Uncle Franc at Fingal Head. The cultural educator will lead Walk on Country in Kingscliff this Sunday May 31 as part of National Reconciliation Week 2026.
On National Sorry Day, Tweed Shire Council is inviting the community to honour the past and look forward, with a free cultural walk through Kingscliff this Sunday as part of National Reconciliation Week 2026.
Walk on Country will be led by Uncle Franc, a cultural educator and Goori man of the Tweed Bundjalung Nation who has been sharing Aboriginal knowledge with schools, community groups and the wider public for around 30 years.
Today, 26 May, communities across Australia pause to acknowledge the Stolen Generations, the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children who were taken from their families, communities and culture. Uncle Franc speaks about that history plainly.
"People still don't realise, until 1967, Aboriginal kids at school could just be taken. Picked up and taken away. And a lot of parents didn't even know where their kids went. A lot of them make up the Stolen Generation."
From reflection to action
National Reconciliation Week runs from 27 May to 3 June 2026. This year's national theme is All In, a call for every Australian to commit to reconciliation not just this week, but every day.
For Uncle Franc, that commitment starts with something simple.
"That barrier can be fixed just by people participating," he says.
"Turning up. Listening."
Walk on Country is built on exactly that principle. The guided cultural walk moves through the Kingscliff landscape, sharing knowledge that most residents have never encountered.
"A lot of people wouldn't know the cultural Aboriginal name for the places they drive through every day," Uncle Franc says.
"Even though those names have been there a lot longer than we have."
Bogangar means high place. Chinderah means place of the small-leafed tamarind. Uki means place of the bandicoot.
Participants also learn about what Uncle Franc calls cultural resource plants, medicine plants, material plants, calendar plants that mark the 6 seasons of the Tweed mob's cultural calendar, and ceremonial plants used in smoking and other ceremonies. Knowledge passed not through books, but through story, dance, art and being on country together.
A community built on connection
Uncle Franc describes the Tweed as, by and large, a community that has built genuine relationships across cultures, something he attributes to decades of work by a network of organisations connecting Aboriginal and non-First Nations people.
"It connects us to the wider community," he says.
That network includes police, medical services, land councils, the Tweed Wollumbin AECG, the Tweed Shire Council Aboriginal Advisory Committee and community housing organisations, all contributing to a fabric of connection that has strengthened over many years.
Uncle Franc is clear about who Walk on Country is for.
"It's not just helping non-First Nations people," he says. "It's helping us all."
And his definition of reconciliation, after decades of this work, is plain and direct.
"It means all of us getting on better together."
Naomi Searle, Director Sustainable Communities and Environment at Tweed Shire Council, said National Sorry Day and Reconciliation Week were an important opportunity for the whole community to reflect and act.
"The relationships between Aboriginal and non-First Nations people in the Tweed have been built carefully and deliberately over many years, through the work of community organisations, educators like Uncle Franc, and the many people who have chosen to show up and learn. Council is proud to support Walk on Country as one expression of that ongoing commitment. We encourage everyone in the Tweed to come along this Sunday."
Walk on Country — Kingscliff
Date: Sunday 31 May 2026
Time: 10 am – 12 noon
Start: Ed Rotary Park, Kingscliff (Cudgen Creek)
Finish: Cudgen Headland Surf Life Saving Club
Cost: Free, family-friendly
The free, family-friendly morning includes a guided cultural walk, storytelling, cultural performances, live music, children's activities, native plant giveaways and a free barbecue.
Walk on Country is hosted by The Family Centre and supported by Tweed Shire Council as part of National Reconciliation Week 2026.
