On January 26, 1938, as the first rally against Australia Day was held, 25 Indigenous men were told if they did not perform the role of 'retreating Aborigines' in a re-enactment of the First Fleet, their families would starve.

Government officials had selected the best dancers and singers from Menindee mission in far-west New South Wales and told them they were required to perform cultural dances in Sydney.

WARNING: This story contains images of deceased Indigenous people.

What they were sent to take part in was a re-enactment of the landing and proclamation of Captain Arthur Phillip at the 150th Australia Day celebrations.

Ngiyaampaa elder Dr Beryl (Yunghadhu) Philp Carmichael, born and raised on the mission, was only three at the time, but her memory of the fear in the community never left her.

"All I can remember is the crying, all the women were crying," she said.

"Whether they were taking them away to be massacred or what, no-one knew.

"The community went into mourning once they were put on the mission truck."

The men returned a week later, but Dr Carmichael said it was many years until they would talk about their experience.

'They came back very quiet," she said.

"It was only in the late 70s they started saying something about what it was like down there.

"We knew whatever happened down there really hurt them and we didn't question them."

Hidden from friends and family

It is speculated that part of the reason for bringing Indigenous people all the way from Menindee was because those in Sydney refused to take part.

In Sydney plans were afoot to hold a rally on Australia Day; the Aborigines Progressive Association would declare it a 'day of mourning'.

Aboriginal rights leaders William Ferguson and John Patten published the Aborigines Claim Citizen Rights! pamphlet on January 12, 1938.

In it they declared, "We do not ask you to study us as scientific freaks … the superstition that we are a naturally backward and low race … shows a jaundiced view of anthropologists' motives".

Those in power at the time seemed eager to keep the Menindee men well away from activists, keeping them locked away in police barracks.

Aboriginal men perform a dance at a 1938 re-enactment of the landing and proclamation of Captain Arthur Phillip at the 150th Australia Day celebrations. ( Supplied: State Library of New South Wales )

The incident was detailed in a biography on William Ferguson, written by Jack B Horner in 1974.

"The Secretary of the Protection Board had a shrewd idea that Ferguson would try to prevent the Menindee men from taking part in this re-enactment. The Board was taking no chances. Nobody could meet the Aborigines in the coming week in Sydney, without … obtaining personal permission." — from Vote Ferguson for Aboriginal freedom: a biography by Jack B Horner

Dr Carmichael said there had been whisperings of the movement on the mission, and a direct link to Mr Ferguson.

"Most people on missions couldn't read and write; that made it really hard for them to understand the government documents they were throwing around," she said.

"Old Bill [Ferguson], because he knew his brother Duncan was back on the mission, he used to send messages back to him.

"But in the end the mission manager found that out, picked the old fella [Duncan] up in a truck and dumped him over the hill [outside the mission boundary]."

Mr Ferguson attempted to get word to the Menindee men while they were in Sydney but, as elaborate as they were, his efforts were unsuccessful.

"Then followed in the week before the celebrations an amusing battle of tactics between the Protection Board officers and the executive of the Aborigines' Progressive Association … Some Sydney relatives of a Peter Johnson from Menindee tried to see him at the barracks … The relatives had been sent by Ferguson, of course, in order to pass to Hero Black (the leader of the Menindee party) a message not to take part in the mortifying 'retreat' from the 'first party of Englishmen'." — from Vote Ferguson for Aboriginal freedom: a biography by Jack B Horner

They were eventually allowed a closely supervised visit from two female relatives.

Ngiyaampaa elder Beryl (Yunghadhu) Philp Carmichael was born and raised on Menindee mission. ( ABC Broken Hill: Aimee Volkofsky )

Threatened with ration cuts

The men soon discovered their duties would include playing the part of Aboriginal people fleeing British soldiers.

While the activists may have gotten their message through to the performers, discouraging them from taking part in the re-enactment, the men were left with little choice.

Dr Carmichael said when it came to performing traditional dance, the men were troubled to find they would be led by an Aboriginal actor who did not speak their language or know their culture.

"The government unknowingly or knowingly put up a big Aboriginal, good looking fella as the leader of the dancers and they didn't even know him. He wasn't from Ngiyaempaa," she said.

"That really devastated the people and they refused to dance.

"[The government] threatened them and threatened them; if they didn't perform they'd cut off the rations to their people on the mission.

"It was the toughest time of their lives, I think."

'I'm just happy we survived'

Eighty years on, as debate continues around whether January 26 is celebrated or mourned, Dr Carmichael said she was happy to have survived, even though she was sad about the past.

"We were brought up to tolerate a lot of things and to give thanks for being alive," she said.

"I'm just glad I survived with my culture intact and am alive to teach and pass it on.

'We should strive for peace, between all nations. We need to come together as people."