Post-Settlement Awabakal & Our Neighbours' History
1790
CONVICTS ACCEPTED INTO WORIMI SOCIETY
In September four convicts seized a small boat in Port Jackson and sailed north, eventually landing at Port Stephens where they fell in with an Aboriginal community with whom they lived for five years. In 1795, they were picked up by Captain Broughton in the HMS Providence.
1790
1797
1ST OFFICIAL ENGLISH LANDING IN HUNTER AREA
The escapee convicts (ref. 1790) reported on the vast coal deposits lying along the beaches on Awbakal Country (Newcastle). Lt. John Shortland was the first Englishman to officially set foot on the Awabakal lands at Muloobinbah (Awabakal word for 'Place of Sea Fern', now known as Newcastle), reported of vast cedar and ash timber resources along the river.
1804
PENAL COLONY EST. IN NEWCASTLE
Following an uprising by 300 Irish convicts in Sydney (known as The Castle Hill Rebellion), a permanent settlement was swiftly established at Muloobinbah (Newcastle) to house convicts who re-offended in the Colony. The settlement was re-named Newcastle, after England's famous coal port. The penal colony closed in 1822.
1804
1824
AUSTRALIAN AGRICULTURAL COMPANY (A.A.CO.)
This British company was formed for large-scale operations of a colonial settler's pursuits. Aboriginal land rights were swept away when A.A.CO. issued new grants and land titles to private settlers. The first grant, containing 1 million acres, was chosen by Mr Dawson, the original agent, in the neighbourhood of Port Stephens.
1824
LONDON MISSIONARY SOCIETY AT LAKE MACQUARIE
10,000 acres of land was reserved at Reid's Mistake (Awaba) for an Aboriginal mission station. The mission was to be run by Reverend L. Threlkeld under the auspices of the London Missionary Society. The background to the mission extended to the first attempts by Governor Phillip to capture Gooris and attempt to assimilate them for the benefit of the invaders, including capturing Aborigial children.
1824
1838
MYALL CREEK MASSACRE
Throughout 1836 and 1837 the frontier Aboriginal resistence to invasion reached a level that the settlers found unacceptable. More than 40 Gooris had peacefully set up camp on Henry Dangar’s Myall Creek property. On 9 June 1838 a posse of armed white settlers appared and the Gooris sought protection in one of the station hand’s huts. From here they were roped together - men, women and children. 28 Goories had been cut to pieces with swords, decapitating most of the babies and children. Heads had been hurled far from the bodies. One man had been burnt to death, while an attractive woman had been kept alive and repeatedly raped.
1838
MYALL CREEK MASSACRE TRIAL
Massacres of Aboriginal people were not unusual at this time. The Myall Creek case was special because those responsible were brought to trial. This was partly due to the station manager William Hobbs who alerted the police magistrate at Muswellbrook – which then led to a trial, an acquittal, a retrial and, on 5 December, the judge passed the sentence of death of all accused. Seven men were hung at the Sydney gaol in George Street on the 18 December. This result that received a mixed reception throughout the colony.
1838
1848
EDMUND KENNEDY EXPEDITION
Edmund Kennedy sought to find a route from Rockhampton to the Cape York Peninsula in order to take the land over for pasturalism. The expedition found the country too rough near the coast and had to abandon most of their supplies. Kennedy and Wonnarua man Jacky-Jacky continued ahead alone for the last leg of the journey. Only kilometres short of the Cape they were attacked by Gooris and Kennedy was killed. Jacky-Jacky survived to complete the journey and meet their supply ship. He then led a return party in an unsuccessful attempt to recover Kennedy’s body. Jacky-Jacky returned south to a hero’s welcome, including being awarded a brass chest-plate by Governor FitzRoy, before returning to his people around Singleton.
1866
MARY ANN BUGG GAOLED AT EAST MAITLAND
Mary Ann Bugg, daughter of a Worimi/Birpai woman and an ex-convict shepherd, had been to be ‘civilised’ at the Sydney Orphan School and was to become well known as the wife of one of Australia’s longest surviving bushrangers: Fred Ward aka ‘Captain Thunderbolt’. Prior to their marriage he had served a prison sentence as a receiver of stolen horses. Just before the birth of their first child at Dungog, Fred Ward was regaoled at Cockatoo Island. In 1863 Ward escaped. Oral history traditions hold that Mary Ann swam out to Cockatoo Island through shark infested waters to accomplish this. In March 1866, in an effort to capture Thunderbolt the troopers arrested Mary Ann, along with her two elder children and baby. The two older children were taken away from her and, with the baby, she was brought before the bench, charged with being an ‘an idle and disorderly person and a companion of reputed thieves, having no visible means of support or fixed place of residence’, thereby sentenced to six months imprisonment at East Maitland gaol. There was immediate controversy in the Legislative Assembly over this ‘perversion of justice’. The governor intervened and Mary Ann was released after serving only a short part of her sentence. (Jansen, 1996: 6). This incident led to legal reforms to ensure that such perversions of justice did not occur again.
