About 50 community members attended the Wodonga hearing of the Joint Select Committee on Constitutional Recognition Relating to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples.

The first speaker, Brendan Kennedy of the Burraja Indigenous Cultural and Environmental Discovery Centre, was asked by Labor MP Warren Snowdon how the committee could learn the history of the region as “people didn’t seem to know”.

Mr Kennedy replied it was important to find the elders who could share insight.

“Mobs that were here are still here, in skeletal form now … I’m only 43, there are people in this room who are older and wiser than I am,” he said.

He detailed a “degrading” conversation he had once with a snake catcher that was called to his centre.

“The snake catcher came down, caught the snake and put it in his car and we had a chat,” Mr Kennedy said.

“He was quite happy to say that his dad had a licence to shoot blacks around here.

“I felt degraded … how dare tell me that, then put a cigarette out and walk away.”

Mr Kennedy also spoke of the benefits of the Burraja Centre and said cultural training packages had merit.

“What we’re drafting up now is exactly one of those packages for The Personnel Group … we can train them up in how to talk to an Aunty of Uncle,” he said.

“Holding on to language is a big key of truth-telling.”

Historian Jacqui Durrant addressed Mr Snowdon’s question about the history of the region later in the day during a community forum.

“Currently you will not find a single book … that details Aboriginal history in this region,” she said.

“But I want to reassure the community it is possible to write these histories, it just hasn’t been done yet … support’s needed to see it done, in terms of funding.

“It’s clear there is a compelling story of Aboriginal resistance to white settlement.

“There’s a long culture of historical denial about what has happened and we need to overcome this.”

Asked by co-chair Julian Leeser what the approach should be to contested history, Dr Durrant said it should be up to the community to decide the truth.

“I don’t think because a historical event is contested, it lessens the importance of it,” she said. 

“If you were to do a formal structure (of a ‘Voice’ representing indigenous people) you would need some kind of a national body, but programs at a regional level and you might start with pilot programs as test cases to see how it would work.”

The inquiry also heard from Charles Strut University and the North East Catchment Management Authority.

NECMA executive manager Jane Young was asked by Indi MP Cathy McGowan about the authority’s dealings with groups like the Bangerang, if they were not one of the three traditional owner groups recognised by the state that the authority worked with.

“We are obliged to work with the Yorta Yorta as they are the recognised Aboriginal group … we would also consult with the Bangerang,” she said.

Ms Young said NECMA supported the recommendations of the Uluru Statement from the Heart.

“A more direct form of consultation is required and design of this should be driven by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people,” she said. “Australia is the only Commonwealth country without a treaty.”

Asked by co-chair Senator Patrick Dodson how many first nations people were involved with NECMA, Ms Young said none had been on the board for the authority’s history.

“(We have a) reconciliation statement, which is a predecessor of a reconciliation action plan – we have a draft (plan) we are working through,” she said. 

Listening to details of a traditional owners settlement where land is purchased, Mr Dodson questioned why Indigenous groups “have to pay for their own country”.

“I know it’s beyond you, but that does seem absurd,” he said.