In the late 1990s the volunteer Winga Myamly Reconciliation Group (Winga Myamly means ‘sit down and talk’ in Wiradjuri) started gathering annually at Cataract Dam on 17 April. The gathering was to commemorate what is now known as the Appin Massacre.
The annual commemoration started as a small picnic and has slowly grown to an internationally recognised event attended by hundreds.
‘It’s a massive lot of work it is, but we’ve come through it and I see that we’re growing. We’re growing from it and we got everyone involved in all that’, explains Uncle Ivan Wellington, Elder and MC of the event.
One of the founding members of the Winga Myamly Reconciliation Group, Sister Kerry Macdermott OLN explains how the event started, ‘Every area in Australia has an Aboriginal history… what was their life like before we came?
‘The least one can do is when you go to an area to find out the history of the area… And so that’s what I did. And so part of the history is about the Appin massacre, and I thought, ‘Oh, what was that?’ And then of course I asked our Aboriginal community.’
She engaged with Aboriginal Elders in the Minto area, including Aunty Glenda Chalker and Dharawal Elders and knowledge holders, Gavin Andrews and Fran Bodkin. Together they uncovered the significance of what had happened in that place.
The truth
On 17 April 1816, on Dharawal Country in NSW, soldiers from the 46th Regiment of the British army attacked a camp of Aboriginal people in the early hours. Men, women and children were chased to the cliffs of Cataract Gorge and fell to their deaths. The regiment’s leader, Captain Wallis, hung three bodies from trees at McGee’s Hill.
‘Governor Lachlan Macquarie declared war on the Aboriginal people of the Sydney region and actively pursued Aboriginal people in order to – these are his words – “strike terror”’, explains Aunty Glenda, Dharawal woman of the Cubbitch Barta clan.
Growing to understand the significance of the massacre together, the dozen or so regular memorial attendees expanded as the more local community members and organisations got involved. From the beginning, the ethos of the event was based on community ownership and relationship building.
To hear the Dharawal language echo through the bush is very moving. We remember that Dharawal culture is alive.
Bringing community together
Over the years, a network of people and organisations has grown to support this annual commemoration.
People from all over the community are involved. The Tharawal Aboriginal Corporation provides chairs and transports Elders to the event. A plaque and a pamphlet about the memorial were funded by Wollondilly Council.
Non-government organisations, the Catholic Church, local police, businesses and schools – all band together for a successful grassroots event to commemorate a part of their shared history and journey towards reconciliation.
It is a powerful example of how truth-telling can bring communities together.
‘The event itself is really secondary to the ground support that comes together to have the event,’ says Gavin. ‘We get donations of sausages and salad. We feed people and then we walk down the road, down to the dam face where there’s a little memorial plaque. And then different people speak.’
‘We are welcomed so warmly to Country,’ explains group member, Ann Madsen. ‘To hear the Dharawal language echo through the bush is very moving. We remember that Dharawal culture is alive.’
‘We have had, unexpectedly, people arrive on the day to say “I was a descendant of one of the soldiers”,’ says Ann.
‘And then we have invited that person to tell their story… given them a chance to give their own apology. And the embrace that happened between the Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people was truly a moving moment.’
A solemn commemoration
Organisers never had a formal strategy for the event to achieve the kind of participation that it has – it just happened organically through the group consistently holding it every year as a part of their commitment to reconciliation and healing.
‘It’s just getting to know one another, your local community and coming together… it doesn’t matter if it doesn’t work one way, just try another way. It’s like anything in life, you just try. Don’t give up,’ explains Sister Kerry
Even though the memorial continues to grow in numbers, it remains a solemn commemoration, that prioritises respect for Traditional Owners and community ownership.
Sister Kerry emphasises the importance of getting formal permission from Elders every year – without which the event would cease immediately.
Community ownership is seen as critical to the sustainability of the event as this way it is not subject to changing government priorities, funding cycles or staff turnover. Even at its peak of several thousand participants, organisers were careful not to let it become appropriated for either political or commercial ends.
The importance of place
Ultimately, the community’s truth-telling about that site has led to its protection from development.
The site is now recognised on the state heritage list as the ‘Appin Massacre Cultural Landscape’, as a permanent place for remembering the Aboriginal people whose lives were lost, and an important location for community healing and reconciliation.
The impact of this heritage listing was amplified by the screening of a documentary (Australia Wars) by filmmaker and Arrernte and Kalkadoon woman Rachel Perkins. It was about frontier conflict and included a segment on the Appin massacre, in which Aunty Glenda Chalker appeared.
‘I think it was a lovely coincidence of timing that the documentary came out just prior to the gazettal of the Cultural Landscape,’ says Aunty Glenda.
‘I think that was something for me to remember the rest of my life, because I think it was just such good timing for the whole thing to come together like that’.
This account of truth-telling in action is based on a case study from the Recognising community truth-telling: An exploration of local truth-telling in Australia report. The collaborative study between Reconciliation Australia and Deakin University’s Alfred Deakin Institute for Citizenship and Globalisation documents 25 community truth-telling projects. Read the full report.
