Following its official opening in June last year, hundreds of people including descendants of those responsible for the massacre again gathered at the site north of Bingara for the day of activities.

“The number of non-Aboriginal people here today outnumber the Aboriginal people and that in itself is a really good sign as to how we’re coming to terms with the differences in the north-west region, Kamilaroi country,” secretary of the Moree Local Aboriginal Lands Council Tom French said.

“I think Canberra can learn a lot from us as far as reconciliation process is concerned.”

The first of four plaques to be unveiled during the day was one dedicated to the late Len Payne of Bingara.

“Len Payne was the instigator of a lot of this and a champion of justice in human rights,” Warialda-based historian Ted Stubbins said.

After assisting his touched mother Eileen in unveiling the plaque, son Jim Payne noted the impressive size of the crowd gathered before him and the obvious change in attitudes from his father’s days.

“As much as my father would be pleased to see this plaque he would still say ‘never forget what happened here’,” he added.

Plaques acknowledging those who had contributed to the memorial, the burial of the remains of a woman who originated from the Myall Creek area and the entrance to the Memorial Walkway were also unveiled.

Neil Podger of the Tamworth branch of Australians for Reconciliation said he hoped to develop the concept of reconciliation and related issues by participating in the weekend’s stage two opening.

“I think it (the memorial) has significance for white people as well as Aboriginal people as it acknowledges and is symbolic of what happened right throughout the country,” his wife and co-branch member Verna added. “It’s the first proper memorial we’ve had.”

Following an address by director-general of Aboriginal Affairs Linda Burney, two candles (one red symbolising the past’s spilt blood and the other green representing the hope of the future) were lit at the Myall Creek Memorial Stone.