopna and Shepparton this weekend. Photo by The Long Walk

Nearly 19 years ago, Indigenous AFL legend and former Essendon player Michael Long walked 650km from his home in the suburbs of Melbourne to Parliament House in Canberra.

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His aim was to get Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander issues back on the national agenda.

Fast forward to today — Mr Long is undertaking the walk again, but it’ll look slightly different this time.

Mr Long will be walking to Canberra again in support of the Voice, with stops in Mooroopna and Shepparton this Saturday, September 2.

He’s encouraging the community to get involved and walk with him, and instead of walking the full distance, the walk will take place in stages across Victoria and NSW.

This is to prioritise participant safety in high-speed areas and maximise the number of people walking alongside Mr Long.

The walk from Mooroopna to Shepparton will be divided into two 4.3km stages.

In the first stage, Mr Long will start at the Chinamans Gardens car park in Mooroopna where everyone will meet and walk down McLennan St to Victoria Park Lake in Shepparton.

People will be meeting there at 10.30am for a 10.45am start.

The next stage of the walk is from the lake to Rumbalara Football Netball Club, which will start at 1pm, with everyone meeting at 12.45pm.

To find out more information about the walk, visit longwalk.com.au