Grace Tame

After being groomed and raped by her maths teacher when she was just 15 years old, Grace Tame has spent the last 10 years turning her traumatic experience into being an advocate for survivors of child sexual abuse and a leader of positive change. Recognising the injustice of Tasmania’s gag order that prevented survivors from self-identifying publicly, Tame offered her story to the #LetHerSpeak campaign created by Nina Funnell, along with the stories of 16 other brave survivors. In 2019, she finally won a court order to speak our under her own name, making her the state’s first female child sexual abuse survivor to do so.

Now an adult and based in Hobart, Tame is dedicated to eradicating child sexual abuse in Australia, and supporting the survivors of child sexual abuse. Her focus is around enabling survivors to tell their stories without shame, educating the public around the process and lasting effects of grooming and working with policy and decision-makers to ensure we have a federal legal system that supports the survivors, not just the perpetrators. She is also a passionate yoga teacher, visual artist, and champion long-distance runner, having won the 2020 Ross Marathon in a female course record time of 2:59:31. An open book about her experience, but even more passionate about preventing this from happening to other children, Tame speaks from the heart and will have her audience simultaneously inspired and in tears. She is a regular keynote speaker, media guest and advocacy commentator.

Tame was the 2021 Australian of the Year.