IT'S not an easy topic to talk about, but the community is encouraged to join the conversation when Bathurst commemorates the declaration of martial law.
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Each year on August 14, the National Trust partners with the Wiradyuri elders in Bathurst to host the commemoration ceremony at the circle of stones on the Macquarie River bank.
In 2023, it is the 199th anniversary of the declaration of martial law in Bathurst by British Governor Thomas Brisbane.
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It led to the Wiradyuri homeland wars, also known as the frontier wars, and the deaths of many of the local Wiradyuri population and early settlers.
An increasing number of settlers arrived in the area, seizing land and dispossessing Aboriginal people of vital sources of food, water, accommodation and places of cultural and spiritual significance.
Aboriginal people were poisoned and both settlers and Aboriginal people were killed.
Iain McPherson, a member of the Bathurst branch of the National Trust, said the commemoration event is about "truth-telling", not guilt.
"The declaration of martial law overrode the protections for Aboriginal people under British law and led to the massacre of a large number of Wiradyuri people throughout the Central West," he said.
"It was the brutal imposition of colonial power on the local Wiradyuri population.
"It's part of our heritage and we need to talk about it honestly.
"It's not about guilt but about truth-telling as part of Bathurst's position as the oldest inland European settlement in Australia."
Community members who would like to be part of the commemoration ceremony are invited to come to the circle of stones at 1pm on Monday, August 14.
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