Each year hundreds of people from across the country gather on the Sunday of the June long weekend to commemorate the unprovoked massacre of twenty-eight Wirrayaraay women, children and old men by a group of stockmen on Myall Creek Station in 1838.
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Sunday will mark the 180th anniversary of this horrific event.
The Myall Creek Memorial on the Bingara-Delungra Road near Inverell, was erected in June 2000 by a group of Aboriginal and non-indigenous people working together in an act of reconciliation.
In 2008 the massacre site and memorial received national recognition when it was included on the National Heritage Register.
In announcing its inclusion Mr Peter Garrett, then federal Minister for the Environment, Heritage and the Arts, said the memorial was “a sign of how we continue to grow and mature as a nation.
“That we come to terms with our past, acknowledge it, identify it and then move forward together, sharing the future,” he said.
The memorial also received NSW state heritage listing in 2010 which was an amazing achievement.
During commemorations on Sunday there will also be screening a 'short' video made with funding from the NSW Office of Environment and Heritage promoting our plans for establishment of our educational and cultural centre at Myall Creek.
Friends of Myall Creek Memorial are delighted Roger Knox, the ‘Koori King of Country’, and Kamilaroi man, will also be with everyone to share songs that honour his people along with the Tingha and Gomeroi dancers.
The Friends of Myall Creek Memorial will also be congratulating the winners of the 10th annual Thoughts and Dreams – Student Art, Writing and Song Competition – which encourages students from Kindergarten through to Year 12 across north-west NSW and the rest of the state, to address and express different concepts of Reconciliation.
This year’s theme is “180 years on...What have we learnt?”. It’s a chance for people to reflect on what they know and what they may not about the history of Myall Creek.
An exhibition of the finalists will be displayed in the hall. The annual memorial service is open to everyone.
Those intending to participate are invited to gather at the Myall Creek Hall by 9.30am Sunday, June 10 for morning tea.
A great local CWA lunch will be available after the ceremony for a small charge.
Everyone is welcome to attend Sunday’s commemorations at Myall Creekon the Bingara-Delungra road.