Descendants of the perpetrators and the survivors of the last officially recorded frontier massacre, 90 years ago at Coniston in central Australia, will reunite today to call for a national truth-telling process, so the nation can move forward “as one mob”.

“Too few people know about the massacres,” the Central Land Council chairman, Francis Tjupurrurla Kelly, told Guardian Australia. “I think they would be shocked if they knew these murders did not happen during some distant past but 10 years after the first world war ended.”

In August 1928 a white dingo trapper, Fred Brooks, was found murdered on Coniston station. Brooks had been living at a waterhole called Yurrkuru, west of the homestead.

In reprisal, groups of men on horseback, led by mounted constable George Murray, shot and killed more than 50 men, women and children at at least six sites between August and October 1928, according to historians.

But Warlpiri, Anmatyerre and Kaytetye people say that up to 170 people died.

No charges were ever laid; a board of inquiry set up to investigate the killings ruled the party had “acted in self-defence”.

Harry Nelson at the 75th anniversary of the Coniston massacre at Yukurru in central Australia. Photograph: George Serras/Central Land Council

“We want everyone to understand why so many of our innocent men women and children were murdered in cold blood. Many kartiya (white people) were too greedy for our land and didn’t see us as fully human,” Kelly said.



Descendants of Murray first joined the commemorations 15 years ago, and have been attending ever since.

“It was a momentous occasion,” Murray’s great-niece, Liza Dale Hallett, said. “We were warmly welcomed. We came together with our shared histories, to openly speak about the trauma and suffering of the past.

“We are here again today because we believe that facing our history, Australia’s history, is so important to our futures. And these stories are still not being heard. This history is not just yours and ours. It is every Australian’s history.



“We are here to encourage the rest of Australia to open their hearts, to listen to these stories, to understand how important this past is for all of our futures.”

Jeannie Herbert and Teresa Ross Napurrurla reveal a plaque to mark the massacre, accompanied by Harry Nelson, Kumanjayi Brown and the great niece of George Murray, Lisa Dale-Hallett, and her husband, Martin. Photograph: George Serras/Central Land Council

Kelly said: “It’s good that the descendants of Constable Murray and his trackers again commemorate this sad anniversary with our families. It shows that individual people can become reconciled by telling the truth.

“But it’s not enough. We need to take the next step as a country and learn from our past by making changes. Our people are still rotting in prison, dying in police custody and our kids are brutalised. Saying sorry means stopping this. We want justice.”

Kelly said they have have already done a lot to make sure “nobody has an excuse to stay ignorant” but “the media is full of racist voices again”.

“Worst of all, some of these voices are politicians ... They are picking on everyone who is different because they reckon that gets them elected and staying in power,” he said. “If Australians don’t know their past it’s too easy for these people to mislead them - back to the bad old days.”