Present were co-convener, George Criddle with their family; Bruce Baskerville a local historian; representatives from the nearby Greenough Museum; workers from the Geraldton Museum, and reporters to document the occasion.

The ceremonial site was marked by a large sand circle set close to the Greenough River, characterised by a series of sandy, dry channels and thickets of casuarinas. Derek, Theona’s brother, created a fire on the edge of the thicket and the participants were invited to walk through the smoke as a way of cleansing the spirit for an encounter with the land and people of the past.

Theona greeted all participants with characteristic warmth, and introduced her sister, Nikki who spoke of the colonisation of her land from the broad perspective of global history and as it played out in the lives of generations of her family.

Local historian Dr Bruce Baskerville, Public Historian, has family connections to early Greenough colonial settlers. He contributed a paper detailing what was known of the events on June 4, 1854 from written settler sources drawn from diaries and official documents of the time.

George talked of what the research undertaken over the previous 6 years meant to them and the ramifications for their family as they followed the story of the Criddle forebears’ arrival in the fledgling colony of WA, the early years in Greenough and the knowledge of William Criddle’s involvement in the massacre.

Theona sang a simple song in language accompanying herself with tapping sticks and introduced two relatives – a young man and woman – who danced separately in the circle. All present were then invited to take their shoes off, come into the circle, and dance ‘Aboriginal’ way: women with arms akimbo and a sweeping movement of the feet, the men, with a high-stepping action.

The ceremony ended with laughter and a sense of lightness for many of the participants. For some, this day was a profound experience of reconnection and healing. The invitation to this ceremony, generously extended by the Naaguja family, felt like an important breakthrough in relationship to both land and people, a step on the journey towards decolonisation.