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MASTER COPY
N O T
F O R
L O A N
ABORIGINES:
Sport, Violence and Survival
by Colin Tatz
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N O T
ABORIGINES:
Sport, Violence and Survival
by Colin Tatz
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ABORIGINES:
Sport, Violence and Survival
A Report on Research Project 18/1989'Aborigines:
the Relationship between Sport and Delinquency'to
the Criminology Research Council
April 1994
by Colin Tatz
Professor of Politics and
Director, Centre for Comparative Genocide
Studies,
M acquarie University, N SW
This is a project supported by a grant from the Criminology Research
Council. The views expressed are the responsibility of the author and
are not necessarily those of the Council.
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Abstract
Project 18/89 ' A borigines: the R el ationship between Sport and
D el inquency" began as a small-scale study of forty-five communities over
six months. T he aim was to see whether or not sports facifties and
competition reduced growing rates of adul t and j uvenil e del inquency. In
the end it became a five-year study of eighty communities i nvo l vi ng in-
depth interviews with 520 A boriginal men and women, government
officers of various specialisations, sports officials, police and correctional
service officers.
T he Criminology R esearch Council' s initial grant resulted in
numerous publ ic lectures, radio and television broadcasts, photographic
exhibitions, a journal article, feature newspaper articles and two books, the
major one being Obstacle Race: Aborigines in Sport, publ ished by the
University of N SW Press in 1994.
This Report concludes that:
sport plays a more significant role in the lives of A borigines than in
any other sector of A ustral ian society:
sport provides a centrality, a sense of loyalty and cohesion that has
replaced some of the 'lost' structures in communities that so recently
operated as Christian missions and government settlements;
sport has become a vital force in the very survival of several
communities now in danger of social disintegration:
sport has helped reduce the considerable internalised violence-
homicide, suicide, atempted suicide, rape, self-mutilation, serious
assaultprevalent in some disordered communities;
sport is a cheap enough option in the way it assists in reducing the
second-highest cause of A boriginal deaths, namely, from external or
non-natural causes;
Colin T atz, Aborigines: Sport. Violence and Survival
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sport has been effective in keeping youth out of serious (and
mischievous) troubl e during football and basketball seasons:
sport has given several communities and regions an opportunity for
some autonomy and sovereignty when they organise sport and cul ture
carnival s such as at Yuendumu and Barunga in the N orthern
T erritory:
sport takes place despite the absence of facil ities, equipment, money
for travel , discrimination against teams and/or access to regul ar
competition:
sport takes place in circumstances and environs that resemble
A fghanistan in wartime and Somalia in drought time:
sport is essential to counter the morale and moral despair of many
A borigines.
This Report recommends:
1. Sport in urban, peri-urban, rural and remote communities requires
immediate financial boost in this twice-blessed land of O l ympismif
for no other reason than that the year 2000 visitors should not see the
present conditions.
2. A N ational A boriginal Sports Commissionnot solely dependent on
government funding, and independent of other sports institutes be
established to provide grants, advice, staff and equipment directly to
communities in need and not through regional agencies.
o
3. T his Commission should establish special programs, through existing
tertiary institutions and distance courses, to train A boriginal and
Islander sports administrators.
4. T his Commission should work closely with the new initiatives in
A boriginal health, and oversee some expenditure on sport, leisure and
recreation facilities as part of health rehabilitation, especially for
diabetics.
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5. T his Commission should help al l eviate the sports tax burden on
A borigines, people who pay more per capita for their sport than any
other groups in A ustral ian society.
6. Wh il e sport is not. and cannot be. the sole sol ution to the mul t i t ud e of
probl ems in A boriginal and Islander society because it cannot be
played or practised 365 days in the yeari t can be a 30 to 40 per cent
sol ution for those communities now l iteral l y in peril .
Colin T atz. Aborigines: Sport. Violence and Survival
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Contents
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A bstract i
1. Introduction 2
2. T he present cl imate of A boriginal affairs 4
|3. A different ethos 9
4. T he success stories 13
5. Sports tax 18
6. Unequal access 22
J 7. F unding A boriginal sport 23
8. Viol enceand pessimism 25
9. T he alcohol question 30
10. Sportand optimism 33
I 1 1 . R easons for being 39
g 12. Sport and delinquency 41
13. Sport as practicality 50
14. Conclusions and suggestions 53
15. R eferences 57
_ A ppendix: I: Persons interviewed 59
A ppendix II: Photographs of A boriginal sports facilities 69
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1. Introduction
In 1989 the Criminol ogy R esearch Council provided funds for a study
entitl ed ' A borigines: the R el ationship between Sport and D el inquency' .
T he research request was phrased as follows:
T o distinguish the variabl es that may be invol ved in j uveni l e and ad ul t
del inquent behaviour: and. in particul ar, to concentrate on the presence
or absence of sport, recreation and l eisure ( SR L ) facil ities as a key factor.
T here is an apparent correlation between SR L facilities and del inquency.
T he task is to see whether there is a causal connection and whether it is
correct to conclude that such facil ities and participation in them i nh i b i t or
reduce del inquency.
I expected to visit forty-five communities. In the end, wi t h the hel p of
the Council grant and through sel f- funding, visits were made to eighty
A boriginal communities across mainl and A ustral ia over an initial period of
six months between Jul y and December 1989, followed by a further two
months early in 1990. Subsequent fieldwork was undertaken at my
expense during 1991, 1992 and 1993. In all I interviewed 520 people.
T he starting point of this research was the completion and publ ication
of my short book Aborigines in Sport in December 1987.1 Simpl y a
sketch in 150 pages, the work dealt with A boriginal sporting achievements
in their historical, political and social contexts. T he book touched on the
paucity of facilities for sport in most communities, but did not examine the
role of sport in relation to social cohesion and social breakdown. R esearch
Project 18/89 was funded to fil l that gap.
T he Criminology R esearch Council' s grant has given birth to a
number of publ ic lectures, conference papers, exhibitions, radio and
tel evision programs, feature articles, a journal article and a major book.
Publ ic lectures on the theme of violence within A boriginal communities
were given at Hinders University in A delaide in O ctober 1989 and at
Macquarie University in May 1992. Unable to attend a Police-A boriginal
Summit at Dubbo (N SW) in September 1989 because of an air strike, a
video presentation was sent from A lice Springs to the conference on
' A borigines, Sport and Del inquency' . T he relationship between racism,
sport, violence and delinquency was the theme of the keynote address
Colin T atz, Aborigines: Sport. Violence and Survival
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presented to the ' Bradman, Barel l an, Bal main and Bocce: the Cul ture of
A ustral ian Sport' conference at the A ustral ian Sports Commission in
O ctober 1993. A paper on simil ar themes was presented as a keynote
address to a conference on ' R acism and Sport" organised by the
Department of State A boriginal A ffairs, A delaide, in O ctober 1993 and
hel d at the A delaide F ootball Stadium. I gave the principal address on
A boriginal Heal th wh i ch discussed the role and place of sport, l eisure
and recreation to the N ational Conference of the A ustral ian Medical
A ssociation in Canberra in May 1993, followed by a further pl enary paper
to the emergency A boriginal Health Summit conference called by the
A MA in Canberra in March 1994.
Photographic ex hibitions aimed at presenting positive images of
A boriginal achievement, with explanations on the role of sport in rescuing
many achievers' l ives, were displayed at Darl ing Harbour for the N ational
A boriginal Sports A wards in 1992, the A ustral ian Sports Commission and
the State Department of A boriginal A ffairs conferences in 1993. and at the
A boriginal Sports A chievers gala presentation in Darwin in N ovember
1993. T he importance of sporting role models was expressed by so many
A boriginal officials, elders and youth that I decided to publ ish Chapter 15
of Obstacle Race as a separate and inexpensive pictorial book under the
titl e Black and Gold: the Aboriginal and I slander Sports Hall of Fame.
T his wi l l appear in 1994, publ ished by the University of N SW Press,
presented by Colin and Paul T atz.
F eature articles on the subject were published in 1992,1993 and 1994
in the West Australian News, Age, Sydney Morning Herald and
Australian.. T he Australian Journal of Social I ssues publ ished my major
paper ' A boriginal Violence: A R eturn to Pessimism'.2 A part from regular
radio interviews on the topic, two television fil ms were made on the matter
of sport, racism and violence: one segment for the A boriginal Studies
curricul um in the O pen L earning program, and the other for a 'R acism and
Sport' program made by the A ustralian Broadcasting Commission.
In O ctober 1994 the University of N ew South Wales Press wil l
publ ish my major book Obstacle Race: Aborigines in Sport. T his is a long
and detailed research exposition on the historical, philosophical, pol itical
and sociological experience of A borigines between 1850 and 1994, as
mirrored by the l ives of A boriginal and Islander sports men and women.
T he introduction to that work expresses gratitude to the Criminology
Colin T aiz. Aborigines: Sport, Violence and Survival
R esearch Councillor facil itating something much more than a study of the
rel ationship between sport and del inquency. T he Council ' s grant for
fieldwork allowed me to reconsider many of the broader issues in
contemporary A boriginal l ife, and to realise j ust how vi t al sport is to
A b orig inal survival as such. My concl usion is that sport has ramifications
wel l beyond the matter of del inquency, and has a far greater significance in
A boriginal l ife than in that of any other sector of A ustral ian society.
T his report is a much elaborated and expanded version of the longest
and most important chapter in the book. Chapter 13 on Sport and Survival.
T his R eport has taken longer than usual to present to Council . F or that I
apologise. However, rather than submit a narrow focus and statistical
account of arrests, offences, outcomesof which we now have a
considerable number in the l iterature I have produced a refl ective and
considered essay based on many years of fieldwork and research, years
enhanced enormously by the Council' s support for what may wel l be my
most definitive overview of contemporary A boriginal l ife, as ex empl ified
by these eighty A boriginal communities.