1866
1867
ABORIGINAL CRICKET TEAM AT MAITLAND
On 5 March 1867 the Maitland Mercury reported on the cricket match between a white Maitland representative team and the Koori cricket team from Victoria. The match was played in front of 3000 spectators. The Koori team toured England in 1868 and became the first Australian Cricket Team to do so. It’s record in England was 14 wins, 14 losses and 19 draws from 47 matches. One of the stars of that team was Johnny Cuzens, whose traditional name was Yellanach. This tiny man (5 feet 1 inch or 155cm) was, with Johnny Mullagh, the star of the famous Aboriginal cricket team. He played 46 of the 47 matches; scored 1364 runs for an 18.94 average; and took 113 wickets for an 11.38 average. Dr W.G. Grace praised the ‘all round form’ of Cuzens and Mullagh. In 1866 Cuzens played for Victoria against Tasmania. (Tatz at al: 1996)
1873
WILLIE PRICE CLAIMS LAND AT PORT STEPHENS
One of the earliest recorded claims by the Worimi people for the return of part of their lands was an individual claim by Tom ‘Willie’ Price. Willie asked for land in 1873 at Nelson’s Bay near Karuah, and he too was told that as an existing coastal reserve was in force, his land would be secure enough if it was held only as ‘permissive occupancy’. Although Price was unable to gain further security over the land, the Lands Department was still prepared to confirm his right of occupation in 1892 when it was queried. (Goodall, 1996: 80)
1873
1901
FEDERATION OF AUSTRALIA
The states joined together and formed the Commonwealth of Australia. The Commonwealth Constitution stated that “in reckoning the numbers of the people...Aboriginal natives shall not be counted”. During debate in Queensland on protection powers over Aborigines, Augustus Gregory, Member of Parliament for Chermont, says: “The law of evolution says the nigger shall disappear in the onward progress of White Australia” - cited in Weekend Australian, 27-28 May 2000.
1905
WILLIAM RIDGEWAY GAINS PERMISSIVE OCCUPANCY AT TEA GARDENS
As in the case of Willie Price, another Worimi man gained limited ownership over part of his peoples land when: “A later permissive occupancy over beachfront land was granted to William Ridgeway at Tea Gardens, on the northern side of the Karuah inlet, in 1905, adding to the possibility that there may have been other such Aboriginal requests to secure land between 1870 and 1905 which led to the same outcome.” (Goodall, 1996: 80)
1905
1909
ABORIGINES PROTECTION ACT
The Act provided the Aborigines Protection Board, which had existed since 1881, with legal powers to 'provide for the protection and care of Aborigines.' It was the first piece of legislation that dealt specifically with Aboriginal people in New South Wales. It applied to all Aboriginal people but contained particular provisions for children, including the right of the Protection Board to remove youths from Aboriginal Reserves and place them into service.
1924
AUSTRALIAN ABORIGINES PROGRESSIVE ASSOCIATION (AAPA)
The first Aboriginal protest group to be formed was the Australian Aborigines Progressive Association which held meetings in Sydney between 1924 and 1927 under the leadership of Fred Maynard. (Broome, 1982: 166). Fred Maynard was born at Hinton in 1879 of Worimi background and was the nephew of a Goori farmer, Tom Phillips, who farmed the St. Clair mission which was taken over by the Aboriginal Protection Board/APB (from the Australian Inland Mission) in 1916. In 1913 the local committee of the APB recommended that the Kooris’ land at St. Clair be revoked and their bullocks sold. They further suggested that the Kooris should be induced to work the local farms rather than the farms on the mission. They looked at Kooris as a cheap form of labour. (Heath, 1997: 61)
1924
1952
DEATH OF DAVE SANDS
On the morning of 12 August 1952 a disbelieving Australia heard that Dave Sands (born of the Dunghutti peoples), national and Empire middleweight boxing champion and contender for the world title, had died the previous evening at the age of 26. Dave suffered head and internal injuries when the truck he was driving crashed and overturned on a metre high embankment as the road divided near Dungog. (Phil Wilkins, The Sun 19.8.1985). Dave was perhaps the best known of the famous Ritchie family. The six brothers fought under the name of Sands during the 1940s and 50s, forging forged a unique record in world boxing. The Ritchie family maintained a close association with the Newcastle area with Clem, the eldest brother, and their sister Lillian, being actively involved with the setting up and then the ongoing activities of the Awabakal Co-op.
