"We've got to move on but we've got to remember the past before you move on," Lloyd Munro, who was one of a number of Aboriginal men involved in the race-related clash that ended with the fatal shooting of 21-year-old Cheeky McIntosh, said during a memorial luncheon last week.

Members of Moree's Aboriginal community gathered at Miyay Birray Youth Service, just metres from where Cheeky was shot in Endeavour Lane, to remember the young man on the 38^th anniversary of his funeral, on November 11. Cheeky was shot and killed on November 5, 1982.

"It was a significant event in our lives," Lloyd's older brother, Lyall Munro Jnr said while recounting what happened that night.

According to Lyall, Cheeky's death was the culmination of a decade of race-related tensions. Pub fights between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people were a common occurrence at the time. "Two years before we had a major incident at the PO Hotel that resulted in five police being sent to hospital with broken arms and legs," Lyall explained.

"I was sent out of town. But I was invited back for the Boomerangs [Rugby League Club] presentation."

Lyall said that the night of November 5, 1982 began with celebrations at the Victoria Hotel. A group of drinkers were told to move on from the Vic, with many of them ending up in the Ned Kelly Bar at the Imperial Hotel. It was there that a brawl broke out between the Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal drinkers.

Lyall said the Aboriginal men were outnumbered in the bar, and eventually they, with others who'd tried to get into the bar after hearing about the drama, were chased through the streets of Moree to Endeavour Lane.

According to a report in The Canberra Times, on January 25, 1983, the group of white men were armed with sticks and bars.

When the group of Aboriginal men reached Endeavour Lane, they decided to stop running and fight, according to Lyall. "Before long, shots rang out ... Cheeky died instantly," he said.

In the ensuing court case it was revealed that "no less than 18 shots" were fired.

Two others, Warren Tighe and Stephanie Duke, were also shot and injured during the attack that night. However, Lyall said it was lucky more people weren't injured.

"We didn't have much to defend ourselves," he said. "It's hard to fathom something like that has happened in a little town like Moree."

Three people were arrested following the shooting, and on November 24, 1983 - two were found guilty of the manslaughter of Ronald McIntosh and the malicious wounding of Warren Tighe.

Warren John Ledingham and Stephen Gregory Delamothe were both sentenced to 14 years in jail.

Ten years later, in 1993, Miyay Birray Youth Service opened its doors in Endeavour Lane, not far from where Cheeky was shot.