A $3 million funding commitment from NSW Labor has boosted the spirits of the Friends of Myall Creek (FMC) members ahead of the 180th anniversary of the Myall Creek massacre.
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If elected next year, the party promises to provide up to $3 million to establish an education and cultural centre at the historic site.
Hundreds of people will visit the memorial on Sunday to commemorate the horrific massacre of 28 Wirrayaraay people in 1838, as well as the landmark trials that followed. Seven of the 12 perpetrators were hanged, a rare moment of justice for Indigenous people at that time.
“Labor wants to see that the Myall Creek massacre site becomes a focal point for acknowledging the past and promoting reconciliation between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal Australians,” NSW shadow Aboriginal affairs minister David Harris said.
The announcement was greeted enthusiastically by long term supporters and the local community. Moree Aboriginal elder and FMC Memorial co-chair Lyall Munro Snr, believes the centre would “Help all Australians, especially school students, understand the harsh realities of conflict that occurred in forging our nation.”
FMC member Graeme Cordiner noted the Reconciliation Week theme ‘Don’t Keep History a Mystery’. “The path to our future passes through our past,” he said.
NSW Shadow Arts Minister Walt Secord echoed the sentiment. “It was a horrific event, but it is where the facts inevitably lead us, and we should not turn away from them,” he said.
“As a society we must come to terms with the dispossession of the Indigenous people and the consequences of that dispossession. Only down this road will we find fulfilment.”
Labor says the funding would be provided over four years to enable plans to be finalised, the preparation of an updated business plan, preliminary construction works, the hiring of a project officer to oversee the construction and to establish a permanent foundation to ensure its long term future, and attract further support from public and philanthropic bodies.
FMC said the announcement added strength as they seek matching community and corporate support for the centre.
If built, the centre will be equipped with interactive technology to portray visually and aurally the history of interaction between Aboriginal people and early settlers across Australia, and the frontier conflict that ensued.
It will accommodate the needs of large groups such as school students as well as individual visitors, who already visit the memorial in their thousands each year.
FMC admits the vision is bold, requiring support from a broad spectrum of community groups and government agencies with specific skills and knowledge to share.
FMC co-chair John Brown said the memorial had always been a “grass-roots” movement “dependent on the goodwill and commitment of individual people”.
The memorial service will begin at the Myall Creek Hall from 9.30am on Sunday.
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