The Origins of Tenderness, Trust, and Morality An Evolutionary Perspective

Lynne Reeder • April 17, 2023

In a world where conflict is more and more evident in our organisations, societies and between people - as sadly evidenced by the recent increase in physicals attacks on healthcare workers and school principals by patients and 

parents - where can we look for more kind and compassionate ways of responding? 


As an archaeologist, Prof Penny Spikins offers a unique perspective on our capacity to care about the wellbeing of others, whether they are close family or strangers. She contends that compassion lies at the heart of what makes us human. Simple acts of kindness left to us from millions of years ago provide evidence for how social emotions and morality evolved, and how our capacity to reach out beyond ourselves into the lives of others allowed us to work together for a common good and form the basis for human success.'


RESCHEDULING WEBINAR
The Origins of Tenderness, Trust, and Morality: An Evolutionary Perspective – 2 May 2023


Prof Penny Spikins was to take part in a webinar on Tuesday 2 May at 4.30pm, but unfortunately Penny is unable to present due to health reasons. She will reschedule at a time when she is fully recovered. We look forward to Penny speaking in the future, and in the meantime you might like to review a talk that Penny gave last year at Oxford University entitled How Who We Are Affects How We Rebuild, where she discusses compassion and evolution -

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pQgLjrJskPE (from 4mins in)




The Presenter

Penny Spikins is a Professor of the Archaeology of Human Origins, at York University, UK and has been fascinated by human origins after visiting Upper Palaeolithic cave art sites when she was eleven. Her first PhD was from Cambridge, and she has been a senior lecturer and a  Professor at the University of York since 2012.

Compassionate Ballarat Featured in Global Conference

By Lynne Reeder • June 3, 2025
The Charter for Compassion recently held its first ever global conference and Compassionate Ballarat was accepted to present. This conference served as a vibrant platform for sharing insights, and actionable ideas to foster a more compassionate and equitable world. You can listen to the presentation on the history and work of Compassionate Ballarat

New Need Help Brochure

By Compassion Ballarat • May 2, 2025
Do you need help or know someone who does? If you do, then this booklet is for you as it brings together all the food, shelter, support services, and learning services across Ballarat into one place. To make it easier in these cost of living times this booklet provides direct contact details, so in most cases you won’t need to go online. This 2025 version has been updated and so provides many more services than our previous brochure. Let’s look after each other in Ballarat.

2024 National Day of Compassion

By Lynne Reeder • October 7, 2024
Each year the Australian Compassion Council holds a National Day of Compassion, to provide a meaningful opportunity for all Australians to participate in learning about and in practicing compassion. This is the fourth year this National Day has been convened and each National Day has a theme and in 2024 our Theme is Compassion and Deep Connection which featured six facets of deep connection including: Contested spaces - Indigenous Justice - Peace Culture - Repairing Relationships - Innate Connection with our Environment - Dealing with our Distracted World. The National Day started with a launch that included presentations from the CEO of the global Charter for Compassion, Marilyn Turkovich on the Charter’s involvement in the 19th World Summit of Nobel Peace Laureates – with the Australian Charter Ambassador, Hugh Mackay, AO on Deep Connection in Community - and with the National Lead of the Australian Compassion Council, Dr Lynne Reeder on a Compassionate City project entitled Seeds of Compassion along with some inspiring young students and their compassionate wishes for their city. You can access the video recordings of this day here:
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