Head to the Hill is BTAA’s annual national advocacy and awareness event at Parliament House, Canberra. Each year, patients, carers and supporters meet with Members and Senators to put brain cancer firmly on the national agenda.
At the heart of the event is a powerful shoe installation — thousands of pairs representing the lives, stories and families impacted by brain tumours. Every pair symbolises a person, making the human cost visible in a way statistics alone cannot.
You can take part each year by attending in person, sending a pair of shoes and a story to be included in the installation, writing to your Federal MP or Senator, or sharing our advocacy messages across your networks.
Explore past events below to view photos, videos and stories from each year.
Head to the Hill 2026
Head to the Hill 2026 will be held on Wednesday, 14 October 2026 in the Great Hall at Parliament House in Canberra.
You can take part in Head to the Hill in two ways:
Register as an Attendee
Attend the event in person, experience the shoe installation, and stand with the national brain tumour community as we raise awareness and visibility at Parliament House.
Register as a Brain Tumour Advocate
Advocates play a central role in our national advocacy.
When you register as an Advocate, you’ll receive the Advocate Toolkit, including:
- Guidance for contacting your Federal MP or Senator
- Key messages for 2026
- Templates for outreach
- Tips for sharing your lived experience
- Support from BTAA throughout the process
Advocates are welcome to use the toolkit if they’d like support in meeting with their MP or Senator before or during the event, but this is completely optional and only for those who feel comfortable engaging directly with decision‑makers.
PAST EVENT HIGHLIGHTS
Head to the Hill – October 2025
Head to the Hill 2025 saw patients, carers, clinicians and researchers come together to share their stories and advocate directly to federal MPs about the urgent needs of the brain tumour community. From personal stories, calls for funding and support from MPs, the day was full of powerful speeches and insights. Keynote speakers included Professor Richard Scolyer, Gail O’Brien and the Hon Mark Butler, Minister for Health.
You can watch all the speeches from the event in our video playlist:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLwCp4MDvgvmD3mP6b3jwVG2bFhnW51v8Q
For more information on BTAA’s asks to Government at Head to the Hill 2025, see The Australian Brain Cancer Landscape 2025.