On Sunday 5th July 2026 we were privileged to have Timothy Molineux, a social justice officer with Discipleship and Advocacy team from Synod, visit Brunswick Uniting Church. Timothy, helped write the Uniting Church’s submission to the Yoorrook Justice Commission, and he has engaged with Covenanting for over 10 years, across 2 Synods and 3 States, and he is a member and Secretary of the UAICC Victoria Regional Committee.

During the early word segment worship, he explained a little of the history of Covenanting between First Peoples and Second Peoples in the Church, and patience of First Peoples. He shared a little of his personal experiences of Covenanting relationships in his home town of Port Augusta, and what’s it like being a Second Person on a governance board that exists exclusively for First Peoples?

After worship, Timothy then lead an open workshop in Olive Way looking at Yoorrook recommendation concerning church property through the lens of Covenanting. Claire Foley began the worskshop with an introduction about what Brunswick Uniting Church has already done in relation to First Peoples and Second Peoples walking together.

Timothy then introduced the topic of Yoorrook through a Covenanting lens and the (so far limited) work that the Synod working group has done – it is opportunity for the Church to respond but it is not easy work and is about ongoing relationships.

The Yoorrook Justice Commission recommended in July 2025 that “Consistent with their commitments to First Peoples, Churches should identify, as a priority, opportunities within the State of Victoria to:
(a) Return land acquired for little or no consideration, or reserved by the Crown or Governor for Church purposes, to Traditional Owners of that land; and
((b) Share a portion of proceeds from the future sale of land of the nature described in (a) with Traditional Owners of that land (irrespective of whether it is subject to the State Aid to Religion Abolition Act 1871 (Vic).”

In response to this recommendation the UCA Synod “has established a Truth Telling Response Working Group, which is giving consideration to what fair responses can be made by the Synod to the historical and ongoing injustices faced by First Peoples” that will be “developing a roadmap for future engagement.”

Timothy said that the church had a choice of how it responded to the invitation given by the recommendation of the Yoorrook Justice Commission. Furthermore, the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) was relevant to how the churches responded.

Discussion then ensued around a couple of questions: (1) What role do you want congregations to have in the Church’s response to the Yoorrook recommendation? (2) While the Synod is forming its response how do we choose to act in the spirit of these conversations? 

Jamie Thom, First Nations Focus
First published in the August 2026 Olive Branch