Each year upwards of 400 people from across the country gather on the June long weekend to commemorate the unprovoked massacre of 28 Wirrayaraay women, children and old men by a group of stockmen in 1838.

Guest speaker this year is the noted Indigenous Australian theologian and academic Dr Anne Pattel-Gray.

Victor Dominello, the newly appointed NSW Minister for Aboriginal Affairs will also attend the annual Myall Creek memorial next Saturday.

Anne has been the Executive Secretary of the Aboriginal & Islander Commission of the National Council of Churches in Australia, and a Research Fellow at the University of Sydney.

She has represented Aboriginal Australia on various international bodies and organisations throughout the world.

Anne also played a significant role in organising the 1988 March for Justice, Freedom and Hope.

Anne’s own journey as an Indigenous person has been one of pain and hope and she believes whether non-Indigenous people are part of the problem or part of the hope will depend on the extent to which they are prepared to travel alongside Indigenous people, listening and offering solidarity.

The Myall Creek Memorial on the Bingara-Delungra Road, was erected in June 2000 by a group of Aboriginal and non-aboriginal 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.

The Memorial also received NSW state heritage listing in 2010. Plans for an educational and cultural centre to be built near the site are well in hand and will be outlined to those attending Saturday’s service.

The community is invited to gather at the Myall Creek Hall by 9.30am for morning tea. Lunch will be available after the ceremony for a small charge.

© 2011 Inverell Times

<< Back