A ppendix I lists the 520 A boriginal men and women, department
officers, community and welfare officers, doctors, nurses, lawyers, sports
officials and police officers interviewed during this long project. T heir co-
operation was essential, and very giving. T o them I offer my sincere
thanks. I hope that the various publications arising from our meetings wi l l
give them something in return. A ppendix II (included in the master copy
onl y) shows something of the appal l ing facil ities for A boriginal sport in
many communities.
2. The present climate of Aboriginal affairs
Before ex amining propositions about the rel ationship of sport to
deviant behaviour, something must be said of the general context of
A boriginal matters today. T he pendul um swing is both wide and long. A t
one end of the arc we have committees and programs for reconciliation, a
reasonably fair outcome in legislation to give some effect to the High
Court's rul ing in the Mabo case, and a Prime Ministerial admission about
the depredations of the past and the need for rectification. A t the other
end, we have hysteria about A boriginal claims to back yards, outcries
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about wasteful ex penditure on anything A boriginal , and efforts to
reintroduce the discredited and vex atious race classificatory laws as to who
is. or is not. A boriginal for purposes of special rights.
In my essay ' A Question of R ights and Wrongs" , the positives and
negatives of these past thirty years were summarised.3 Most
discriminatory laws have been abolished and most of the bureaucratic
dinosaurs in A boriginal administrations are ex tinct. T here is much more
money from publ ic budgets, more money for social service benefits and
more actual empl oyment. Work skil l s programs prol iferate. T here is more
housing. T here is language salvation in several centres and indigenous
language maintenance in several schools. A boriginal royalties are paid in a
handful of areas and two or three communities have substantial financial
investments. T here is now the real ity of land rights, in one form or
another, in al l States except Western A ustral ia. T here are j ust over 5000
A borigines in tertiary courses and five or six A boriginal - run community
schools. L egal aid and medical services operate, albeit frantically.
In the N orthern T erritory, A borigines own a tel evision station.
Imparja, and run a radio station in Central A ustral ia. A boriginal studies is
meant to be taught in most State school systems. A boriginal ity, as an
assertion of identity, as a flag, as a force commanding respect, has arrived.
F or the most part the press is sympathetic and gives generous space to
A boriginal material. A rtists, poets, musicians, cloth-makers and dancers
are celebrated and revered in some quarters. A boriginal motifs are
common and in demand.
A borigines have discovered the High Court as a place to recover
rights, land councils are an organisational force to be reckoned wi t h , Mabo
is now part of the vocabulary of politics and politicians ( with a few
idiosyncratic exceptions) concede not only prior occupation of the land but
the genocide as well. A pol itical l y adept A boriginal leadership has
emerged out of the Mabo decision ( which recognised the val idity of native
titl e to certain lands), one respected by the federal government and the
media (but not the federal L iberal opposition). In the last decade of this
century the playing fields have become a l ittl e (but only a l ittl e) more l evel ,
there are greater numbers in mainstream sports and A borigines now play
sports that were once either closed or inaccessible to them.
Col inT atz, Aborigines: Sport. Violence and Survival
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O n the wrong side, too many babies stil l die unnecessaril y and the l i fe
ex pectation of adul t A borigines is t rul y tragic: at under 50 in statistical
theory and in reality. T rachoma, despite our conscience being salved by
the l ate Dr F red Hol l ows, is st i l l rampant. Deafness needs a si mi l ar hero.
T housands are not housed adequately: in 1990 the Minister for A boriginal
A ffairs ordered $232 mi l l i o n spent over five years on ' heal th and
infrastructure" ' short' , he said, of the S2.5 b i l l i o n needed for housing,
water, sewerage and el ectricity! Chil dren stil l leave school far too young:
and legal aid often fail s to defend, pl eading g ui l t y where g ui l t may be
absent. A borigines are arrested and incarcerated in great numbers, often
for offences that woul d not attract police attention if committed by whites.
Custody is too common and the deaths therein are i nfi ni t el y greater than
the l imited number of cases studied wi t h such care by the R oyal
Commission. A t the same time as the surreal film Black River received an
international award in Paris for its depiction of deaths in custody, real
black deaths continued at a rate of 1 1 per cent of all such deaths. Viol ence
wi t h i n communities reflects a total breakdown among social groupings.
Unempl oyment is rife and so is boredom. T wo-thirds of the men and
women who are employed earn less than $12,000 per annum. T wo thirds
of all A borigines l ive in rented accommodation. A lcohol remains an
enormous problem in some areas, unaided by some astonishing l icensing
laws that encourage greed and ex pl oitation.
A ttacks on hard-won A boriginal achievements increase. In 1993 we
saw the spectacle of the Western A ustralian government devoting 52
mil l ion specifically in its budget to fight the Mabo decision (because it
wants to sustain the myth, overturned by the High Court, that A ustral ia was
an empty land in 1788) and we saw the federal government wi l l i ng , at one
low point in the debate, to suspend the pil l ar of its human rights laws, the
Racial Discrimination Act 1975. in order to pass legislation that would
place virtual l y all land beyond the reach of A borigines through the
principl es established by the High Court in the Mabo case. Some
intel l igent l ast-minute legal advice deflected the federal government from
that course: but the reality remains that the protagonists of human rights
and reconciliation were prepared to abandon every bloody and battle-
scarred gain in response to the fear-mongering generated by the farming
and mining industries and by State governments. A l an R amsay, in the
conservative Sydney Morning Herald, was moved to write that the
Coal ition' s behaviour about Mabo was ' the most miserably negative
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exercise to reinforce fear, anx iety, doubt and misunderstanding" : ' i t was
l eadership of the worst kind , and there' s been no more degrading and
demeaning behaviour by an O pposition in recent memory.^
In 1850 imperial Bri t ai n did not trust the Western A ust ral i an
g o vernment to deal fairl y wi t h the natives, and insisted that al l pastoral
leases g i ve A borigines the right to be on t h ei r land and to take therefrom
all natural waters and animal s. In 1890 Britain insisted that 1 percent of
the col ony' s gross revenue be set aside for A boriginal wel fare. T his
"outrageous" provision was overturned in 1898. N early a century l ater
Western A ustral ia seeks to give A borigines not rights to own l and, as in all
other States of the Commonweal th, but rights onl y to use l and, and then on
conditions set by white society.
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Many non- A borigines attack schemes such as grants for secondary
and tertiary study: rather than seek simil ar grants for their own ch il d ren,
wh i ch woul d be logical, they try irrational l y to abol ish that wh ich has been
given to A borigines so belatedly. R acism in sport is not confined to l ower-
division rural football competition: it is al ive and wel l at the great
Mel bourne Cricket Ground, with black rules men from the West ever the
target for vi rul ent vil ification from middle-class Victoria. In a country
imbued wi t h a sporting obsession, the majority of A borigines have al most
nothing in the way of facil ities.
O thers seek to rewrite history or abolish it: thus Gerard Henderson,
ironical l y, in an article attacking revisionist A ustral ian history, cl aims that
A borigines suffered appal l ing treatment at the hands of free settlers and
convicts' but not, as a rule, by government' .^ A borigines remain the
poorest, sickest, most homeless, least literate and hungriest of people.
Generally they are the most oppressed, repressed and depressed
community. In a country that takes pride in its ' mul ticul tural ism' .
A borigines are often relegated as a subspecies of ethnicity, as a subset of
the migrant popul ation.
T he A boriginal world is in something of a nightmare. In 1987 we saw
the l ucky co unt rywi t h all its resources, brains, technology, and
commitment to a social welfare phil osophyappoint a royal commission
into the (proportionately) astronomic number of black deaths in police
custody.^ Since then we have seen a continuing spate of A boriginal
suicides, in and out of custody. In 1987 we listened as a federal court
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judge of the Human R ights Commission described the T oomelah R eserve
in N ew South Wales as 'a concentration camp, both psychological and
physical ' .8 In 1987 we heard the N ew South Wales Director of the Bureau
of Crime and Statistics portray 'a cul ture harassed and beaten down for
decades' , a ' whol esal e destruction of t h ei r entire social fabric' aki n to
Germany al ter the war in 1945.
9
T here is no evidence to change that vi ew.
In 1987 we read that the Director of the ( Bri t i sh ) A nti- Sl avery Society was
" p art i cul arl y disturbed by al l egations of police b rut al i t y against A b o rig inal
ch i l d ren' , and perturbed enough to tel l the Commonweal th Heads of
Government Meeting in Vancouver that ' A ustral ia' s good reputation
abroad is undeserved' . ' 0 T he same year heard the N ew South Wales
O mbudsman describe the Police Department as having an attitude bankrupt
of common sense and good faith in its procedures when deal ing wi t h
A borigines.' 1 A ustral ia watched the eruption of frustration into a fracas at
Brewarrina. Police attitudes and behaviours have hardl y changed: the
A BC' s 'Cop it Sweet' program on pol icing in R edfern, the inquest into the
police ki l l i ng of David Gundy, the l amentabl e fail ure of the dawn raids in
R ed fernfail ure in finding crime, securing arrests but hugel y successful in
terrorising the raidedand the N ew South Wales policemen' s video
mockery of L loyd Boney' s death in custody hardly sustain the monotonous
(and l udicrous) ministerial cl iche that N ew South Wales has the worl d' s
best police force. In 1994 we heard the president of the A ustral ian Medical
A ssociation deplore the fact that A boriginal women were thirty times more
l ikel y to die in chil dbirth, and young men ten times more l ikel y to die than
their white counterparts. 12 in the same month, the N ational R eview of
Education for A boriginal and T orres Strait Islander People revealed that
black chil dren have al arming literacy and numeracy problems and leave
school much earlier than others.^ l
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the same month the A ustralian
Institute of Criminology found that A borigines were fourteen times more
l ikel y to be imprisoned than non-A borigines. 14 T he most recent T oomelah
R eport states that 'sport is the major thing that holds the community
together* .15
T here is no need to traverse any further the social indicators that
locate A borigines at the bottom of almost every conceivable scale. Yet one
more point needs to be made. In mid-1993, Melbourne' s Age (in my view
the best newspaper in A ustral ia) somehow managed to arrive at an editorial
conclusion that 'modern A ustral ia has demonstrated that it is not a racist
society' , and added, ' the occasional ill-advised and infl ammatory remarks
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of a few notwithstanding' . \6 \ do not believe I have invented or that
A borigines have imagined the historical and contemporary experiences
described here and in the now vast l iterature avail abl e.
