More than 1,000 people gathered in Brisbane for the ceremonial first hearing of Queensland's truth-telling and healing inquiry in Brisbane on Monday.
The inquiry's chairperson Joshua Creamer, a Waanyi and Kalkadoon man, said the inquiry will collect and share evidence about the impacts of colonisation, encouraging all Queenslanders to be open to learning about the state's history.
"No doubt, going forward, this inquiry will reveal many uncomfortable truths which form part of our history," he said.
"There's stories of resistance, resilience and allyship too, which we will also celebrate."
Mr Creamer is one of five members of the independent inquiry.
He is joined by Guwamu woman and Aboriginal rights campaigner Cheryl Buchanan; Wiradjuri and Filipino lawyer Ivan Ingram; Torres Strait Islander woman and former chief executive of the Torres Strait Regional Authority Vonda Malone, and lawyer Roslyn Atkinson.
The inquiry is set to be a three-year process under the , which has also overseen a Treaty Institute established in the state.
If he wins government in October,
Mr Creamer said the inquiry may be the only chance to hear the stories of some of the oldest members of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities across the state.
"This marks an occasion for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people that our voices are being elevated and being heard, and I think it would have a significant impact on the community to not let this process occur," he said.
"Within that there is a central importance of respecting our elders and capturing their evidence ... to lose that opportunity will be hugely significant and we don't know if we'd ever get that opportunity again."
Counsel assisting the inquiry Melia Benn acknowledged many Indigenous people are tired from years of telling their stories but feeling that no one is listening.
The Mamu and Gunggandji woman said the truth-telling and healing inquiry will be different.
"Aboriginal people and Torres Strait Islander people have been studied for almost 250 years, unfortunately though, these studies have often been conducted through one-way glass with no sound," she said.
"This is different, this is a time for you to give your story your way, a way that recognises you as whole and celebrates the layered, spiritual beings that we are.
"It is time to change the narrative so we can tell all Queensland children about the time we came together, listened, acknowledged the truth and started to heal."
On Wednesday the inquiry will start taking evidence from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people with lived experiences of the impacts of colonisation.
"I encourage all Queenslanders to come and listen with curiosity and an open heart as some of the oldest and most courageous men and women come forward as the first participants of this inquiry," Ms Benn said.
