Since 1788, countless acts of violence have been inflicted on Australia's First Peoples, collectively known as the Frontier Wars.

These include massacres, wars, and resistance, with estimates suggesting more than 10,000 people were killed in massacres alone.

Some of the most notorious took place on Gomeroi country, near Moree.

While the last known massacre occurred in 1928, the legacy of the Frontier Wars remains evident today, reflected in disparities in health, employment, and social outcomes for Indigenous people.

A multi-institutional research team, led by Associate Professor Michelle Evans, Professor Judy Atkinson, Dr Ash Francisco, Associate Professor Julie Moschion, and Dr Angela Chen, has been working to understand the ongoing trauma and its long-term impacts.

The team continues the work of the late historian Professor Lyndall Ryan, who documented the extensive history of massacres across Australia before her passing in 2024.

Jiman and Bundjalung woman, Dr Atkinson, said truth-telling is crucial for healing, as understanding harm—whether personal or historical—is the first step.

"First of all, each of us individually need to understand what might have harmed us," she said.

"This is bigger than that the frontier wars are right across Australia and we haven't really taken a deep breath and worked out generationally what does that mean?"

Dr Atkinson said Moree, which is surrounded by eight massacre sites, is a place where this history continues to shape present realities.

"For example, a community that survived frontier wars...carried that pain all of those things," she said.

"The people who survived then had to make sense of the world quite often in those early times."

The research team first held focus groups in Moree in May 2024 to explore how past violence continues to affect present experiences.

They will return for a workshop titled 'Healing Through Truth-telling: Towards a Vision for Community Unity', held at the Dhiiyaan Centre on 'Tuesday, 18 February 2025'.

Dr Atkinson said Moree's Aboriginal community has different responses to this history.

"Some people just get on with life, others there are crises happening and then there is some in between who have understood that much of the behaviour and the feelings that people have in their life has to come down from those sites of massacres," she said.

"Country holds the stories, the stories of what's happened on that country."

She recalled personal experiences of visiting places that didn't feel right, only to later discover they were massacre sites.

"I mean it's happened to me many times... I've been out and I've walked into a place and I think 'what the hell has happened here?'," she said.

"I go away and find it was a massacre site or other things as well.."

The Moree workshop will bring Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal community members together to share truths and work towards a stronger future.

Intergenerational trauma often manifests in ways that aren't immediately linked to history.

Dr Atkinson added the impacts of historical violence are evident in the struggles faced by Aboriginal families today.

"You've got the kids acting out and you say what the heck is this behaviour telling us?" she said.

"You find that they themselves have a sense of disempowerment and that they believe that no matter what they do it's not going to change anything in their circumstances for their kids and for them.

"So it's just like accepting the status quo which has been created by this colonial state through the massacres."

Dr Atkinson said revisiting stories and acknowledging past injustices is an important step in healing and strengthening community connections.

"When the ceremonies were being held, when the corroborees were being held, Country held that energy as well—the powerful energy of law, healing, and justice," she said.

The Healing Through Truth-telling workshop will be held on 18 February 2025, from 9:30AM to 12:30PM at the Dhiiyaan Centre, Moree.

All members of the community are welcome to attend.