1961
POLICY OF ASSIMILATION
The Policy of Assimilation was agreed upon by Commonwealth and State Ministers at the Native Welfare Conference in Canberra, 26-27 January 1961. The policy ruled that all Aborigines and part Aborigines are expected eventually to attain the same manner of living as other Australians and to live as members of a single Australian community enjoying the same rights and privileges, accepting the same responsibilities, observing the same customs and influenced by the same beliefs, as other Australians. (cited in ‘Survival. A History of Aboriginal Life in New South Wales’, Nigel Parbury, 1988)
1961
1963
UNIVERSITY OF NEWCASTLE FORCES GOORIS OFF LAND
The university’s involvement with the Goori community is worthy of note. In acquiring the land in 1963 it participated in the forced removal of Gooris from the site:
“In April, the Newcastle City Council ordered the removal of nineteen squatters, mainly Aborigines...It took eighteen months of effort by the City Council, the University, the Department of Education, the Crown Solicitor and the Aborigines Welfare Board (who had to rehouse the settlers) to reach a solution (Wright, 1992: 84).
1967
FEDERAL REFERENDUM
In 1961 a Senate Committee on Aboriginal voting rights recommended that all Aborigines should be given the right to vote in federal elections and used its powers to provide voting rights to Aborigines in the Northern Territory. This led to the states providing the right to vote by the mid-sixties. The 1967 Australian referendum asked for approval for two amendments to the Australian Constitution: (1) counting Aboriginal people in the Australian census and (2) allowing the government to legislate separately for Aboriginal people. The amendments to the Constitution were overwhelmingly endorsed, winning 90.77% of votes cast and carrying in all six states. Many viewed this as a positive acceptance of Gooris. The Referendum led to many positive changes, especially the movement of official government policy away from assimilation towards self-determination.
1967
1972
SWANSEA HEADS ARCHAEOLOGICAL DISCOVERY
In 1971 a midden was uncovered while clearing for housing near Swansea Heads. An archaeological excavation in 1972 revealed that this was a very old campsite, being carbon-dated as 7,800 years. The dig was conducted by Frances Bentley and Len Dyall. Human remains were discovered along with many stone implements and also food remains, which enabled the researchers to reconstruct the diet of the inhabitants.
1973
WALLARAH HOTEL LICENSED TO DOT & TED WOTHERSPOON
In the NSW coal mining town of Catherine Hill Bay, Ted and Dot were the first Aboriginal people in NSW to hold a hotel license. Eight years prior they would have been refused service in the pub.
1973
1974
SMITHS’ GENERAL CONTRACTORS P/L COMMENCES OPERATIONS
This company was formed by Goori brothers, originally from the New England area. Initially, the company was independent of government funding. Its main activity was railway line construction although it diversified to include labour hire. Robert, Roy and Bill Smith had many years’ experience working on the NSW Government Railways and although lacking in formal qualifications, they knew how to construct railway track, including surveying and costing. Bill moved into the Maitland area in 1955 and after fifteen years’ service on the railways, formed Smiths’ General Contractors in March 1969. The company’s paid up capital was six dollars. They tendered for work and was successful in carrying out projects in many areas of NSW. The first year of operations yielded a turnover in excess of one million dollars. When working outside of Newcastle, Smiths often employed local Gooris to support the Newcastle work crews. The company ensured that 75% of its workforce was Goori. Perhaps the company’s most noted local achievement was the laying of the track for the coal loader at Port Waratah and during this time Smiths employed more than 100 persons. (Heath, 1998: 66)
1975
THE RACIAL DISCRIMINATION ACT
The Racial Discrimination Act 1975, is a statute passed by the Australian Parliament during the prime ministership of Gough Whitlam. The RDA makes racial discrimination in certain contexts unlawful in Australia, and overrides States and Territory legislation to the extent of any inconsistency.
