Today marks 200 years since martial law was declared in the central west of New South Wales to curb brutal frontier clashes. It's a little-known piece of Australia's history which had devastating consequences for the Wuradyuri people of the region. This week, a grassroots process of truth-telling, called the Dhuluny project, is hoping to change that.
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00:00A show of solidarity and support for historic truth-telling.
00:08On this day in 1824, 200 years ago, the British declared an emergency state of martial law
00:14to stop escalating frontier violence.
00:17In our language we say gariyala, duliyala and duloyin, which is talk straight, tell
00:24the truth and then standing in that truth.
00:27Wurundjeri elders like Aunty Lianna Carr want the history of this region acknowledged.
00:32As the British colony expanded west over the mountains from Sydney, brewing conflict between
00:37the settlers and the Wurundjeri people over dwindling resources led to bloodshed and war,
00:43sparking the Martial Law Declaration.
00:45We were left instructions by our old people and one of the instructions was don't forget
00:52about us.
00:54An art exhibition, workshops in traditional possum skin craft and tonight's corroboree
00:59are an invitation to the Bathurst community.
01:01The significance of this event can't be underestimated.
01:05This was the New South Wales colonial government putting into legislation a state of emergency
01:13to basically be able to inflict violence upon Aboriginal people west of Mount York.
01:19Historian Stephen Gapps has written a book about the so-called Bathurst War and says
01:23the details are confronting.
01:25It's often shocking to come and read documents where people are proudly talking about killing
01:32Aboriginal people.
01:33It's unclear if a national truth-telling body, a Makarrata Commission, will be established
01:38to investigate our country's dark past.
01:41In the meantime, communities like this one are starting their own grassroots projects.
01:45For us to heal as a country and for us to move forward, it starts with truth-telling.
01:51Shedding a shared path to the future.