Some won't celebrate Australia Day, but not for the reasons you might think

Councillor Marc Sutherland says he will abstain from participating in Tamworth's Australia Day celebrations partly out of respect for his "old grandfather," the sole survivor of one of the region's most infamous massacres.

"It's a story that's lived within our family for generations. His name was Peter James Cutmore," Cr Sutherland told the Leader.

Mr Cutmore was the only recorded survivor of the Waterloo Creek massacre, in which an estimated 40 to 300 [depending on historical accounts] Gomeroi people were killed during a three-week 'expedition' from present-day Manilla up to Waterloo Creek [south west of Moree].

The massacre began in December 1837 when acting Lieutenant Governor of NSW Kenneth Snodgrass sent a mounted police detachment to track down and arrest a number of Indigenous people who were accused of killing five stockmen in separate incidents.

After police shot one of the detainees, a series of violent clashes followed, culminating in the infamous slaughter on January 26, 1838.

"People often talk about that kind of violence being perpetrated by stockmen and groups of individuals, but here's an example of where that type of violence was at the request of the NSW government," Cr Sutherland said.

In 1838 the colonial government launched an inquiry into whether police used 'disproportionate force' during the expedition, but never prosecuted the case due to a lack of reliable evidence and popular opposition.

Cr Sutherland says the story of the massacre reverberates not only through his immediate family, but much of the region's Gomeroi community.

"If you were to find all of [Cutmore's] descendants, you'd be talking about a lot of people," he said.

"There's a national story [about Australia Day] that people are aware of, but people are less aware of our local history and the significance of that day."

More generally, Cr Sutherland said whether people celebrate Australia Day or not is a "personal decision," and that he's hopeful the discussion around the holiday can move beyond culture war antics.

"I know that more of the conversation is becoming compassionate to the experience and story of Aboriginal people and the significance of that day," he said.

"I do think that people's awareness and understanding will lead - possibly - to a change, and it's unfair to ask people to move at a pace beyond what they're ready to move at."

He said a smaller, local step would be moving Tamworth's Australia Day citizenship ceremony to a different date.

"We have that celebration in our community without the existence and participation of Aboriginal people. I think that's a downfall. In celebrating our new citizens and the beauty and the strength of the country we should be able to include Aboriginal people," Cr Sutherland said.

"The fact that it's not a part of citizenship on a local level because of Aboriginal people not wanting to participate on a day that's painful, that's a missed opportunity."

Tamworth has four annual citizenship ceremonies, only one of which is held on Australia Day.

But the president of volunteer organisation Multicultural Tamworth, Eddie Whitham, has a different perspective.

"I'll be there on Friday, on Australia Day. We've got a fair few migrants getting their citizenship, and I don't want to see anything change about it," he said.

"I want to leave it as is. Why can't we have our citizenship on that date? There's no reason to change it."

As someone actively involved in integrating migrants into Tamworth's increasingly multi-ethnic community, Mr Whitham has attended a large number of citizenship ceremonies over the years.

He said changing the date would marginalise migrants, denying them the chance to celebrate Australia's national day.

"Every human being living in Australia comes from somebody overseas. We are built on immigration. This whole thing is pushing one barrow and not looking at all the rest," Mr Whitham said.

Multicultural Tamworth is a group that prides itself on including people from as many different backgrounds as possible, but Mr Whitham said the trick to being inclusive is not giving any one group particular priority.

"We work with all the groups collectively, not one separate group at a time," he said.