3. A different ethos
Sport is essential to contemporary A boriginal l ife. But t h i s hinges on
A borigines h avi ng the means to engage in sport. Most do not have money,
transport, equipment, arenas, instructors and access to organised
competition. Certainl y there are non- A boriginal rural communities wi t h
less facil ities and opportunities than th eir city brothers and sisters, but l i ke
so many other facets of l ife, the A boriginal less than is greater than anyone
else's less than. L eaving aside all other considerations, i nequal i t y of
access in this sports-conscious democracy is ground enough for harsh
criticism.
T here is an added dimension. It is not simpl y that there is inequal ity
in sport. I bel ieve sport can be a means of survival of communities that are
in disarray and disorder. Psychological, sociological and pol itical needs
give A boriginal sport a central ity that rarely occurs in other societies.
In 1983 the late R on Pickering made a BBC tel evision documentary
on ' South A frica, Sport and the Boycott'. He defined the universal
phil osophy of sport: 'sport is based on the ethos of pl ay, of competition
being fair and equal for all ... of opportunities having to be fair and
equal' J7 But a different ethos has applied to black A ustralians. In this
land of the fair go there has been exclusion from competition and
discrimination wi t h i n it; there is also gross inequal ity of chances, choices
and facil ities.
Denial of competition takes two forms. O ne is structural denial where
because of their place in the pol itical , legal, economic and social system
A borigines cannot and do not go to the ski lodges, riding cl ubs and A -
grade golf courses ( with very few exceptions). T he other is institutional
denial : the facil ities do not exist with in their domains and lifestyles.
Where most A borigines have l i ved o n settlements, missions and pastoral
propertiesthere has been, l iteral l y, no grass. Pools, gyms, courts, tracks,
ranges, nets, tours, coaches, physios and scholarships have not been part of
their lives.
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Sport has hardly been fair. T here has been discrimination in motive,
in behaviour and in attitude even among some who are enl igh tened and
wel l disposed. T he l ist is l ong, real and dismal , as described in great detail
in Obstacle Race : for ex ampl e, the treatment of the 1868 cricket team,
possibl y apart from Johnny Mul l ag h ; the separate i ni t i al s of 'a's'
|' aborigines' |and ' h.c.' s |' hal f- castes' ) for al l the dark runners: the
Queensl and A mateur A th l etic A ssociation' s attempted b anni ng of al l
A borigines: cricket' s dismissal of cricketer Jack Marsh and the court' s
sanction of his murder; the removal and isol ation of cricketer A l ec Henry:
the hounding of boxer Jerry Jerome; the Carlton F ootball Cl ub' s rej ection
of Doug N ichol l s; the Queensland Cricket A ssociation' s treatment of Eddie
Gil bert: the ex pl oitation of boxer R on R ichards: the athl etic worl d' s
attitude to Wal l y McA rt h ur and Percy Hobson; the campaigns to prevent
A boriginal teams entering A ustral ian rul es and rugby league competitions:
the ex cl usion or ex pul sion of A boriginal rul es teams from local leagues;
the Brisbane press treatment of cricketer Ian King; the insul ts to
A ustral ian rul es players l ike Syd Jackson, the Krakouer brothers, N icky
Winmar and umpire Gl enn James.
T hese episodes were and are abhorrent and demeaning. T hey affected
dozens of individual s. Institutional denial , however, affects whol e
communities. T here is a conscious denial of the barest facil ities necessary
to a civil ised society, such as adequate water, el ectricity, sewerage,
sufficient food, medical help, a l i vi ng wage and permission to l ive wi t h ( l et
alone keep) one's chil dren. T oomelah, in northern N ew South Wales, is a
supreme example.
A n equally serious problem is the attempt to provide facil ities in
communities that are not communities. L et me ex pl ain.
In the protection-segregation and wardship eras, settlements and
missions were designed as institutions, with the residents termed inmates.
T here were locks and keys of a legal, administrative and physical kind.
With the changes that came after 1972 these nineteenth- and early
twentieth- century institutions were euphemistical l y termed ' communities' ,
and superintendents and managers were transformed by administrative pen
into ' community development officers'. N o one defined the characteristics
of community, no one trained the officers in ' development' , and no one
consulted the black popul ations about their notions of a civil order, an
organised society, a pol ity. Born out of sheer political expedience, and a
Colin T atz. Aborigines: Sport. Violence and Survival
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laziness to do any homework about these groupings and th eir common or
uncommon character, these prison- l ike total i nst i t ut i o ns were ' freed*, g iven
a budget and autonomy of a l imited kind. N obody gave thought as to how
one d e- institutional ised an i nst i t ut i o n: no one gave lessons in autonomy
and. i mp o rt ant l y, nobody remembered, or wanted to remember, that the
inmates- turned - citizens were often people moved or ex il ed to these places,
or people rounded up by desert patrols and simp l y placed there for the
great ' social engineering' ex periment of assimil ation in the deserts and
monsoon lands. Most places were not peopled by groups wi t h a common
tribal or l i ng ui st i c membership, wi t h a common historical and cul t ural
heritage, groups communal istic in their membership, integrated and
socially coherent.
Infrastructure was artificial . It was the authoritarian and draconian
laws and regul ations under special l egisl ation, and those powers together
wi t h mission evangel ism that gave these institutions ' vi ab i l i t y' . T he struts
propping the institutions began to be removed onl y in the 1970s and in
Queensland even l ater. T here is, in effect, a vacuum in many of these
places, an absence of an overarching or binding philosophy. T he ral l yi ng
call for land rights, especially since 1969. and the protracted legal hearings,
have fil l ed a very small part of that vacuum.
Sport is not a phil osophy, but it is a set of discipl ined, ritual ised
activities that attracts loyalties and contractual obligations. L ater I stress
the importance of sport for A boriginal survival and development. F or the
moment there is need of a short but representative tour of the remote
centres to see who plays and who doesn't, who can afford to play and who
can' t.
Col in T aU, Aborigines: Spori. Violence and Survival
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Sports Facilities Available
Access to
to wn facilities
New South Wales
A nni dale
Boggabil l a
Bourke
Brcwamna
Condobolm
Qwra
Dubbi)
L ake Cargcl l igo
Mi tree
N Wra
Wal gctt
Queensland
Gooruli \\indi
Mi Isa
Northern Territory
A l ice Springs
Darwin
Western Australia
Br< x > mc
Dcrbv
Halls' Creek
Kal gwrl ic
Kununurra
Perth
South Australia
Ccduna
Murray Bridge
Port A ugusta
Port L incol n
Victoria
Droutn
Echuca
Mil dura
Morwell
R obinval c
Shcpparton
Swan Hi l l
Warrupul
1
to Selected Aboriginal Communities,
Reserves with
no facilities
Banvon F our
Cummerayunj a
Gi nyi c
Murrin Bndyc
T iiomclah
Wallaga L ake
Dtximadgcc
Gungai' de t C K > k t o w n)
Hopcvalc
Morningion Is ( Gunana)
Wujal Wujal
Hermannsburg ( N iana)
Kmtorc
Ml L iebig
O cnpclli
Papun> a
Port Keats (Wadcyc)
Pularumpi
San la T eresa
Yucndumu
CiH> nana
GcraJdton
Kal umburu
L agrange (Bidyadanga)
L ombadina & Dj anndj in
Movvanjum
T urkey Creek ( Warmun)
Davenport
Point Pcarcc
R aukkun (Point McL cay)
Yalata
L ake T yers
Colin T alz. Aborigines: Sporl. Violence and Survival
1989-90
Reserves with
adequate facilities
L rambic
Sl anl cv V i l l ag e
\ V il l ..u Bend
C< x i mcal l a ( D arcto ni
Cherbourg
L aura
Palm Isl and
Woorabmda
Yarrabah
Barunga ( B a m yi h )
N guiu ( Bathurst Isl and)
Kurrawang
F iL /.ry Crossing
Gerard
Kixmibba
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4. The success stories
T here is greater morale, a greater sense of purpose and joy in l i vi ng
and less crime at times w h en or where sport is organised, competitive
and successful . It enhances the homogeneous T i wi communities at N g ui u
and Mi l i ki p ar t i and it promotes coherence in the diverse groups at Port
L incol n in South A ustral ia.. O f the eighty distinct co mmuni t i es I vi si t ed
o ver seven months between 1989 and 1993 ( and/or o ver ex tensive periods
in earl ier years), t h i rt y- fo ur were urban popul ations wi t h access to
whatever was avail abl e in the towns; four were reserve communities ver y
close to town and ten were communities on reserves w h i ch had faci l i t i es at
least comparable to white rural towns or the disadvantaged end of large
cities: th irty- two were communities on remote or isolated reserves wh i ch
had no facil ities whatsoever. T he sample was large and as representative
as coul d be devised in conj unction wi t h the then Department of A boriginal
A ffairs ( DA A ) , State police forces and local A boriginal council s.
