Print Media

National Indigenous Times, January 2026

A 'historic' gathering of the country's Indigenous philanthropic sector will aim to shape the future of the sector. The inaugural First Nations-led National Philanthropy Conference comes to Naarm in April 2026

Founded by Kuku Yulangi and Torres Strait Islander man John Harding in 2021, Barmal Bijiril's Blak Lounge Room project began as a means to bring First Nations people working in philanthropy together as a support structure and now works to make the sector more culturally-inclusive with greater representation.

Early on, monthly online meetings grew to include 18 people from 17 organisations. The group became incorporated in 2022.

Two years later, Western Australian-based charity Minderoo Foundation asked Mr Harding if Barmal Bijiril had interest in running a conference intended to iron out what a national body could look like.

Click on the image to read the full story

Philanthropy Australia,

John Harding was living in Sydney, applying his trade as an actor, director and playwright, when he returned to Melbourne, looking for a new challenge. He wasn’t particularly interested in full-time work until he saw an advertisement at the Koorie Heritage Trust for a philanthropic intern. As John remembers it, that was the first time he became aware of a role for an Indigenous person to become involved in philanthropy.

John believed his family experience informed the philanthropic impulse behind his interest. “It was actually just the way I was brought up,’’ he said. “My mother [Eleanor Harding] was quite prominent in the social sector in Victoria and eventually became important at a national level: and she always brought us up with the ethos…[that] anyone who was homeless she would basically just bring them in to the house on to the lounge room floor or into our beds and we’d sleep on the floor.’’

Click on the image to access the full story