AFL legend Michael Long will take his first steps on a walk to Canberra drumming up support for an Indigenous voice to parliament.

In a recreation of his 2004 Long Walk, the football great and son of two stolen generation members will trek hundreds of kilometres in the lead-up to the referendum.

Long, who played in two premierships and won a Norm Smith medal across 190 games for Essendon, begins his 19-day journey at Melbourne Town Hall on Sunday.

He is encouraging all Australians to walk to with him, whether it is for an hour, a day and or the whole way.

Long will stop in a number of regional communities to discuss the referendum including Broadford, Nagambie, Shepparton, Benalla, Beechworth, Albury, Gerogery, The Rock, Wagga Wagga, Gundagai, Jugiong and Yass.

The route stretches almost 800 kilometres, with Long scheduled to arrive at Parliament House in Canberra on September 14.

Nearly 20 years ago, Long set off for the nation’s capital to speak with then prime minister John Howard after attending another Aboriginal funeral and the abolition of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission.

The burning questions on his mind were: where is the love for First Nations people? Where is the voice? Where is the vision?

“Today, as we prepare to vote in the referendum, we are still asking the same questions,” he said in a statement.

After Long completed 325km of the planned 650km journey in about nine days, Mr Howard called for an end to the walk and agreed to meet.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese will reveal the date of the referendum in Adelaide on Wednesday, with October 14 widely tipped.

— AAP