1975
1975
AWABAKAL NEWCASTLE ABORIGINAL CO-O P/D COMMENCES OPERATIONS
By 1973 along with other Gooris and some non-Aboriginal supporters, Bill Smith was instrumental in establishing the Newcastle Aboriginal Advancement Society which obtained a federal grant a year later to carry out a cultural awareness program in Newcastle. Due to funding difficulties this organisation was superseded by the Awabakal Newcastle Aboriginal Cooperative Limited which commenced activities in 1975 and, in February 1977, was formally registered as a Community Advancement Cooperative Society. In 1982, it obtained a second registration as an organisation under the Charitable Collections Act. The cooperative’s goals were clearly listed: a. Hold a cultural camp for 9 to 15 year olds at Rathmines the week before Christmas; b. Establish an Aboriginal Health Centre; c. Reclaim the Sacred sights (sic) at the Wattagans and establish a permanent reserve and cultural centre; d. Establish an Aboriginal Pre-school; e. Obtain an Aboriginal legal service field officer to work from the Co-op; f. Set up a loaning and Homework Centre which would include such teaching programs as; the teaching of the Awabakal dialect; g. Establish our own club; h. Set up our own housing Co-op. (Minutes, Awabakal A.G.M. 1977 - Heath,1998:66). By 2000 many of the programs outlined above had been achieved by the Newcastle Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander community. Some, directly by the Awabakal Co-op, and others independent of it. But most often through the initial negotiations and support of the Co-op.
1978
NEWCASTLE ALL BLACKS FOOTBALL CLUB FORMED
1978
1978
BIRUBI POINT EXCAVATIONS
Excavations of shell middens were conducted on the Aboriginal site at Birubi, near Port Stephens NSW. Prior to 1788 Birubi was an important burial and ceremonial site for the traditional Worimi Aboriginal people.
1979
AWABAKAL XI CRICKET CLUB FORMED
1979
1980
NEWCASTLE ABORIGINAL SUPPORT GROUP FORMED
In September 1980, nine Newcastle citizens met in a school classroom to discuss the Aboriginal situation. The meeting recognised the need and the opportunity to establish a Newcastle Support Group. It was agreed that the Group would be open to all citizens, both black and white, and would endeavour to promote better understanding between Aborigines and non-Aborigines, and support initiatives proposed by Aboriginal groups both locally and nationally. “We have been united in an endeavour to put aside the 200-year old attitude that non-Aborigines know what is best for Aborigines; we are prepared at all times to listen to what the Aborigines are saying” - John P. (Jack) Doherty, President, Newcastle Aboriginal Support Group (cited in On The Fringes Of Newcastle Society, Mary R. Hall and W.J. Jonas, 1985)
1982
‘AWABAKAL VOICES’ ON 2NURFM
A weekly radio program of language lessons called ‘Awabakal Voices’ goes to air on 2NURFM, hosted by non-Aboriginal journalist and scholar, Percy Haslam. Haslam had a had a long, continued and significant association with Aboriginal peoples within the Newcastle and Hunter Valley regions.
1982
1982
KERABEE DAM ARCHAEOLOGICAL SURVEY
An archaeological survey was conducted at Kerrabee Dam, near Muswellbrook by Awabakal Co-op for the Hunter Development Board.
1982
WONNARUA RE-BURIAL AT SINGLETON
Singleton Shire Council gave permission on Tuesday night for an aboriginal skeleton to be reburied in the recreation reserve near the building site where it was uncovered. After extensive investigation and discussion with the Newcastle Awabakal Aboriginal Co-operative and Singleton Aborigines, the National Parks and Wildlife Service recommended that the skeleton be reburied and that a stone monument be erected with the council to pay the costs. Speaking against the recommendation, Cr. F. Tulloch said the proposal was discrimination of the worst kind. (Newcastle Herald 27-5-82). The reburial took place on 9 August in “a rare and moving aboriginal burial ceremony” held in front of 200 children and adults. “The remains were prepared in traditional style, being wrapped in a cylinder of ti-tree bark bound in a spiral with leaves”. (Newcastle Herald 10-8-82)
1982
1983
2ND BIENNIAL AECG IN NEWCASTLE
The second NSW Aboriginal Education Consultative Group (AECG) Conference held in Newcastle. The NSW Aboriginal Education Consultative Group (AECG) began in 1977 as a committee of Aboriginal people invited by the Department of Education to advise it on Aboriginal Education.
