This year Mr Victor Dominello, the newly appointed NSW Minister for Aboriginal Affairs, and Minister for Citizenship and Communities, will attend the annual Myall Creek gathering on Saturday 11 June. The annual memorial commemoration ceremony is for those who died in the Myall Creek massacre. This public commemoration is held at Myall Creek, the site of the massacre, west of Inverell on the Bingara-Delungra Road, commencing at 9.30 a.m.
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The Myall Creek Memorial was erected in June 2000 by a group of Aboriginal and non-aboriginal people working together in an act of reconciliation. It was awarded the Judith Wright Prize for innovative reconciliation work in 2005. In June 2008 Peter Garrett announced Myall Creek Memorial as part of the national heritage register. In November 2010 Minister for Aboriginal Affairs Paul Lynch announced Myall Creek Memorial as part of the NSW State Heritage Register.
The memorial commemorates the unprovoked massacre of twenty-eight Wirrayaraay women, children and old men by a group of stockmen in 1838. The story of the massacre, of those who fought to bring it to justice, and of the remarkable ongoing and growing grassroots reconciliation are told through the annual memorial ceremony.
Guest speaker this year is the noted Indigenous Australian theologian and academic Dr Anne Pattel-Gray. 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 organizing the 1988 March for Justice, Freedom and Hope. Anne’s own journey as an Indigenous person has been one of pain and hope. 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.
9.30 Arrival and morning tea
9.45 Short AGM, with a focus on concept plans for the new educational/cultural centre
10.30 Start of ceremony
From 12.00
Lunch (can be purchased)
Brief contributions by invited guests
For further information or interviews please contact Ivan Roberts at (02) 6257 4600 or .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address); Sue Blacklock (02) 6723 3279, Lyall Munro (02) 6752 5792, Graeme Cordiner (02) 9817 0288