Myall Creek massacre remembered as community mourns wrongs of the past

On Sunday, a number of local leaders, including from the First Nations community, attended the memorial site. Although the commemoration lasted the entire long weekend, with events in Armidale on Friday and Bingara on Saturday.

While the day marks a horrible event - when 28 unarmed Indigenous Australians were murdered by 12 colonists - the yearly memorial is an example of how Australia is trying to reconcile, said Aboriginal co-chair of Friends of Myall Creek Keith Munro.

"It's really important, it's a sombre occasion as we gather and pay our respects and remember the events of the 10^th of June, 1838," he said.

"The brutality of that story and that history is something we're all committed to remembering, being a direct descendent of the victims and survivors of that massacre is really important from my perspective," he said.

"It's also about descendants of survivors and descendants of the perpetrators coming together and remembering events of the past.

"But also providing an example of the way to move forward with acknowledging the truth telling of our history, but moving forward together as Australians and as Aboriginal people."

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Of the 12 colonists who participated in the massacre, seven were found guilty of murder and hanged, while four were found not guilty. The leader, John Flemming, evaded police and was never put on trial.

Northern Tablelands MP Adam Marshall said it was a shocking example of the behaviour of some of Australia's early settlers, but it's important we are educated about it now.

"Modern Australia is better off for confronting such uncomfortable truths such as those presented by the Myall Creek memorial," he said.

"Only by acknowledging that such things happened - by being openly ashamed that they happened - can we reconcile the past with the present and move forward together as one nation.

"Today's [Sunday's] event is the 184th anniversary and I think it's an occasion where more of us can show a renewed commitment to reconciliation."

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