1983
WORIMI ARTIST FOR NAIDOC NSW
NAIDOC Inaugural NSW Aboriginal Artist of the Year: a Worimi woman Mini Heath (born in Taree, Biripi country). NAIDOC stands for National Aborigines and Islanders Day Observance Committee.
1983
1984
BILL JONAS APPOINTED TO MARALINGA ROYAL COMMISSION
Bill Jonas, grandson of William Jonas the renowned Goori horseman who rode at King George V coronation in London, was appointed to the Maralinga Royal Commission (investigating the effects of British nuclear tests in Australia). At this time Bill was chairperson of the Awabakal Co-op and the first Goori to obtain an academic appointment at Newcastle University. Later he became Principal of the Australian Institute for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies (AIATSIS) before taking the position of Director of the National Museum in Canberra. In 1999 Bill moved to Sydney to take up the appointment of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner.
1984
HUNTER LALCs FORM & MAKE CLAIMS
The Awabakal Local Aboriginal Land Council (LALC) was formed in September 1984. On 1 December successful claims were made in the Hunter through the Karuah LALC. Awabakal LALC’s first claim was successful in 1986 for its allotment in Young St, Carrington. However, Koompahtoo, based around the western reaches of Lake Macquarie has been perhaps the most successful in terms of area of land successfully claimed. The Hunter Region has eight Local Aboriginal Land Councils. Because of the Aboriginal Land Rights Act (ALRA) in 1983, LALCs have the opportunity to claim Crown land that is not required by government. Additionally, the Act provides a source of funding to LALCs through a percentage of the monies raised by the state government through land taxes over the 15-year period from 1983. All of the Local Aboriginal Land Councils (LALC) have been successful in acquiring land.
1984
1984
HUNTER ABORIGINAL CHILDREN’S SERVICES
Hunter ACS established under a 12-month Commonwealth Employment Program grant to promote the care and fostering of Aboriginal children in Aboriginal homes.
1985
BI-CENTENARY BOYCOTT
Awabakal AGM in August Votes to boycott Bi-centenary celebrations in 1988.
1985
1985
AEU IN TAFE
Aboriginal Education Unit established at Tighes Hill, TAFE.
1985
'KOORI: A WILL TO WIN' IS PUBLISHED
The book by Wonnarua Koori James Mille ‘Koori: A Will To Win - The heroic resistance, survival & triumph of Black Australia’ is published. This account of 200 years of Aboriginal oppression and opposition is interspersed with biographical experiences of the author’s family: the traditional society of the Wonnarua people (their Country is now also known as Singleton). This book is considered a significant first in Wonnarua publishing.
1985
1986
WOLLOTUKA BEGINS
The College of Advanced Education accepts a Bi-Centenary Grant to build Wollotuka Centre in In September. The Wollotuka Institute is now a unit within the University of Newcastle. It is a strategic and operational body which is responsible for all Indigenous activities of the University.
1986
PARIS FASHION PARADE
Worimi artist, Mini Heath is one of five Aboriginal designers to exhibit in Paris.
1986
1988
WOLLOTUKA OPENS
THE Wollotuka Centre, which was completed in 1986, was officially opened for the Bicentenary - with no Gooris in attendance.
1988
SYDNEY BICENTENARY PROTESTS
Newcastle Gooris join in Sydney Bicentenary protests on 26 January. More than 40,000 Aboriginal people and non-Indigenous supporters, staged what was at the time the largest march ever held in Sydney. The Bicentenary celebrated the arrival of the 11 ships of the First Fleet in Botany Bay, on Bidegal and Gadigal Country. This event signified the founding of the colony of New South Wales, the first colony in what would become the nation of Australia. To Aboriginal people this was celebrating the injustice, suffering and dispossession of Aboriginal people caused by colonisation.
1988
1988
AWABAKAL PEOPLE PROTEST QUEEN
Awabakal Co-op organises demonstrations for Queen’s visit. Queen Elizabeth II visited Newcastle in 1988 to open Queens Wharf.
