Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Partnerships Minister Craig Crawford has marked Dundalli Remembrance Day – the Aboriginal resistance leader who was Queensland's last official public execution – as a "truth-telling story of state significance".
Every year on January 5, a small ceremony is held for Dundalli at Brisbane's Post Office square - the former site of the Queen Street Gaol where he was publicly hanged in 1855.
"This is the year when Queensland will introduce our historic treaty legislation in parliament, and the federal government has indicated Australia will go to a referendum on Voice," Minister Crawford said.
"This is also the year when Queensland will launch truth-telling initiatives across the state to promote understanding and reconciliation.
"Everyone in Queensland should know the history of Dundalli; it is a truth-telling story of state significance.
"He was the Aboriginal Turrwan, a lawman and great leader in Yuggara language, chosen to unite all the different tribes to seek restorative justice against shootings and poisonings of Aboriginal people by settlers in colonial Brisbane.
"To colonialists, he was a murderer and a criminal. But to his people, he was a warrior, a freedom fighter, ordained by customary law to protect his people and his lands and waters.
"Now 168 years on, I think most Australians can embrace the spirit of Dundalli, as we welcome a new era of reconciliation through Voice, Treaty and Truth.''
