Annual ceremony went ahead with some changes to plans

This year there was some bad weather for the event, as there was on the long weekend along the whole of the East Coast. “Word somehow went around the commemoration was cancelled!” said Graeme Cordiner of Sydney Friends of Myall Creek. “The site was quite dry enough, even to use the amphitheatre for dances. Sue and speaker Lyndall Ryan spoke well, as did Adam Marshall, the local MP.”

NBN News provided coverage of the event regionally. The concert on 12 June took place at the Bingara sports ground as there were concerns about the memorial site being too wet.

Around 500 people came for the commemoration on 13 June including two people from Sydney’s Initiative of Change group. 

Prasanthi said: “Going to Myall Creek is the highlight of my 29 years of life in Australia. It was a very spiritual experience for me. I felt the healing, the love and welcome by our indigenous people. 

“I do feel now I have the permission to seek and learn more about aboriginal culture. The way the dancers invited us to dance with them, and the way Auntie Sue and Clayton Blacklock welcomed us on both days felt like a warm embrace.

“It was indeed a worthy pilgrimage and I commit to spread the message to every Australian I know so they get inspired to go on this journey to learn and heal and move forward together.”

Yousif said: “The last weekend was absolutely remarkable. The journey itself was part of the destination. The friendships that were renewed and those that were established were phenomenal. 

“The occasion itself was highly spiritual. This year I was able to feel peace, and there is no more anguish or inner weeping for my own ancestors who were massacred. There is no more weeping: we are at peace. This is a powerful message, expressed in action. I feel I have been cleansed of all depression and anguish for my ancestors. I have already forgiven, through the One True God. 

“But no more weeping. I feel my ancestors want me to establish peace, in a real way, through love and forgiveness."

Vale Bob Steele

Bob Steele died recently and at the meeting of Sydney Friends of Myall Creek at the end of last month he was remembered by those gathered. Bob had a strong sense of justice and overcame significant odds in his life. Being a whistleblower cost him personally as he was in a court case at the end of his life and it went against him.

The son of a preacher, he got bullied at school but an Aboriginal girl in the class got worse and he always remembered this fact. 

Peter Stewart remembered: “Bob was a man of enormous integrity who fought not only for issues that concerned him directly but for numerous issues that would make our society better for all.”

He had an extensive library and was always happy to share ideas. Bob stipulated that he wanted no funeral but left money to Myall Creek in his Will. 

He had a busy and full life. In the 1980s he lost his job in a pilot’s strike. Subsequently he had an accident in an ultralight, and though told he’d never walk again he recovered. 

Bob contributed two stories for a new book on Myall Creek being published by Graeme Cordiner.