2026 Yearly Meeting
Queensland Regional Meeting (QRM) is excited to be hosting the upcoming online July-August 2026 Yearly Meeting. We were asked by the Yearly Meeting Organising Committee (YMOC) to trial this innovative model for online Yearly Meetings, in which we are responsible for the community aspects of the program, while the Presiding Clerk and QA Coordinator remain responsible for the business, and YMOC remains responsible for the overall organisation including registrations. Which means we get to host the fun bits! Even though we were about to leave our beloved Kelvin Grove Meeting House as a redevelopment process is in progress, there were enough Friends with a strong leading for this project. The small working group is Marian James, Naomi Doessel and Christine Venner-Westaway.
QRM has not hosted Yearly Meeting for 13 years, so we appreciate the opportunity to bring enthusiasm to the role of virtual host and to work closely with the experienced members of YMOC, to both learn and contribute. We are enjoying working creatively together to bring you our chosen theme, ‘Connection in a fragmented landscape’, and our chosen image, a drawing of the Hoop Pine (Toonbul). Hoop Pines (Araucaria cunninghamii) are much-loved by anyone spending time at the Kelvin Grove Meeting House and surrounding arboretum.
The original black-and-white image by Marian James is an invitation: you can engage with and enhance it by adding lines, text, and/or colour to explore the theme. An online gallery has been created to showcase contributions: https://www.quakersaustralia.info/hoop-pine-gallery.
All responses will be shared as part of a collective online Epilogue on Saturday, 1 August. You can find more information on the theme and image on our website, https://www.quakersaustralia.info/august-2026-yearly-meeting.
As Above, So Below, response by Naomi (QRM)
You are invited to drop in to sessions on offer across two weeks including the final Yearly Meeting weekend.
Adwoa Burnley will be the guest speaker this Yearly Meeting, on Friday 31st July at 6:30pm AEST. Adwoa’s 2025 online presentation to a primarily QRM audience was extremely well received, and we are delighted to share her with a broader Australian audience.
Adwoa is a lifelong Quaker who has spent nearly 20 years serving in clerking roles, as Clerk of General Meeting for Scotland, then Clerk of Britain Yearly Meeting, and currently as Clerk of Quakers in Scotland. Adwoa attends Meeting for Worship in Brisbane and Mullumbimby when in Australia, as her partner lives and works on the Gold Coast.
Her talk is titled “Addressing Challenges of Sustainability in our Quaker Communities,” in which she will share her experiences of focusing on discernment and listening to the Inner Light when enacting structural change within our Meetings. She will also discuss the need to focus on our Quaker discipline in Meeting for Worship for Business, and why this enables communities to grow and learn together.
We are featuring two social sessions. On Friday, 31st July at 4:30pm AEST, Naomi Doessel (QRM) will welcome you to the Transit Lounge, an opportunity to ‘land’ at online Yearly Meeting and connect with Friends old and new. Our aim is to provide a gathering space to settle in and ground into the held space of our worship, community and business sessions over the weekend. Similarly, on Saturday, 1st August at 4:30pm AEST, Christine Venner-Westaway (QRM) will host a Convivial Hour, focusing on the question ‘What’s on Your Mind?’ You are invited to join small breakout rooms to engage in open sharing and active listening.
We know that Quakers love Share and Tells, so we are offering two time slots, on Saturday, 1st August at 11:30am AEST and 6:30pm AEST. We hope to host five concurrent sessions, therefore limiting the offerings to 10. When you register for Yearly Meeting, please indicate whether you wish to offer a Share and Tell, and a link will be sent to collect further information.
Retreat at Home will be offered on Wednesday, 29th July at 11:15 am AEST, with Drew Thomas (TRM) and others, offering you the opportunity for silent reflection to prepare your heart and mind for Yearly Meeting.
We are bringing Epilogues online, focusing on our theme on Friday, 31st July 8:15pm AEST, and sharing our responses to the YM image on Saturday, 1st August, 8:15pm AEST.
You can view the two-week program from Tuesday 21 July to Sunday 2 August in the calendar here:
https://www.keepandshare.com/calendar19/show.php?i=2974167&date=2026-07-31
We are looking forward to seeing you at our online mid-year gathering,
Naomi, Marian and Christine
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