Carla Rogers is a community engagement specialist, facilitator, and program designer dedicated to Closing the Gap. After a Churchill Fellowship in 2001, she founded Evolve in 2005 and later joined forces with Aunty Munya. Blending Elder wisdom with world-class facilitation, she equips non-Indigenous Australians with the skills to become passionate and effective Allies to First Nations people.
The first time I heard the word gammon was while working in a remote Aboriginal community. Someone asked me,
“Are you being gammin or what?”
I had no idea whether I’d said something funny, silly, or deeply offensive.
Turns out, in that moment, it was playful. But I quickly learned that in Aboriginal English, gammin means pretend, fake, or not true. And the last thing you or I want is for our Allyship — personally or organisationally — to be gammon.
In our Ally Accreditation Program, we say:
“Don’t be gammin. Develop the skills to show up as an Ally to First Nations people.”
Because performative Allyship — looking good without doing good — is real. Whether it’s a social post during National Reconciliation Week with no follow-up, or symbolic actions with no structural change, it’s not enough.
Terms like virtue signalling, tokenism, lip service, white saviourism, and black cladding all describe the same thing: when action is superficial and self-serving instead of meaningful and sustained.
At Evolve Communities, we call the alternative Practical Reconciliation.
Our programs are designed to ensure your Allyship, whether personal or organisational, is grounded in authenticity, integrity, and impact. We go beyond ticking boxes to provide you with the cultural knowledge, tools, and support to ensure your actions aren’t gammon or performative.
And having said that — making mistakes is part of being an Ally — it’s learning from them that matters.
We say:
Allyship is a practice.
It’s a lifelong commitment.
It’s about showing up, making mistakes, listening, learning, and growing.
Just yesterday, Aunty and I spent two hours in a yarning circle with one of Australia’s largest rail freight businesses, who are doing the work of Reconciliation — not just talking about it.
Together, we worked through real case studies around cultural safety, workplace Allyship, and how to interrupt racism using Evolve’s R3 Culture Approach. The depth of reflection and cultural insight they brought to the space was incredible.
We were reminded, as we often are, that we learn just as much from our clients as they do from us.
The conversation also reminded us that interrupting racism is complex.
There isn’t one right way.
And we won’t always get it right.
But it’s the commitment to doing the work — to showing up and learning from mistakes — that matters most.
As we look ahead to our National Reconciliation Week 2025 webinar and its theme, Bridging Now to Next, we’re asking:
How do we make Allyship a practice — not gammin, not tokenistic — but a real and lasting way of being?
Last time, we left you with the Star Thrower Story and the question:
What will it look like for you to throw the starfish back?
The idea that we can’t do everything at once, but we can start with one meaningful action.
One person choosing to make a difference — and from that, change grows.
From your replies, we had hundreds of starfish returned to the ocean!
Imagine the ripple effect of each person doing their acts of Practical Reconciliation.
This week, we invite you to reflect on Aunty’s question:
“I know youfulla not gammin, but what you reckon?”
Join our community of Allies
Let’s show our Indigenous brothers and sisters that we are here for them, we value their Voices and we are committed to continuing the journey towards Reconciliation.