T wenty minutes' fl yi ng time north of Darwin l ie Bathurst and
Mel v i l l e Islands, home of the T iwi people. T he football competition and
the canteens are probably the most potent forces in the l ives of the people
at N g ui u, Pul arumpi and Mil ikiparti. Both activities appear to have
lessened interest in traditional ceremonies and in formal Cathol icism. A t
least SI mil l ion has been spent on the sports facil ity (two ovals, basketball
and handball courts) at N guiu. and the canteen profits ensure continued
funding. Money is available to send primary school chil dren to mainl and
carnival s. T here are frequent visitors from champion football players such
as the R iol i brothers and T ed Whitten. T alent scouts from the A ustral ian
F ootball L eague, South A ustral ian N ational F ootball L eague and West
A ustral ian F ootball Commission are ful l y aware of this nursery.
Quality players are recruited to play in the N orthern T erritory F ootball
L eague (N T F L ). A boriginal over-representation in this sport is
spectacular: T hey are only 22 per cent of the T erritory popul ation yet form
70 per cent of the players in A and B divisions in the seven league teams
Darwin, N orth Darwin, N ightcl iff, St Marys, Wanderers. Waratahs and
Southern Districtsthe most outstanding such statistic in A ustral ian sport;
and six of the eight dual N ichols Medals winners are A borigines.
T here is a parallel competition on the islands. Eight teamsImal u,
T aracumbie, T uyu, T apalinga, Pumaral l i, Irrimaru, Wurankuwu and
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N guiu represent the communities. T he play is fierce but rarely viol ent,
the atmosphere tense, t rib al flags fl utter and the earth is moved by the
events. Some of the players, when off duty on some Saturdays, go across
to pl ay for N T F L teams in D ar wi n. T his is the worl d of the earl y Kant i l l a.
R i o l i . Vigona. L ew F all and L ong cl ans.
N earl y 2300 km away as the crow fl ies directl y to South A ust ral i a at
the other end of the continent there is more footbal l success in Ceduna.
K o o ni b b aand a further 500 km southPort L incol n. Isolated Ceduna
(786 km west of A delaide) has a new sports complex with oval, netbal l
courts, licensed cl ubhouse b ut no indoor toil et/l ocker rooms for women.
F our cl ubs play rul es: T hevenard and Western United F C (from Penong)
are both about 30 per cent A boriginal ; Koonibba is all A boriginal and
Ceduna Sports Cl ub is essential l y white.
Koonibba, wh ich began as a L utheran mission in 1897, is 40 km west
of Ceduna. I coul dn' t vi si t because of mourning and funeral s for two
teenage lads who had committed suicide. N ow a smal l farming community
of 150, stil l wi t h a strong L utheran orientation, Koonibba has been one of
the most successful rural football teams. T hey have played in two different
leagues since 1906 and in the major competition have won sixteen
premierships, the last in 1990. Champion player Maurice Mil l er ex pl ained
his philosophy to me: 'T he football oval is my world. My opponents are
my critics. T he ball is the subject of my ambition. If I control the bal l I
control my destiny' . Maurice died in 1993: he had a long career at Ceduna
A rea School, a success he attributed solely to sport. T he Koonibba men
are an interesting microcosm: a smal l , thriving, farming, sporting, rel igious
groupwith a propensity to die very young. Despite a lack of funds, the
Ceduna and Koonibba A borigines sustain two adul t and two colts football
teams, four j unior netball teams and eight basketball teams. A ll this takes
place in the winter season. T he vacuum occurs in summerwi t h
consequent social problems.
Port L incol n is a town of about 12,000 people, 250 km due west from
A delaide across the St Vincent and Spencer Gul fs. T he A boriginal
population is between 600 and 700, with close on 200 from Western
A ustral ia. O thers have come from the T erritory and Queensland because
' l ife is easier' there. T he Port L incoln A boriginal O rganisation (PL A O ) is
the umbrel l a body that holds everything together. A ssociated with PL A O
is the Mallee Park F C, which owns 19 acres in town, complete with oval
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and licensed restaurant-cl ubhouse. PL A O has its offices at the sports
ground. F our famil ies run th is footbal l enterprise indeed, four fami l i es
comprise the team. In a community that is beset by j eal ousy problems, it
takes a kin-based operation centred on sport to hol d th ing s together. T his
is possibl y the best ex ampl e of a sporting activity that sal vages a cohesion
that was al most lost. T his is a young co mmuni t y, wi t h unempl oyment at
about 95 per cent, wi t h perhaps two men employed in government service,
where male l ife expectancy is 47 years and femal e 52. Here is a group th at
is getting th ings together, i ncl ud i ng restoration of 300 acres at Poonindic as
a tourist attraction and a sheep project.
Unt i l the advent of the Mallee Park F C men played for local teams.
T hese men ' onl y wanted to know you for the six months of the footbal l
year: they wo ul d n' t come near you, socially or in any other way, for the
rest of the year' . Beginning in 1980 and especial l y since 1985. the team
has had resounding success. A t one stage they held an A ustral ian record of
wi nni ng forty-two games with out loss as they strode to premierships. T hey
won the district premiership every year from 1985 to 1990, and again in
1993. In that last year they won every pennant there was to win. T here are
three A boriginal darts teams and the Mallee Park N unga Cl ub at PL A O
headquarters has pool tables, a gym, boxing and " drop- in" facil ities.
' When sport is on, crime rates drop down' ; ' football keeps the younger
kids out of troubl e . . .without sport, its worse': ' it takes people' s minds off
the grog and the drugs' : " heal th improves, everything improves' . Such are
the comments from A borigines and experienced police al ike. T here were
no reported suicides or attempted suicides in 1989-90.
Cherbourg, some 280 km north of Brisbane ( inl and) , is the celebrated
centre of A boriginal sports cul ture. T heir extraordinary boxing and rugby
league achievements are discussed in Obstacle Race. Problems abound in
this population of 1500 people, as evidenced by five suicides and five
deaths of young people from alcohol-related episodes in a period of six
months in 1989. O ne wonders what woul d happen without sport. A n elder
expl ained it to me: 'Sport is very big. Without sport the place woul d have
nothing. R ugby league is everything. O utside of the season nothing much
happens' . A t times Cherbourg has had two rugby clubs, in effect fielding
six teams in the different divisions. T he (now) sole team plays in the South
Burnett competition against Kingaroy, Wondai, N anango and Murgon. A ll
but Murgon have substantial A boriginal representation. T he Jack O ' Chin
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oval has lights and is well equipped. In season the men train six nights a
week. That is a d iscip l ine and a commitment not found in any other
act i vi t y. Chil dren' s sport is wel l catered for. Box ing has been a source of
great pride and I was fortunate in meeting Joe Button ' K i ng of the
People' t h e man who trained national amateur champions Ji mmy
Edwards Jr. Eddie Barney. Jeff Dynevor. A d rian Bl ai r and Dave L anders.
Even wi t h i n the success stories, women miss the most of what there is to
miss. T hey struggl e for money and facil ities in netbal l and basketbal l
competition, but touch has come to the rescue, supporting seven men' s and
five women' s teams in outside competition.
Woorabinda is 270 km west of R ockhampton, notorious as a d ump i ng
ground and penal colony in the earl ier days of Queensl and' s A boriginal
administration. My first vi si t was in 1962, the next in 1975. By 1989 I
d i d n' t recognise this bustl ing, t h ri vi ng , growing, audibl y buzzing
community. A powerful Council , the Community Devel opment
Empl oyment Program (CDEP). sport, and the elders" tal ent for empl oying
skil l ed non-A borigines had transformed the l ives of the 1500 residents.
T here is a magnificent football oval, first-rate l ights, a large clubhouse, a
cl ubhouse licence, an O l ympic pool; most importantl y, Woorabinda is now
wi l l i ng l y sought as a venue by teams who earl ier spurned it as a
competitor.
T hroughout the 1980s the local players paid out between SI6,000 and
S 17.000 to play in the Callide Valley competition. A t $70 a trip for
seventeen away games, each of the Woorabinda Warriors was paying out
$1190 a season! N etball and softball began recently, but the competition is
in R ockhampton and the transport costs are exorbitant. T he netballers
were paying $340 a week for a bus to R ockhampton. money raised by
raffles and j umbl e sales rather than given by the dominating football men.
It is l ikel y that the turnaround in Woorabinda' s fortunes can be attributed
essentially to CDEP. Much else changed in the late 1980s. Boxing started
in 1988. T he pool was b ui l t partly by a levy of 20 cents on every can of
beer sold in a canteen that made a nett profit of $250,000 in 1989. T he
football clubhouse was buil t by j oining seven demountable units salvaged
from the Burdekin Dam scheme. Quarter horses are bred. T here is much
ad hoc cleverness in this community, with sharp eyes out for chances to
improve facil ities, especially the sporting ones. School sport is wel l
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organised by the teaching staff, though I noticed the lack of interest in
j unior sport on the part of the senior sports control l ers.
Barunga is 70 km east of Katherine ( N T ) by road. Known earl ier as
Bamyi l i . and forming part of the former Beswick Creek reserve, t h i s
co mmunity is wel l served in sport, apart from travel costs. Gordon
Kennedy, the local recreation officer, founded the Barunga A mateur
Box ing Cl ub and has taken his teams to success in Darvv in, A l ice. Brisbane
and Sydney tournaments. Sponsorship in all of these communities is a
serious problem. L ocal businesses tend to giv e sums of S150 or S500 for a
season. Mothers sew. bake and run opportunity shops and local council s
hel p out a l ittl e. T he b ul k of needed money comes from i nd i vi d ual s and
famil y, whose income (in almost all communities) is social service
payment or its work equival ent. CDEP.