1988
FIRST WORIMI WORK OF PROSE PUBLISHED
Norm Newlin publishes ‘Where There’s Life There’s Spirit’ - the first Worimi published work of prose. Norm was a soldier for the Royal Australian Regiment during the Korean War. He also sat on numerous boards including membership of the NSW/ACT Aboriginal Legal Service and the Campbelltown City Council Aboriginal Advisory Committee. In 2006 he was recognised and received the Campbelltown City Council Heritage Award. Norm had also been committed to regularly visiting and working with inmates at Long Bay Jail. (Source: My Father My Brother: Stories of Campbelltown's Aboriginal Men [2008]) He is now an Elder on Campus at the University of Western Sydney, where he assisted in developing the Aboriginal Studies Program, working with Aboriginal students and teaching the teachers.
1988
1989
CLEM RITCHIE DEATH
September sees the death of Dunghutti boxer Clem Ritchie (Sands), one of the leading 'Fighting Sands Brothers' - ref. younger brother, Dave Sands, who died in 1952.
1989
WORIMI DUX
Marilyn Kong, of the Worimi people is Dux of Nelson Bay High School. Along with her twin sister and brother, she is later to graduate in Medicine.
1989
1990
CORROBOREES IN HUNTER
Corroborees are held at Wollombi and Newcastle University by Gooris who have embraced traditional law to take up responsibilities as traditional custodians in the region.
1992
PhD IN TRADITIONAL LAW
Uncle Lennie de Silva of the Gumbaynggir people is awarded an honorary doctorate from Newcastle University in recognition of his scholarship in Traditional Law.
1992
1993
WORLD INDIGENOUS PEOPLES’ CORROBOREE, NEWCASTLE
1995
NEWCASTLE PRODUCTION OF ‘BRAN NUE DAE’, COMMUNITY ARTS CENTRE
1995
1997
WONNARUA MAN BECOMES PROF. AT UMULLIKO
John Lester who was brought up in Sydney but of the Wonnarua people (Country also known as Singleton) was appointed as Professor at the Umulliko Research Centre, University of Newcastle. The Umulliko Indigenous Higher Education Centre seeks a deeper level of framework, in which the past, present and future are combined to form a holistic Indigenous understanding. In the language of the Awabakal people, Umulliko means 'to create, to make, to do'.
1997
1997 JIM WRIGHT BECOMES AN ATSIC COMMISSIONER
Jim Wright was representing the Eastern Zone at ATSIC. He worked tirelessly in the Land Rights justice for the Sydney-Newcastle region and in New South Wales generally. He played an instrumental role in the establishment of Local Aboriginal Land Councils in the region while also helping to set up a range of services including Aboriginal Medical Services and Aboriginal Legal Services. He was the first Administrator of the Awabakal Newcastle Aboriginal Co-op, founded Yarnteen ATSI Corporation as well as Youloe-ta Indigenous Development Association Incorporated.
1997
1998
NEWCASTLE CITY COUNCIL COMMITMENT TO ABORIGINAL PEOPLES
On 14 April, the Council of the City of Newcastle acknowledged that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, in this council area Awabakal and Worimi, were the first peoples of this land, and are the proud survivors of more than two hundred years of continuing dispossession. As a vital step towards building a just, common future, Newcastle Council recognised the loss and the grief held by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander caused by alienation from their traditional lands, the loss of their lives and their freedom, and the forced removal of their children. Newcastle City Council, in negotiation with local Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, proposed to develop an action plan to redress disadvantages and attain justice for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples of this community.
1999
SIGNIFICANT EVENTS: NATIONAL ABORIGINAL LEADERS
Three significant events occurred in 1999: (1) The death of former Senator Neville Bonner at Ipswich in February; (2) Bill Jonas’ appointment as Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner; and (3) Senator Aden Ridgeway’s Maiden Speech (note: Aden is grandson of former Maitland resident, Pheobe Mumbler).
1999
2000
MYALL CREEK MASSACRE MEMORIAL
On 10 June the Memorial at the Myall Creek Massacre Site was unveiled, acknowledging the terrible events that took place at Myall Creek Station on 10 June 1838. Two basalt blocks mark the beginning of the memorial walkway which is a 600-metre winding path through woodland and grasses. At various stages along the walkway there are seven oval shaped granite boulders containing plaques with etchings and words in English and Gamilaroi, telling the story of the massacre. At the end of the walkway the memorial is set on a rise overlooking the site of the massacre between five spreading gumtrees. The memorial rock is a large granite boulder with a simple plaque surrounded by a circle of crushed white granite, edged in by stones. The massacre site was added to the Australian National Heritage List on 7 June 2008 and the NSW Heritage on 12 November 2010.