The Yoorrook Justice Commission has heard of the systematic destruction of historic cultures throughout the colonies.

The truth-telling hearings, which opened on Gunditjmara Miring Country on Monday, are examining injustices in Victoria that have taken place since and during initial colonisation.

On Wednesday, Indigenous anthropologist Marcia Langton, from the University of Melbourne, and University of Tasmania historian Henry Reynolds, explored the topics of assimilation and protection practices.

They discussed how over a 15-year period from the mid 1830s, settlers from NSW and Tasmania (then Van Diemen's land) made their way to Victoria, first arriving in Portland - on Gunditjmara Miring Country - in 1834.

The squatting rush, as Dr Reynolds put it, needed to be contained by the NSW government, on land they saw belonging to the crown. By the 1840s, more than 700 stations had been established, despite an exclusion zone around greater Sydney, with Dr Reynolds noting: "Victoria was occupied by renegades, by squatters, which the government had no control whatsoever."

He described this time as "one of the most tragic periods for First Nations people," despite the ostensible concern from the government over the increasing violence and murder of Indigenous people who were having their land stolen from them.

This coincided with the abolition of slavery in the UK and a move in British politics towards espousing a comparatively "benign" approach regarding "natives" throughout the colonies - both in Australia and the world.

Dr Reynolds said there was an particularly detrimental "anomaly" in the way Aboriginal people in Australia were treated compared to the First Nations people of other British colonies, labelling it the "the original sin of Australian colonisation".

"That is the refusal to recognise First Nations people had property rights," Dr Reynolds said.

"It was their land; they were under occupation."

He said the government's expressed desire to protect Indigenous people from "extermination" resulted in the establishment of protectors in reserves and missions, with locals tasked with sheltering Indigenous people from the rapacious squatters.

However, Dr Langton noted this began a period of extreme control over Indigenous people – from their finances to their movement and housing, to their employment.

"It made 'Aborigines' wards of the state," Prof Langton said. "They're not allowed off the reserve to hunt or gather."

She said they were given poor food rations, which she claimed was one of the biggest killers of Aboriginal people.

Prof Langton also highlighted the 'half caste act' (Aboriginal Protection Act 1886) which forbade Indigenous people of mixed descent living on the missions - with the aim of destroying their connection to culture.

At the time, even relatively 'progressive' settlers has racist attitudes towards Aboriginal people.

"You destroy a culture by stopping people from speaking, by removing their children, by stopping them from having ceremonies, banning their religion and all the rituals used to mark phases of life," Prof Langton said.

She noted most of the settlers who committed murders were likely shepherds or squatters, who couldn't read or write, which combined with a lack of concern suggests recorded deaths of Aboriginal people were far lower than the actual number.

Asked how the treatment of Indigenous people could be tolerated in the UK, Prof Langton said: "Pretend that the natives had no legal system; no property system."

The hearings also focused on the history of Indigenous graves being robbed, with Aboriginal remains being sold by colonists to the global market.

Prof Langton said: "this is why museums around the world have Aboriginal body parts."

She said there was a collection of over 3,000 human remains in Canberra, however "it's very difficult to repatriate them because there is no documentation".

"They just dug them," Prof Langton said. "Murray Black (a coloniser) and his party just dug up graves willy nilly...there are often no place names."

"I think a lot of people are very upset about ancestral remains being stored in cardboard boxes on shelves."

At one point, the the Murray Black and Berry collections at the University of Melbourne alone comprised over 1,600 ancestral remains.

All remains from the University of Melbourne are now in the ownership of the Victorian Aboriginal Cultural Heritage Council.

The hearings continue on Thursday.

13YARN 13 92 76

Aboriginal Counselling Services 0410 539 905