Dealing with the tragedy of indigenous communities in Central Australia

Central Australia is more than just the area around Alice Springs. It does not fit within State boundaries. It stretches into Western Australia and South Australia from its centre which is Alice Springs.

In this area live many previously nomadic aboriginal people who relatively recently had only passing contact with other Australians. They lived a tribal or family life. Tribal connotes large numbers but groups were often quite small.

These people were unlike the more settled indigenous people in southern states and even Queensland who to a much greater extent were enmeshed in Australian society.
In Central Australia Settlements were created by both Govt and firstly missionaries where evangelism could be based and as a side effect health and education issues addressed.

It was only after World War Two that government began to seriously address these health and education issues.

Communities were created generally because of the availability of water where health and educational personnel could be housed and infrastructure established. It was presumed that these tribal aboriginals would want these advantages. Houses were built to accommodate the people.

After a time most of the nomadic aborigines came to be in many ways dependent on these settlements. Eventually relatively organised schooling and health treatments were operating.

In my time in the Alice in the 60's and 70's I would say that the system was working though the output was not likely to produce too many people going on to tertiary level.

Liquor though has long been a problem. And fast forwarding to today its consumption is out of hand at all levels. There are official reports about the ghastly abuse within these groups by males which too has got worse from all reports, not better. And drug abuse is widespread in tandem with alcohol abuse.

These settlements such as Papunya and Yuendumu have become notorious across Australia as places where health workers flee from drunken violence, and no one wants to be posted to work in them. Clearly, they are not a good environment for schooling.
One can only assume that these expensive habits are funded in some way by the taxpayer. There are precious few real jobs in Central Australia and this is going to be a problem where I can see no solution.

After all what's the point of striving to produce educated young people with no future to go to.

And don't say that it's in culture. If that were so would we be facing the tragedy that is engulfing these people? That's what the talkers say and if the talkers had been on the money this situation would not have arisen.

No, there is no significant number of real jobs in Central Australia and never will be. Of course, you could create a large number of public service jobs dedicated to doing nothing but that would produce the same frustration that I believe motivates a lot of the anti-social activities publicised in recent times. As gas is the only mineral of significance in the Centre the future there is clouded.