T he mainstay of women' s and j unior sport has been Hel en F ejo-F rith,
now coach of the Barunga Eagles football team. Eight fixtures in the six -
team Katherine and Districts L eague are played on the grass oval at
Barunga. Barunga' s youth is hardl y alone in expressing a prime desire in
l ife: " we' re hungry for football' . T here is a night basketball competition,
eagerly contested, and vol l eybal l has come into its own. Compared to
many other T erritory youth, the Barunga mob are confident and show sel f-
esteem. T he youngsters embrace sport as an essential of l ife, not as an
el ective or an optional extra. T he Barunga sports festival is discussed
below.
Geraldton is 424 km north of Perth, with a population of 22,000,
incl ud ing 1500 A borigines. Each year the Geraldton Sporting A boriginal
Corporation organises a basketball competition. In 1989 a total of six ty-
three teamssenior men' s, reserve and women' sattended from as far
afield as Kununurra and Kal umburu. Courts are leased, bands play and the
event lasts three or four days and nights. Music festivals are highl y val ued
in A boriginal communities. Whole famil ies congregate and the event is
singul arl y free from trouble and arrests. In both basketball and rules.
A borigines are wel l represented in town teams.
Kurrawang, j ust outside Coolgardie in Western A ustralia, is a smal l ,
strictly Christian community. A Pentecostal movement, the A boriginal
Christian Corporation, runs a tight and disciplined community. A s in so
many of these cases, distance is what puts paid to competition. T here is a
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great deal of competitive basketball at Kurrawang, especial l y among the
girl s. Much of the act i vi t y is YMCA and YWCA oriented. T here is a pl an
for a mul ti- purpose sports complex centred on basketbal l , vol l eybal l ,
badminton and rul es footbal l . T here are enough pl ayers for an A and a
reserve team to compete in the nearby Kal goorl ie league. A numb er of
A borigines in t h i s region of the West have begun to re- id entify wi t h t h ei r
earl ier missions rather than wi t h regions of origin. ' I' m a Warburton
Mission man' is now commonl y heard, and it wi l l be interesting to see
whether t h i s Ch ristian group seemingl y on the verge of big money
through emu f ar mi ng wi l l sustain itsel f and its ideals.
Condobolin on the L achlan R i ver is 475 km west of Sydney, wi t h a
popul ation of 3300. In this l ittl e N ew South Wales domain there is a S1.2
mil l ion sports complex, owned and run as a business by the local
A borigines. Chris ( " Honky" ) Clark, the man who suggested the A boriginal
and Isl ander Sports Hal l of F ame idea to me. turned a bicentennial grant of
S100.000 to Wil l ow Bend Vil l age the nearby ' mission' into collateral
for a further grant and loan to establish the complex at Condo. It opened in
1988. It is open six days a week and there is much interracial sporting and
social mix ing. Discos are run every fortnight, strictl y with out alcohol, wi t h
up to 150 youth attending. F or me, the town was most relaxed, friendl y,
with much social cordial ity. T here is a good atmosphere general l y, and it
is clear that the complex has become a focal point of the town. In addition,
a mul ti- purpose court for netbal l , basketbal l , vol l eybal l , tennis, badminton
and cricket nets has been buil t at Wil l ow Bend Vil l age. T he group already
has an ex cel l ent gym. A borigines from all over southern A ustral ia bus in
to behold these facil ities as models for their dreams.
5. Sports tax
Tax is not simpl y a compulsory contribution or levy; it is also
something that is oppressive and burdensome. O ne of the canons of
income taxation is to take from each according to his or her abil ity to pay.
O n this criterion, and if rural pl aying costs are considered a tax. then
A borigines pay higher taxes than any other group in A ustral ia.
In the l ist (above) of communities I visited, the first and third col umns
are those with facil ities and access to competitionin varying grades and
qual ity. T wo cases must suffice as instances of undue sports taxation.
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Moree ( N SW) and Palm Isl and (Qld). In Moree women who pl ay
basketball and touch paid S350 a season for use of the oval and the ni g h t
l ights. In addition they paid the sport' s affil iation fees, a furth er $350 (in
1989-90 money terms) . T hese sums caused a marked dropping off in
basketbal l interest. T he T aylor O val costs the Boomerangs footbal l ers
between S4000 and S4500 for the season: to pl ay, to train and to use the
l ights. F or communities wi t h the barest mi ni mum subsistence incomes it is
a h ig h tax.
Sponsorship is a common feature of all sportyet it is something that
has passed by most A boriginal sportspeople. T here are very feu
A boriginal business enterprises to call on. A number of smal l local
businesses donate a season's j umpers or footbal l s, but this is real l y peanuts
money. A high proportion of these businesses are migrant-owned.
A borigines rarely have the confident salesmen to make the pitch to the big
companies. Some, such as F ourex in Queensland, approach teams l ike
Woorabinda wi t h offers of prize-money in return for logo advertising.
T he popul ation of Palm Isl and is j ust under 3000. Sixteen teams play
rugby league, i nvo l vi ng 380 registered players. T his means that 14 per
cent of the popul ation are pl ayerswhich is indeed a statistic in a special
class. T here are four cl ubs: Jets, R aiders. Hurricanes and Skipjacks. Why
so many? Because they are internal teams who play each other, not teams
on the mainl and. O ne team, the Palm Island Barracudas, plays against
teams from the F oley Shield competition from time to time in individual l y
arranged matches. Palm was admitted to the T ownsvil l e R ugby L eague in
1982 and played regularly until 1988. Palm had to pay the cost of the
visiting teamsup to $3000 a day for a plane or $2000 for a l aunch. In
seven years the Palm people spent close on $400.000 for their players'
away game expenses and the visiting team fares. O ver $25,000 was spent
on (unsponsored) jerseys, ground equipment, shoulder pads and the like.
N atural l y, they went broke. N owadays they have no option but to play
each other.
T here are, of course, other burdens. Many of the population centres
have l imited school sport and because of travel costs interschool carnival s
are difficul t. Palm Isl and primary, for example, sent 100 children to
T ownsville for the schools athletics carnival in 1989: the cost was $3200
for the l aunch round trip. T he school's budget from a special schools
program fund was $18,000 for the year. Doomadgee. in north Queensland.
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has a keen j unior sports pool, with some real talent in gymnastics, softball
and league. Each chil d pays $80 to attend competition in nearby
Burketown ( 100 km) and more than doubl e for distant Isa (600 km) .
T he total absence of qual ified instructors is a major probl em. In the
l ate 1980s the Department of A boriginal A ffairs constructed about a dozen
il l - conceived and poorly thought out sports complexes for remote
communities. T he one at Yarrabah is a prime exampl e: a monstrous
el ephant of several colours, it remains isolated from the popul ation and is
virtual l y unused. T here are elaborate concrete slabs wi t h intricate
markings for a variety of sports. N o one can coach, no one knows the rul es
of these games and no one can referee. L ack of instructors is the hal l mark
of most of these centres. Day-long visits by boxer T ony Mund i ne or rul es
pl ayer Barry Cable are inspirational , but onl y for the heroic moment.
T here is no aftermath.
L ack of pools is more than j ust an absence of a swimming facil ity. A
vi si t i ng special ist to Doomadgee D r Darrell Duncan, who is concerned
wi t h heal th matters rel ating to waterhas stated that there is a dramatic
reduction in trachoma where chil dren swim in chl orinated pools. T he
Doomadgee pool is unusabl e and a large sum is needed for refurbishment.
T here remains the unending burden of discrimination even in the
'good' towns and reserves. T here is only one set of basketball courts in
Derby, not in good repair. T hey are used mainl y by A borigines, something
some of the town fathers object to. Some want new courts, for whites onl y.
In Dubbo (N SW) there is a powerful A boriginal rugby league team, the
O rana Goo-gars. T hey play out of the l ittl e town Mendooran, 70 km away
from Dubbo, because the Dubbo teams insist that O rana's presence in town
woul d detract from their sponsorship opportunities. A t Erambie ( N SW)
and in the East Gippsl and district where L ake T yers is situated, the local
footballers don' t want these ' missions' to have separate teams: they only
want A boriginal players in their teams, which is a nice twist to the whol e
racism ' thing' .
T he facil ities at T oomelah are poor, yet the community has produced
outstanding sportspeople. I watched A borigines outperform all others at
the Macintyre Cluster Primary State Schools A thletics carnival at
Goondiwindi High School in Jul y 1989. Goondiwindi in Queensland is 22
km away from T ooomelah in N ew South Wales. T he tensions have been
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enormous these past thirty years, erupting in a major fracas in the Victoria
Hotel in 1987. In 1989 the N ew South Wales Supreme Court refused
extradition to Queensland of sixteen T oomelah/Boggabilla men on the
grounds that they woul d not receive a fair trial in Go o nd i wi nd i and if
convicted they wo ul d face ' intol erabl e, oppressive and unj ust' prison
t reat ment . IK O ne Goondiwindi response to this ' outrageous sl ur' was to
ban A boriginal touch teams from T oomel ah/Boggabil l a on the grounds th at
the competition was for Queensl anders o nl y.' 9 T he Boggabil l a pol ice
sergeant deplored the fact that he and his friends were stil l al l owed to pl ay
in the competition. T his situation is one wh ich is. fortunatel y, rare: th at
sport exacerbates the tensions and animosities and the determination of the
youth to revenge themsel ves on the ' system' . In 1993. however, there was
an el ement of reconcil iation through sport: despite all charges being
dismissed against the T oomelah men for the 1987 episode, an event that
w i l l doubtless ' fester' , the N ew South Wales A borigines were i nvi t ed to
j oin Goondiwindi footbal l and touch teams.
Despite the success of the Geraldton sports carnival s, there is a strong
antipathy to al l th ings A boriginal in that city. T he town and shire council s
have proved d ifficul t about the number of nights that bands can play at
carnival time. T he local press never misses an opportunity to engage in
scare mongering, a matter the police have complained of, and positive
A boriginal achievements, such as the carnival s, don' t rate a mention.
F acilities in the major towns and in the small and large cities vary, as
one woul d expect. T here are a number of reports of A boriginal groups
being denied access to publ ic parks and pl aying fields, even in the suburbs
of Perth. A nother phenomenon is for white youth to move into other sports
rather than stay in games where A borigines predominate or shine. Bourke
is an example: the white boys have moved to rugby union, but have now
been ' followed' by A boriginal lads.
A n underrated but highl y significant feature of large and city and
small city l ife has been the work of Police Boys' Clubs. A s facil ities and
places of interaction for A boriginal youth, clubs l ike Broome and
Kalgoorlie have been outstanding, even though a l ittl e outdated in their
t h i nki ng and in their disco programs. Police may have good strategy and
manpower reasons for closing so many of these centres; nevertheless their
articul ation of why they close them has been poor, especially in the l ight of
Col in T at/.. Alxviqines: Sport. Violence and Survival
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constant police speech making about the need to improve rel ations wi t h
A borigines.
6. Unequal access
T he th irty- th ree " no facil ities' communities are not al l bereft of sport.
Most make the most of what l i t t l e there is and the l i t t l e is very l i t t l e. A l l
have some form of school program, however smal l in scale and
competition. Most simpl y cannot get to competition. K al umb ur u in
northern Western A ustral ia is a ten- hour and a twel ve- hour four- wheel
d rive to Kununurra and Derby respectivel y. T he air fare to K ununur r a was
S70 return in the regul ar fl ight but a nine-seater charter cost S1500.
By ' no facil ities" I mean no pools, no ovals, tracks, nets, change
rooms, equipment, instructors and regul ar competitions. Some of the
' sportsgrounds' have to be seen to be bel ieved (see A ppendix II for a
gl impse of what is much worse in real ity). L ombadina and Dj arindj in in
north-western Western A ustral ia play on a salt pan. T he basketball court is
old, the surface cracked, the boards broken. It is difficul t to imagine the
col l ection of decrepit, unusabl e courts that exist in these places.
Kal umb uru has, l iteral l y, a paddock that floods for more than half the year.
In N ew South Wales, Gingie reserve has an ' oval ' covered in wi l d bushes.
T he kids use broken crutches as pogo sticks for want of pl aythings. Murri n
Bridge has a gym that isn' t a gym and beautiful Wallaga L ake has nothing
apart from a place to swim. Mowanj um, near Derby, has a basketball court
of sorts, dominated by the older chil dren; L ake T yers in East Gippsl and has
a court in ruins. In north Queensland, Cooktown is virtual l y bereft of
organised sport, for black and white al ike. Wujal Wujal no rth of
Daintree and south of Cooktownis an isolated community, inward-
looking, turning in on itself, except for alcohol excursions to the celebrated
L ion' s Den pub near Helenvale, the grottiest I have ever visited. T here is
no football, no basketball or netball. But there is a thirst for sport among
the kids who travel to the Bloomfield R iver primary, 7 km away.
Hopevale lacks resources but the community spirit is, in part, due to a h ig h
level of sports organisation, noticeably among the women. T he famous
rock-art township of L aura has l iteral l y nothing, except for very l imited
school sport. Sport in much of A rnhem L and in the T erritory is a ghastly
joke. Communities l ike O enpelli have nothing. Sport in Central A ustral ia
is hardl y better. Communities l ike Kintore and Mt L iebig are ful l of sports
Colin T at/. Alx>rit>ine:>: Sporl. Violence and Survival
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enthusiasm, but what passes for ' ovals' are cleared patches of dusty red
earth, wi t h no markings, l ocker rooms, showers, stands, scoreboards and
the l ike.
Yal ata in South A ustral ia has abysmal facil ities, al l in need of
refurb i sh i ng , major repair or repl acement. Yal ata. wh i ch needs al l the h el p
it can get. almost j oined the Ceduna footbal l competition in 1994 but lost
some of its key pl ayers to other teams. Coonana. as remote as remote can
be in Western A ustral ia, has no teams, no games, no fields. Yuend umu.
discussed bel ow, is an astonishing exception: it holds an annual sporting
event attended by dozens of communities and thousands of spectators i n
a domain that looks, and is. a physical disaster.
T he saddest story is Mornington Isl and in the Gul f of Carpentaria.
Without instructors, cut off from the mainl and by expense, costly (and
mostly unsuitabl e) sports equipment sent up from Canberra is merril y eaten
by rats in the inappropriate buil d ing set aside for sport. T he viol ent
dynamics of that society are discussed later.
Cummeragunj a and L ake T yers have proud sporting achievements.
Yet the facil ities are poor in the extreme. In far too many places chil dren
kick an aimless football or manufacture, as chil dren do, games of the
imagination with bits of debris. A n honest documentary f i l m woul d show
scenes that appear to be located in A fghanistan in wartime or Somalia in
drought time.
7. Funding Aboriginal sport
T he poverty of sport and facil ities is far too common in this twice-
blessed land of O l ympism. Since 1969why not sooner?federal
governments have made efforts to develop sport and recreation programs.
In that year the Minister responsible for A boriginal A ffairs, W. C.
Wentworth, agreed to establish an A boriginal Sports F oundation to
encourage A borigines in sport, to gain for A borigines more open access to
sport, to arrange tours and competition, and to reward distinguished
performances. Prime movers behind the scheme were T ed Egan, then a
special project officer with Dr ' N ugget' Coombs's O ffice of A boriginal
A ffairs, and Charles Perkins, then senior research officer wit h that office.
Both had a vision of something better than a ' mi l ki ng cow'. A s Egan
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wrote in an internal memo: 'T he presentation of a couple of footbal l s at
Maning rid a by Polly F armer woul d probabl y have more positive effect
than the "let' s give them a coupl e of thousand" approach, where there is a
risk of the money being spent on fleecy l i ned jock straps and A didas boots
al l round' .
But the F oundation did have to adopt a handout approach. O f the
$50.000 total budget then avail abl e, bits and pieces ( from $300 to $3000)
went, for ex ampl e, to N umb ul war for a basketbal l court, to a women' s
hockey cl ub in South A ustral ia, to Warrabri ( now A l i Carung) for a grass
oval , to A moonguna football cl ub for jerseys and insurance, to the R edfern
A l l Blacks for a vi si t to N ew Zealand. L ooking at the earl y appl ications
caused me to scrawl in the margins: ' Where the hel l are the A boriginal
A ffairs Departments?' t h e bodies charged wi t h promoting the physical
and social advancement of A borigines.
T he original F oundation members were Doug N ichol l s ( chairman) ,
Michael A hmatt. El l ey Bennett,.George Bracken, Bi l l Dempsey. Evonne
Goolagong, Syd Jackson, David Kantil l a, Ian King, Wal l y McA rthur,
Darby McCarthy. Charles Perkins, R eg Saunders (of mil itary fame). Eric
Simms. F aith T homas and, in association, L ionel R ose.
T he N ational A boriginal Sports Council (N A SC) replaced the
F oundation: it represented thirty- two sporting communities in A ustral ia.
Between them these two bodies allocated several mil l ion dollars to
A boriginal sport. In 1986-87. $3.65 mil l ion was given for sport and
recreation programs, which included $800.000 for sports grants. In the
same year N A SC recommended that four national championships be
fund ed i n darts, netbal l , indoor soccer and golf. T he N ational A boriginal
Golf A ssociation was created in 1987 and in O ctober that year a twel ve-
man, four-woman team went on a tournament visit to Hawaii. In 1987 ten
amateur boxers, accompanied by T revor Christian and T ony Mundine,
were assisted in a visit to the US O lympic T raining Centre, with a view to
preparation for places in the 1988 O l ympic team. A n al l -A boriginal indoor
soccer team went to Canada on tour. R ugby league, basketball, netbal l and
athletic carnival s were underwritten. F urther, fourteen young A boriginal
sports stars were assisted to compete overseas, some at world
championship level. In recent years it has become clear that national
distribution is not working. Since the A boriginal and T orres Strait
Islander Commission (A T SIC) went ' regional ' , there have been no central .
Col in T al/.. Atx.>ri^ine.\: Sport. Violence and Survival
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national funds for A ustral ia- wide carnival s. A s a result, some States have
developed special A boriginal sporting bodies, such as the South A ust ral i an
A b orig inal Sports and R ecreation A ssociation. Some State departments of
sport and recreation have i ni t i at ed special A boriginal uni t s because of the
i nab i l i t y of national bodies to appreciate distinct regional needs.
8. Violenceand pessimism
Unequal access to sport is not merely a case of d iscrimination or
neglect. T here are serious ramifications for the psychological, sociological
and pol itical aspects of contemporary A boriginal l ife. My first
observations about A borigines in sport began in 1961. N ow, thirty- three
years later, my concl usion is that sport can, and does, have more important
functions in Aboriginal societies than it does in the lives of other
Australians. T here are at least ten factors that make sport so crucial and
central , not onl y to A boriginal devel opment but to the very basis of l ife
itsel f, namel y, survival . Dramatic? Yes. but sport, or the absence of it. is a
factor in sustaining and nurturing group identity. Sport is a key to several
ex istential issues. Sport present has a number of practical and pragmatic
effects: sport absent has a number of serious and deleterious effects. In
many A boriginal communities sport:
provides, however temporarily, some purpose and meaning in
l ife:
enhances ( diminishing) social cohesion and togetherness:
emphasises ritual and attracts loyalties:
demonstrates A boriginal organisational skills:
enables a few moments of total empowerment and sovereignty:
acts, on occasion, to offset alcohol abuse:
occupies time in the absence of real employment:
helps overcome, however temporarily, chronic ill health:
reduces serious internal violence and j uvenil e del inquency: and
provides an avenue for successful competition against
mainstream society.
Before anal ysing some of these functions of sport in the remoter
communities, something of the social context of viol ent behaviour must be
presented. T he picture is not pleasant and some people wi l l doubtless
argue that the bad and the ugl y should be left out and onl y the good
Colin T al/. Aborigines: Sport. Violence and Survival
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reported. T here are devastating problems at this time and they cannot be
dealt wi t h unl ess faced head on. We buried trachoma for a quarter of a
century and there are legions of bl ind to show for it.
T he above functions are vi t al when we look at what is h appening in
many remote communities. T his past decade has seen a marked increase
on ' i nt ernal breakdown* w i t h i n communities. T here is. regrettabl y,
abund ant evidence for these real ities:
the great deal of personal viol ence w i t h i n A boriginal groups,
even w i t h i n famil ies:
the great deal of chil d neglect, as in hunger and lack of general
care:
the considerable amount of violence and damage committed in
sober states:
the marked increase in A boriginal deaths from non- natural
causes:
much destruction of property, both white- suppl ied and own
acquired:
increasing numbers of attacks, often viol ent, on white staff who
work Wi t h the groups:
the al arming incidence of suicide and attempted suicide
(parasuicide) among the youth:
the vast quantity of alcohol consumed, commonly and generally
( but not always correctly) offered as the sole and total
explanation of the violence; and
the constancy with which A borigines now external ise cause,
blame and responsibility for all this.
T his is not the place to analyse each of these problems in detail, but
several must be discussed. A s of the 1990s, the second-ranking cause of
death among A borigines (after cardiovascular disease) is death from non-
natural or external causes. Violence, in the form of inj ury or l ife-taking, is
infl icted either on others or on self. T hat there was, and is. rough, physical
inj urious treatment wi t h i n traditional cul ture is not in dispute. What is
under focus here is the ' new violence' : the prevalence of deaths from non-
natural causes, what official reports call ' violences, accidents and
poisonings' : the greater prevalence of homicide, suicide, parasuicide and
sel f- mutil ation; the even ' newer' phenomena of rape, child-molestation and
incest. Ironical l y, the very violence that traditional elders meted out to
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offenders in this last category, such as a spearing in the th igh , is no l onger
( general l y) invoked or used.
Judy A tkinson is not alone in arguing that " viol ence is now endemic
in contemporary A b o ri g i nal society' and that it is ' created by the processes
of dispossession, col onisation and.al ienation" .20 L ocating the historical
causes is important but it is of no hel p in t r yi ng to change the present. A
young g amb l i ng mother pours petrol on a bl anket and places it on her
cryi ng i nfant ' s face to quieten the ch il d . T he crisis l ies in wh at she is
doing and what can be done to end such cal amities.
Ernest Hunter has dealt wi t h the probl em of sel f- mutil atio n,
particul arl y among young males.21 T here is also much sel f-tattooing,
usual l y of one' s own name, done in a mut i l at i ng fashion. Hunter tel l s me
that th is is usual l y done by alienated adolescents whose social networks are
fragil e and who need to cl aim and procl aim their very id entity. Inebriated
domestic viol ence and inebriated homicide ( which is often domestic
viol ence 'gone wrong" ) are too common. Chil d neglect is new.
A borigines have long been highl y praised (at least by those who have l ived
or worked with communities) for their remarkable system of ki nsh i p ,
famil y reciprocity, care of the aged and the young. In metropolitan Sydney
it is estimated that between 200 and 250 chil dren are homeless each nigh t
and that A borigines 'are disproportionately represented among this
number" .22 Yet twenty- five years ago such homelessness woul d have
been out of the question. In remoter areas, neglect, lack of food and
certainl y the wrong food have caused a further weakening in the already
shaky health and strength of young chil dren. Much of the j uvenil e crime is
breaking and enteringto find food!
Suicide is not the sole l itmus of societal il l s but it is generally
accepted as a strong signal that something is seriously amiss. T eenage
suicide, especially male suicide, has reached dramatic proportions in most
Western societies these past twenty years. But the leap in A boriginal
suicide and attempted suicide rates is staggeringstatistically and in its
impl ications about the val ue A borigines place upon l ife today.
L ouis Wekstein deals wi t h the vexed problem of cl assifying the
different kinds of completed suicide and parasuicide, both of which he
calls ' the human act of sel f-infl icted, self-intentional cessation of l ife' .23
T wo of his thirteen classifications interest me. T he first is ' chronic
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suicide*, the masking of a death wish by the excessive use of alcohol or
drugs. Intent and method may not be in the same class as the classic ( novel
and movie) depiction, complete with suicide note and gun. But the
common el ement remains sel f- destruction. T he second is ex i st ent i al
suicide. T his is an ending of the unend ing burden of hypocrisy, the
meaningl essness of l i fe, the ennui : it is the l ack of motivation to continue
to ex ist w hat concentration camp surv ivor Victor F rank! woul d cal l
pnrposelesstws\ in all tilings, especially in fut ure things.
Emanuel Marx has infl uenced my anal ysis of what I have seen in
black A ustral ia.24 j-je was writing about viol ent behaviour in an Israel i
immigrant town, yet his framework is uncanni l y appl icabl e to many of our
communities. He tal ks about ' appeal ing suicide*. ' A ppeal ing viol ence' is
very much a cry for hel p. It is used by someone at the end of his/her tether,
when one feels unabl e to achieve a singl e social aim wi t h o ut the assistance
of others. Such a person tries to shift personal obl igations on to others,
and/or tries to sh ift blame for personal fail ings on to others. T he person
who cannot persuade his/her famil y to hel p, or to share his/her
responsibil ities, repeatedly attempts suicide as a desperate means of
gaining famil y support. A t R aukkun (Point McL eay) in South A ustral ia,
an A boriginal man attacked his brother wi t h an axe early in 1989.
A dmonished later by the local policeman' s wife, he replied: 'Sorry. I ' l l
never do that again: I ' l l onl y hurt mysel f.
T here is also the problem of the l ife- threatening act that doesn' t end in
death. R egrettably, in every sense of that word, this includes gestures and
ambival ent acts of self-hurt. It is all too easy, as I observed during my
research, for all ( but the attempter) to say he or she is onl y attention-
seeking. I cannot accept, especially from the heal ing and hel ping
professions, that young girls swal l owing l iquid paper or t h umb tacks was
simpl y ' being sil l y* or worse, ' being stupid' .
Hunter' s study of twenty-five suicides in the Kimberl ey, his publ ished
papers and his book throws l ight on essentially young male A boriginal
deaths.25 In the decade 1959 to 1969 there was one suicide: between 1969
and 1979, there were three: between 1979 and 1989. there were nineteen!
T he suicides are increasingl y younger and male: they are essentially urban-
based, characterised by an environment of normative d rinking and of
violence. T he R oyal Commission into A boriginal Deaths in Custody
presented the wide range of factors invol ved in the 108 deaths they were
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allowed to examine. A 1990 A delaide study on A boriginal social heal th
found fifteen parasuicides in a random sample of eighty- eight people: an
unusual feature was that fourteen of these were female.26
Before the 1960s the research l iterature reported perhaps no more th an
twenty instances of conscious acts of sel f- destruction among A boriginal
people. In the seven days from 16 to 22 O ctober 1989, the ( t h en)
Department of A boriginal A ffairs was made aware of eight A boriginal
non-custody suicide attempts in and around A del aide. Suicide, parasuicide
and sel f- mutil ation are, with out exaggeration, rampant in black A ustral ia.
My research into A boriginal viol ence and del inquency was based on
ex tensive interviews wi t h A boriginal elders, youth, l iaison officers, wel fare
workers, j ud icial officers, l awyers and police officers of all ranks. T he
resul ts have also been presented to several A boriginal conferences. A n
al arming picture emerges. A bout 60 per cent of men aged between 20 and
30 are invol ved in viol ence of some kind. A borigines form between 0.3
and 2.6 per cent of the populations of all States (except the T erritory, w i t h
22.3 per cent), yet youth comprise between 7 and 15 per cent of offenders
and between 15 and 30 per cent of such youth are in 'secure care'.
T he pattern now described is not universal but is very nearly so.
T here is group viol ence as wel l as gang violence, mostly without kni ves
and guns, accomplished by bashing, often in anger and frustration. T he
gang-groups become smaller and smaller, more clearly defined, more and
more on the 'outer'. T hey paint themselves as an excl usive set of excluded
brethren. Yet, paradoxically, there appears to be a less defined sense of
non-approval of the gangs. T here has always been ritual ised or ' pro forma'
violence in A boriginal communities but it was often posturing, wi t h
regrets, remorse or apology offered the fol l owing day. T here was a
structure that divided normal behaviour and that which was occasionally,
especially with inebriation, over the top. T oday, for the most part, there is
no longer any structure: there is no predictabil ity and anything can and
does happen anywhere. T here are no mediators left, people who woul d
intercede in brawls when someone had had enough or when danger
loomed. In many classrooms the first reaction of children to tension or
teasing is to punch someone. In short, there is now, too often, a sense of
chaos. Chil d-rearing, as A borigines knew it and as anthropological
observers saw it, has been replaced by the phenomenon of video-watching.
