At Mount Dispersion, on the banks of the Murray River, the scars of an atrocity co-exist with pride — and hope for the future.
At least seven Aboriginal people were killed there, as they tried to flee across the river to safety, 186 years ago.
Explorer Major Thomas Mitchell named it Mount Dispersion in euphemistic reference to the massacre.
The elders working to memorialise the site want it to be understood in its full context, to acknowledge the horror of the atrocity and honour the tens of thousands of years of Aboriginal history that came before it.
Barkindji woman Sophia Pearce feels the presence of her ancestors when she walks the sacred ground.
She is working to teach its deep significance in the Dreamtime to emerging generations, and to share its history with non-Aboriginal Australians in the spirit of reconciliation.
"The truth telling of this place for our people — not just Aboriginal people, but also non-Aboriginal people," Ms Pearce says.
About 150 people gathered last month at the site to continue the process of memorialising it.
Among them were dozens of local primary school children, who have been learning about the Dreamtime and the massacre with Ms Pearce's guidance.
Until then, the only official recognition of the site was a stone cairn set up far from what is now understood to be the site of the 1836 massacre.
Mutti Mutti and Tatti Tatti Elder Uncle Barry Pearce wants a new memorial for the site to share knowledge and commemorate the cultural history of the local Aboriginal people as well as the history of the massacre.
"What sits over the top of that is the cultural significance, which is about our Creation story.
"That story has survived and it needs to continue to be told by our people."
Uncle Pearce's vision has been the focus of landscape architect and RMIT Academic Jock Gilbert for over ten years.
Mr Gilbert hopes to bring design architects together to work towards the intricate process that could inspire a new memorial for the site.
"Barry Pierce has always said, he wants to tell this story from an Aboriginal perspective, as a massacre site, but it's also on a much longer storyline of cultural history and that's what we need to really pay respect too," he says.
Uncle Pearce hopes that in future years, generations of younger people can learn about the site, that it will be a place of true reconciliation for Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people into the future.
"We want to go forward from today under the banner of reconciliation," he says.
"The thing about reconciliation is it means different things to different people.
"Reconciliation is about knowledge and understanding … it's also about love and kindness in what we feel, and what we want to teach the next generation."
