A day of mourning, celebration of First Nations cultures in Newcastle to mark January 26

It didn't take long for others to follow the young man's lead and join him to proudly celebrate their culture - dancers doing what their ancestors have done for tens of thousands of years.

The many hundreds gathered on Wednesday had marched from a rally outside Customs House and along Wharf Road to chants of: "always was, always will be Aboriginal land".

The rally was followed by a day out at Nobbys, with traditional dancing, a beach rugby match featuring Indigenous stars such as Willie Mason and a set from Australian music legend John Paul Young.

Among those marking January 26 as a day of mourning and celebration of culture in Newcastle was Alex Griffith - a proud 60-year-old Kamilaroi man who was one of the Stolen Generations.

Mr Griffith was taken from his family in Quirindi when he was two years old and grew up in Newcastle.

"The togetherness is what gets me. Back in my day, we didn't have any of this," he told the Newcastle Herald.

"I have my daughter here and grandchildren. They teach me more than what I ever learnt at school. I'm no longer a teacher, I'm a pupil."

Wednesday marked the 50 year anniversary of the Aboriginal Tent Embassy in Canberra and 84 years since the first day of mourning was held in Sydney in 1938 - long before January 26 became the official national day in 1994.

"It wasn't Australia Day back then," Aunt Tracey Hanshaw told the rally in Newcastle.

"Now I think it's time, and Australia's ready, to go back to a day of mourning.

"How do we now turn back around? What we now do is come together, all of us, Indigenous and non-Indigenous.

"It's all of us coming together and saying 'we're going to acknowledge on January 26 that we've got this great country today but it came at a cost' ... and just reflect."

Lord mayor Nuatali Nelmes said she stood in solidarity with those who had gathered.

"At the same time, I want to recognise and celebrate over 60,000 years of culture and heritage has taken place on this land we all call home," she said.

"I think it is important each year, year on year, we see crowds gather in higher numbers to recognise the importance of our Aboriginal heritage and understand the true heritage of the land on which we live and the connection between the land, the water and the people."

Wiradjuri woman Taylah Gray said one day the nation would wake up and realise it was never settled peacefully.

"Every week, every day, every second I watch as a criminal defence lawyer how the colonial law is applied to my people, my community - sovereign people of this land," she said.

"All the bad qualities and characteristics that people may detect in First Nations people are due to the social conditions in which we live and are not directly responsible for.

"If you aren't part of our communities, you don't get to decide what hurts us anymore."

IN THE NEWS:

Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can continue to access our trusted content: