Aboriginal historian and author John Heath says the impact of Oxley’s ‘trespass through Birpai country’ will be celebrated while the impact the event eventually had on the Birpai peoples is negated.

“It happened, so it should be recognised but it also should be acknowledged from both sides of the perspective,” he said. 

"From a Goori perspective it was the beginning of displacement. It is the same as with the 1988 bicentennial celebrations where there was a massive government investment in celebrating what was in fact the commencement of the invasion of Aboriginal communities around Australia.

"I cannot see how it can be seen in any other light."

Mr Heath suggests the promoted history of Port Macquarie and the region is that the coming of the white man was achieved with the disappearance of the black man.

"That certainly is not the case. We have an Aboriginal community in this area that is now perhaps larger in number than in 1818 although not all are of Birpai descent, so we did not simply vanish" he added.

He also says this period of celebration is a good catalyst for people to consider what really happened after John Oxley trespassed through Birpai lands.

Mr Heath recognises an increasing level of goodwill among the broader Australian population for a treaty with traditional owners.

However, he says calls for a treaty will fall on deaf ears at the federal government because 'there are no votes in blacks and we haven't got a lobby or influence like the mining or the shooters' lobby'.

A treaty between traditional owners and the federal government should by bypassed and replaced with community-led initiatives based on Aboriginal countries, he added.

“Australia need only look to the First Nations treaties of Canada as a guide,” he said.

"A large proportion of the Australian population are post-Second World War immigrants who were possibly alienated from their own country," he said.

"This has created a better opportunity for a discussion about a treaty to move in a positive direction as a greater proportion of the population understand the impact of invasion and dispossession

"The federal government has a role to play but I don't see one, all-encompassing treaty for the whole of Australia. We were never a single peoples," he said.

"In the end, viable treaties need to be entered into by local communities along traditional lines.

"There are a number of models internationally (for a treaty). It is widely recognised within the international indigenous populations that Australia is the only former British colony yet to enter a treaty with its Indigenous peoples."

Mr Heath said widespread ignorance is more responsible for a lack of justice for Aboriginal people as opposed to a strong lobby against the pursuit of justice.

"There is the myth that Port Macquarie was peacefully settled after Oxley arrived and that the Birpai people just happily walked away and said 'we've cared for country for hundreds of thousands of years and now you guys can have a go'," he said.

"That is the myth being presented but it can be increasingly challenged to provide a more balanced understanding."

Education about Aboriginal events, history and culture will also play a positive part, he said, along with the use of Aboriginal names attributed to particular areas of Port Macquarie.

Mr Heath also suggested memorials acknowledging significant Aboriginal events should be established.

"When we look at a memorial - a war memorial or the statue like that of Edmund Barton - it is recognised as an educational tool and a means to draw peoples' attention to historical events," he said.

"Similarly, memorials should be established in recognition of the Indigenous or Birpai components (of history).

"This would include the memorial which was constructed at Blackmans Point properly acknowledging a massacre at the site. It currently does not carry the wording that the Goori community wanted. It was watered-down. It was a compromise.

"In my recent publication, I pointed out that in 1838, the Sydney Gazette was lobbying to put an end to the practice of genocide that was illustrated by people being paid bounties for bringing in ears of Aboriginal people in Port Macquarie.

"That is part of the reality of the so-called peaceful settlement of Port Macquarie that emanated from Oxley's trespass."

The truth should be known and reflected upon. None of us can be responsible for a past before our own times but we can all be responsible for the future. And this understanding can lead to positive reforms such as the initiative currently being planned around Bonny Hills which includes the Thomas Dick photographic collection, in a coastal walk with written detail of Birpai significance.

"These are little positive steps being taken," Mr Heath said.