A Victorian truth-telling commission investigating injustices against Aboriginal people hopes its work will pave the way for change across Australia.
The Yoorrook Justice Commission, the nation's first truth-telling inquiry, met for the first time in Melbourne on Thursday.
Commission chair Professor Eleanor Bourke said Yoorrook, which holds the powers of a Royal Commission, will set an example for other jurisdictions.
"We are different," the Wergaia and Wemba Wemba/Wamba Wamba elder said.
"We've created protocols around how we manage our engagement with the community in a way that we hope is welcoming and comforting.
"Treaty is on the agenda in other places and they are watching us. It's even been said to me, 'don't muck it up'."
At Thursday's ceremonial hearing, or wurrek tyerrang, the commission outlined its work, guidelines, and practice directions on truth-telling.
Prof Bourke said the commission was striving to create an official record of what has happened to Aboriginal people in Victoria, from the stories of Indigenous people.
Yoorrook will also look at what changes need to happen across areas like the justice and health systems.
"Whatever system you want to pick, we're still in a colonial construct, or in silos created by other people," Prof Bourke said.
"That doesn't really suit us because everything's connected in our culture."
The Yoorrook commissioners will begin visiting regional Victoria this week to speak with elders.
Prof Bourke said the commission was "hungry" for those face-to-face talks after COVID-19 restrictions moved most of the discussions online.
"We will feel so much better about engaging with our people on their country, in their place, and hear their voices," she said.
Tony McAvoy, one of the counsels assisting Yoorrook, said the task ahead would not be easy.
"While we might have many expressions of political will, of good conscience, the difficulty largely lies in the bureaucracy," he said.
"The bureaucracy in this state, as in other states and territories in this country, is colonial. It's not designed for First Nations people and so our job is a difficult one."
Yoorrook has three years to establish an official public record of Indigenous experiences since the start of colonisation and recommend reform and redress.
Its findings will guide Victoria's Treaty negotiations.
The commission, which was given $44 million as part of the state government's 2021/22 budget, is due to release its interim report on June 30.
