Grace Tame
2021 Australian of the Year, Advocate, Writer and Ultra Marathon Runner
A survivor of child sexual abuse, author, columnist, campaigner, and advocate for fellow survivors. She is the Founder of The Grace Tame Foundation, a not-for-profit organisation which creates and funds initiatives to prevent, disrupt and respond to child sexual abuse.
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Born and raised in Tasmania, Grace Tame grew up in a big, loving extended family. Her childhood was full of laughter, adventure, and curiosity—running amok with cousins in the ocean and bush, riding horses, climbing trees (and occasionally falling out of them), and woodworking with her Pop in his shed. Always a happy little Vegemite, she carried a glass-half-full attitude even on the toughest days, paired with a cheeky sense of humour.
Although her parents separated when she was two, they did so amicably, and Grace was grateful to have four supportive adults in her life between them and her step-parents. She also shares a close bond with her 11-year-old half-brother, Oscar. Until she was 15, she split her time between two homes, though she was mostly too busy embracing life to notice any instability.
From a young age, Grace threw herself into life with courage and curiosity. Equally active and academic, she pursued everything from cross country and water polo to visual and performing arts, maths, science, and languages. She was the only girl on her primary school soccer team from grades 3 to 6, and a keen—if dreadful—ballroom dancer. She dreamed of being a painter, an economist, a writer, and an athlete all at once.
Her life has been both unpredictable and extraordinary—from surviving childhood sexual abuse, to travelling the United States as the personal illustrator for a childhood hero, to becoming one of the 17 survivors in Nina Funnell’s #LetHerSpeak campaign.
Through it all, Grace’s sense of humour, passion for social justice, and belief in human connection have remained constant. She believes in owning every part of one’s story—the good and the bad. Vulnerability and shared experiences bring people closer, and there is no shame in surviving. For her, truth is power.
Being sexually abused as a child is deeply damaging and alienating, not only throughout the trauma itself, but in the aftermath. After being groomed to feel isolated, confused and powerless, it can take years to process and heal. What’s more, societal ignorance and structural inequalities create further barriers. Driven by an innate value of human connection and a passion for educating and protecting the community, Grace’s mission is to dismantle stigma, redirect shame and one day end child sexual abuse for good.
Video
Topics
The Unfair Fight
The tech arms race between child sex offenders and law enforcement
Society is digitally dependent, increasingly encrypted and technology is enabling the proliferation of child sexual abuse material. Leading child protection advocate Grace Tame and Associate Professor Campbell Wilson have united to fight back.
This conversation explores tech-facilitated corruption of cognition and morality. In the online child exploitation landscape, law enforcement is in an arms race against offenders using an exponentially evolving arsenal including generative AI, social media, bots, the dark web and sextortion.
Grace and Campbell emphasise the need for survivors’ lived experience to be centred in tech-based child exploitation prevention, intervention and response measures.
The call on communities to get informed and question mainstream narratives. It’s incumbent on us all to pressure tech giants and governments to protect children.
