Episode 24 | Remembering the Myall Creek Massacre
Episode 24 | Remembering the Myall Creek Massacre
Embedded Files
In a quiet corner of northern New South Wales, the land is open and still. But beneath that silence lies one of the darkest chapters in Australia's history, including the Myall Creek Massacre.
This episode steps into that past, tracing the events of June 1838, when 28 unarmed Wirrayaraay people were brutally murdered. We explore what happened, how it happened, and the long shadow it cast over the nation, one that still lingers today.
This episode was recorded during Reconciliation Week. It is in our act of remembering, reckoning and honoring truth-telling, that we bring you this episode and the personal reflection that accompanies it.
Because some truths, once uncovered, ask us to change how we see everything.
Some content may be distressing. Please listen with care.
We’ve chosen not to include images of the landscape beyond the Myall Creek memorial itself.
We’ve chosen not to include images of the landscape beyond the Myall Creek memorial itself.
That land — the ridges, the gullies, the wide open skies — holds deep, complicated stories. And coming to understand them isn’t something a photograph can do for you. It’s personal. Emotional. Sometimes overwhelming.
That land — the ridges, the gullies, the wide open skies — holds deep, complicated stories. And coming to understand them isn’t something a photograph can do for you. It’s personal. Emotional. Sometimes overwhelming.
This history asks something of us. It asks us to sit with discomfort, to reflect honestly, and to find our own way through the silence and the sorrow.
This history asks something of us. It asks us to sit with discomfort, to reflect honestly, and to find our own way through the silence and the sorrow.
So instead of showing you, we’re inviting you — to go, to stand there if you can, to feel the weight of that place in your own body. We encourage you to make that journey, not just across land, but within yourself.
So instead of showing you, we’re inviting you — to go, to stand there if you can, to feel the weight of that place in your own body. We encourage you to make that journey, not just across land, but within yourself.
Reconciling Murder: The Myall Creek Massacre
Reconciling Murder: The Myall Creek Massacre
What would you do if your ancestors were responsible for one of the country's worst Aboriginal massacres? We meet the family confronting its history head on.
Colonial Frontier Massacres in Australia, 1788-1930.
Colonial Frontier Massacres in Australia, 1788-1930.
The University of Newcastle
The University of Newcastle
Source Information
Source Information
Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies (AIATSIS). (n.d.). Truth-telling: History, sovereignty and the Uluru Statement from the Heart. Aboriginal Studies Press. Available at: https://aiatsis.gov.au/collections/item/i9781742244198 [Accessed 4 June 2025].
BBC News. (2023). Myall Creek: Australia confronts its violent past at massacre site. [online] Available at: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-australia-65852772 [Accessed 4 June 2025].
Defining Moments in Australian History. (n.d.). Myall Creek massacre. National Museum of Australia. Available at: https://www.nma.gov.au/defining-moments/resources/myall-creek-massacre [Accessed 4 June 2025].
Monash Lens. (2021). The Frontier Wars: Undoing the myth of the peaceful settlement of Australia. [online] Available at: https://lens.monash.edu/@politics-society/2021/04/23/1382962/the-frontier-wars-undoing-the-myth-of-the-peaceful-settlement-of-australia [Accessed 4 June 2025].
Myall Creek Memorial. (n.d.). The massacre story. [online] Available at: https://myallcreek.org/the-massacre-story/ [Accessed 4 June 2025].
University of Newcastle. (n.d.). Colonial Frontier Massacres in Australia, 1788–1930. [online] Available at: https://c21ch.newcastle.edu.au/colonialmassacres/ [Accessed 4 June 2025].
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