Dr Charles Perkins Oration

Prior to GetUp, Larissa co-founded Seed, Australia’s first Indigenous youth climate network, after having worked internationally as a respected campaign strategist and messaging expert.

Larissa is an expert on gas policy and has spent extensive periods of time in the Northern Territory working directly with Traditional Owners and communities, who don’t support fracking on their land. She’s also undertaken extensive research and policy campaign work on gas supply, the gas industry, and its impacts on climate change and fossil fuel emissions.

In 1965, as a student at the University of Sydney, Charles Perkins organised a student bus tour around New South Wales. This was called the Freedom Ride, and it highlighted the state of race relations in Australia. It is recognised as one of Australia's most significant civil rights events.  

Named in honour of Dr Charles Nelson Perkins AO, who was the first Aboriginal man to graduate from the University of Sydney in 1966, the Dr Charles Perkins AO Memorial Oration and Prize was established in 2001 to recognise and celebrate the outstanding contributions made by Charles and other Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people to our community, country and society.

22 years on, the theme of race relations is still current. This event helps to build an understanding of race relations between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians and empower individuals and the wider community to contribute to this important conversation.