Wadeye

[Maximillion]

 Your humble correspondant, in the wide hat and dark blue.

The town:

The main street and shop:

The kids:


 I'll fill in the details later, I'm too tired right now, I put in a couple of hours work before I flew out at 7.30am, lol.

[Minx]

You'll find the town of Port Keats (Wadeye) on the Sandfly Creek in the Northern Territory about 240km southwest of Darwin (show me). Port Keats (Wadeye) is near the Indian Ocean. Port Keats (Wadeye) has a population of around 1,000 and is one of the smaller towns in Australia. Port Keats (Wadeye) is about 26m above sea level. Port Keats (Wadeye) is one of the westernmost towns in the Northern Territory.

http://maps.bonzle.com/c/a?a=p&p=1482&cmd=sp&st=NT&place=Port%20Keats%20%28Wadeye%29&file=Port_Keats_%28Wadeye%29.htm

Ok...found it

so, come on, fill in the details

[Maximillion]

  Those data are way old, Wadeye currently has about 3500 people, and a further 1000 in nearby "suburb" communities.
  More later, just on a coffee break, but there was a big riot there over the w/e, so the town was VERY quiet, most of the "movers and shakers" were in the cells.
 Mixed blessing that, lol.   

[Patricia]

If possible MM I too would like to hear a little more about the role you & others will play in & around Wadeye.

[bambu]

Shop?

One shop?

[Maximillion]

Sorry BB, there are two, but I wasn't allowed to snap the other, too many angry people there. I was supervised every time I picked up the camera, and at the end had my snaps censored yet again by an Elder, as agreed in advance. It's their community, it's their right. 
 I'll file a proper "report" later today, still working at the mo'.
 

[bambu]

Seems the whole town is full of anger.

It and the people in it will never get anywhere while they're like that.
The first thing they should do is stop rioting, and stop attacking each other.

[Maximillion]

The Wadeye Report:

The Group:
  A collection of experienced small-business operators.
  Funding is from a variety of sources, mostly from ENI, the company that is building a gas-shipment centre in Darwin. It has agreed to a certain percentage of Indig’ workers and supply companies, of which there are currently precious few.
 
The objective:
  To inspire and facilitate individual Indig’ in forming their own small business.
The Gov’s(various) are planning to build over a hundred new houses in Wadeye, and the hope is that individuals will take up the support and maintenance etc involved. The new leasing arrangements have made room for some businesses, but all would prefer they were taken up by locals.
   Our Role: We are hoping to NOT have a role in the future, we want to quickly train them in simple skills, fencing, painting, lawn-care/gardening/irrigation, house maintenance, etc etc, and help them set up their OWN businesses, and build on that for themselves, with us purely in a “mentoring” role, IF ASKED FOR!

The Background:
   Wadeye is a town created by missionaries, and when the Gov resumed it, they forced all three local clans into it. Those clans have enmities going back to well before white settlement, and there has been constant friction ever since. These days the unemployed and disenchanted youth have formed “gangs”, and are a source of constant violence and criminality. The town is governed by a council, made up of elders from the three clans. The reality of this currently is that one man dominates the others, and is opposed to any changes in the existing structure. He has actively resisted past attempts by locals to open businesses and fought strenuously against the introduction of leases. It took over 12 months to arrange our visit in the face of his opposition. The local Centrelink office and Territory officers were supposed to advertise our coming, and completely ignored their instructions, and resisted any attempts to communicate on the day, to the point of even refusing to allow us to use their toilets!
  The Day:
 There was a major riot on the W/E, about 50 of the movers n shakers were still locked up, both handy and unfortunate.
    We arrived at about 8.30am, and had to find people to take us into town as no-one had arranged it. Luckily most of the locals are friendly people and it was soon done. We were directed to a patch of ground beneath an enormous Mahogany tree to set up, in front of the ruins of what had been the Social Club in better days. Once ensconced we started trying to make contact, we had at least one local onside plus a couple of blokes from ENI who were working there. As the day progressed we received two distinctly different reactions, one of open friendliness, and the other of aggressive suspicion.
  By the time we fired up the BBQ at lunch time we all felt that we had managed to break the ice. We began to hand out food, and as soon as the local Community Patrol realized this they started going around town picking up mothers and kids and bringing them to us, by the ute-load, lol. It was actually a good thing to do, quite a few of the mums got interested once we explained what we were trying to do.
Over the course of the arvo we had a few nibbles, and got about half a dozen names of people to follow up with.
Given the resistance to our goal and the unfortunate riot two days before we are satisfied with those results, not too shabby for a first attempt. We plan to return in about 6mths, and this time we will be sending in people in advance to let the community know, and we will bring all that we need so we don’t have to rely on Sir Humphries minions, lol.
  As I said, photography is a touchy subject there, and with the recent riot there was much simmering anger, it was palpable at times, though not specifically directed at us. The one local onside was a good bloke, and willing to help. I asked him before every shot, and he refused many. The Elder who came to the airport at the end of the day ran through what I had, and deleted about another dozen.
 The kids in my shots are the “runts”, the social outcasts, of mixed race/clan, who had to hide until all the others had had their fill, and as such I was allowed to snap them, they don’t count there.
  Overall it was an eye-opener day, and fun, in a masochistic sort of way, but we established a foot-hold, a toe in the door, so we are hoping to build on this in the future.
The Flight:

The Council Office:

The Dead Social Club:

The Main street, looking L&R:
 

More of the kids, all laughter and big eyes!

The housing:


The School:

The Gate at the Airport:

[bambu]

The kids in my shots are the “runts”, the social outcasts, of mixed race/clan, who had to hide until all the others had had their fill, and as such I was allowed to snap them, they don’t count there.

Mixed race with "white Europeans" or mixed race with other Indigenous clans?

[Maximillion]

The kids in my shots are the “runts”, the social outcasts, of mixed race/clan, who had to hide until all the others had had their fill, and as such I was allowed to snap them, they don’t count there.

Mixed race with "white Europeans" or mixed race with other Indigenous clans?

 Good question, sorry I wasn't clear.
 Virtually all mixed clan, kids will fall in love,  and although I was told there was a couple of other mixes I never saw them, to my knowledge. It's not a place to be asking personal questions.

[bambu]

Rome wasn't built in a day...and all praise to you and your group for travelling there and trying to change things.

It's not a place I'd be going to in the same situation...getting caught in Indigenous gang riots and violence, unarmed and outnumbered is not for me.

And what on earth's going on with Centrelink and the Territory officers obstructing you and not allowing you to use their toilets?

Scared they'll lose their jobs if the Indigenous people become self -sufficent and not reliant on welfare?
 

[Maximillion]

 Like I've tried to make clear before BB, the negs in life are always with us, as are the positives, and my personal ethos says the measure of ME is what I do about it.
 I just do what I can, and keep my fingers crossed.
 From where I'm sitting it makes a far better hobby than most others I can see, lol!

[Patricia]

MM...am sure that aside from the assistance that the group are giving these indigenous people ...on a personal level it would be a rewarding challenge.

[Minx]

Perhaps you should talk to me about what sort of assistance Lions International could offer

Not much sense in having a President in your midst if you do not make use of her

[Maximillion]

   I'll raise that with the organiser, Minx, I'm just the new-boy in the group so I can't make any commitments for them.
  It might work out well, as we all know, it's not what you know, it's who you know, you know?