Many kids in the Kimberl eys, for example, wi l l hire between six and ten
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videos a day. Early teenage pregnancy is common. So is teenage rape, to
the ex tent that in some A rnh em L and communities it is said that every g i rl
under fourteen has been raped at some time. Chil d al cohol ism is rife and
p et ro l - sni ffi ng more so. T hroughout this g rim picture there is another
uni versal : i nvar i ab l y, each ch il d in d i ffi cul t y locates bl ame and
resp o nsib il ity ex ternal l y for his or her situation.
When asked the uni versal question about what they want to be. most
youngsters perceive themsel ves as labourers of some description w i t h i n
their own communities. When asked whether he or she has another self, or
whether another sense of self is possible, the answer is yes. But wh en
asked what it is they have to give up or change in order to b ui l d another
habitat, they can' t answer. T hey appear to have no other reference points.
T heir l ives, says A boriginal educator T erry Widders. are one- dimensional :
' they are naked ind ivid ual s with out feedback systems'.27
9. The alcohol question
White and black A ustral ians cannot l egitimatel y sustain the argument
that alcohol is the sole, total or even the most significant ex pl anation of
this internal violence. T here is no doubt that alcohol lessens restraints
about using violence, as witness the Hi l l or Bay 13 at two of our famous
sports stadiums. F or me, alcohol is only the agent, the effector of the
carnage that is taking place. T here are dozens of suggested causes from as
many as fifty sources. In 1977 a federal parliamentary committee
suggested twenty- four causes.28 T his was a particul arl y poor exercise
since it sought to locate the main cause wi t h i n the A borigines themsel ves.
O ther theorists suggest genetic sensitivity to alcohol, or psychosocial or
environmental or economic factors.
What then can I speculate upon as causal factors in A boriginal men
and women reaching the end of their tethers, crying for help, shifting
obl igations and responsibil ity on to others, of ex isting in a state that
anthropologist Colin T urnbul l would say is one where human
characteristics are often lost, where human society is being replaced by a
mere survival system? I suggest this cluster of factors:
1. T he legacies of past viol ations which are now manifesting themselves:
institutional isation; heavy-handed, often authoritarian administration;
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prohibition of cul tural practices and the forbidding of h unt i ng ; the
curfews; imprisonments for offences onl y A borigines could commit;
the ration systems; ex i l i ng of people to remote areas; and. of course,
fhe forced removal of children.
2 . Havi ng survi ved because they had t o h avi ng survived the trading
men. the whal er and sealermen. the church men, the beef and cattl e
men, the wel fare men, and now the mi ni ng men t h ere is no l onger
the chal l enge to go on, a kind of self-genocide?
3. A borigines face a potent and d eb i l i t at i ng force amb i g ui t y, whereby
the plethora of ideas, ideals and agencies resul ts in uncertainty,
unease, ambiv alence. a b l urri ng and lack of focus as to who is
accountable and responsible for the events in their daily l ives.
4. Unl i ke our ordered societies where educational and technol ogical
changes evol ve over time. A borigines have been elided and
telescoped across 300 years of industrial and technological revol ution
in some forty years.
5. T he equality and positive discrimination doctrines have given
A borigines an enormous agenda of expectations that they h aven' t the
skil l s to acquire immediatel y and so the consequent frustrations,
al ienations and withdrawal s from ' l ife' are manifested in appeal ing
violence.
T wo features of the extensive literature on A borigines and alcohol
stand out: first, alcohol is almost always presented as overweening,
primary and causal in their l ives; second, excessive drinking is perceived
as a present tense phenomenon, a psychological and spiritual damage
consequent upon past events, such as (colonial) dispossession of land,
destruction of traditional society, and powerlessness in our society. T he
conventional th inking , incl uding my own. has been that if we address the
causes of heavy d rinkingpast loss of land and cul ture, present racial
discrimination and denial of opportunitythe reasons for such drinking are
l ikel y to disappear. If we have the patience to sit out another two
decades t h e time needed to repair these primal causes and to facil itate
sel f-esteemthen that consequent-upon-the-past heavy grogging wi l l work
itself out.
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Several ex pl anations of the mechanics or ' bio-mechanics' of this
d ri nki ng are g i ven: al cohol ic b eh avio ur is contagious in communities such
as these: even non- drinkers comport themsel ves as if al cohol ic, the so-
cal l ed ' dry d runks" : the wh i t e alcohol model is a constant and an
ex traordinary one. and so on. T hese are obviousl y matters for int ensive
research, especial l y as we have almost no quant i t at i ve studies apart from
Hunter' s recent Kimberl ey research. What we don' t need is any more
research to tel l us that t h ing s are terribl y wrong.
I make two points: first. A boriginal d r i nki ng is almost never treated as
i nd i vi d ual d ri nki ng : it is perceived, regarded, addressed and debated as a
col l ective phenomenon. Some revised t h i nki ng is cal l ed for if any changes
are to occur. Second, if some of my conjectures have any val i d i t y, heavy
d r i nki ng wi l l not stop in the next quarter century. It is a matter of tenses.
T he impossibl e or improbabl e expectations w i l l continue, and so w i l l the
probl em of amb i g ui t y.
O f immediate concern is that the much-respected A boriginal val ues of
affection, reverence for famil y and kin. reciprocity, care of the young and
aged, veneration for l aw, lore and rel igion, are fl oundering or have been
displaced for now. T ragical l y, many of these communities are no l onger
ordered societies.
T here can, of course, be no return to the bad old days of authoritarian,
repressive structureswhether run by bureaucrats, missionaries or
cattlemen. T here can be no going back to the well-meant but demeaning
and devastating aspects of wardship and welfare. Without indigenous or
external structures these centres l iteral l y cannot hold together. So wi t h
sadness and some permissibl e despair and irritation, I look at these eighty
' communities' and gloom descends.
Pessimism means an outlook that takes the gloomiest view of things.
My pessimism is that ( the real, proven) violence wi l l grow wi t h i n many
A boriginal groupingsand it wi l l escalate towards aspects of white
society, such as the spontaneous A boriginal reaction to the death in police
custody of Daniel Yock in Brisbane and in the streets of A rmidal e
( fol l owing the cursing of A boriginal chil dren) late in 1993. T he
emergence of reckless teenage gangs is another facet of the new violence.
Worse is the phenomenon of 8, 9 and 10-year-olds in A yr (Qld) using
street hideouts for drinking bouts in the early hours of the morning. T hey,
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too. are secreting iron bars and assorted weaponry.29 T here is. of course,
the ' old' viol ence at Bourke. Brewarina. Coonamble. Wal gett. Wi l canni a
and Go o nd i wi nd i . Yet here there must be a pause about word usage. T he
point about almost all A boriginal ' riots' is that they are not riots. T hey are
best described as disturbances, fracas, brawl s, figh ts. R iots occur in
T oxteth and Brix ton in Brit ain, in Chicago and L os A ngel es, in Soweto in
South A frica. Most police woul d agree, but resort to the utmost word as
they articul ate the und erl yi ng racism preval ent in t h i s society.
10. Sportand optimism
O ptimism is a disposition to look on the bright side, to hope for the
best (even when the real ities don' t quite warrant it) . My optimism is that
A boriginal groups wi l l find a rel igious or pol itical , or rel igio- pol itical , faith
and philosophy that wi l l further bond genuine communities and hel p create
a sense of social cohesion among the ' disparate* ones in the former
institutions. T he black experience in the United States and South A frica is
ev idence of the need for such a faith, and the effectiveness of it. w hether it
be a broad-based black consciousness movement or highl y specific faith
such as that at the core of the Black Musl ims. Sometimes the phil osophy is
an ethnic-based national ism. T he Zul u Inkatha movement in N atal has an
i nfi ni t el y stronger sense of unity and purpose than the general membership
of the A frican N ational Congress, one which has assimil ation into a
' unified ' South A frica as their aim, one in which they draw onl y on th eir
negative images under apartheid and on vague images of the future.
Whether A borigines can find a leadership to wh ich they all give credence
and deference is another matter.
Until such time as A borigines find that inner faith or phil osophy, there
is a desperate need for a cement that produces a sense of cohesion. Many
woul d argue that ' land rights' is the key. I disagreein a very specific
sense. L and rights, l ike ' black power' before it in the United States, is a
ral l ying cry, an umbrel l a under which people come together in a united
cause. L and rights is essentially a politico-economic movement: it is not a
dail y activity, something to do, a sustaining faith or philosophy. If land
was the answer, there should be no disordered communities where rights
have been granted. Many of the l and-owning groups in Central A ustral ia,
l ike the Pitjantjatjara and the Pintupi, reside more and more in A l ice
Springs.
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A t first bl ush it may seem sil l y to suggest that sport is an answer.
Cl earl y, it is not a cure for what besets many of these groups. But there is
evidence to show that a f ul l sporting l ife is a partial answerperhaps a 30
to 40 per cent answert o some of the major probl ems. However, the nex t
d i f f i cul t y is to get federal and State authorities to recognise that money
spent on sport is not money spent on sport as si mp l y play or recreation.
Sport is not an adj unct, an addendum to l ife, something played at the end
of the week and funded at the end of the budget after housing, heal th and
education h ave been attended to. It is not merely a question of fund i ng
sport in order to redress inequal ities in sports facil ities. Sport is a major
facet of A boriginal survi val and has to be treated as such.
T he pioneering figure in the study of suicide, Emil e D urkh ei m.
contended that social cohesion provides the necessary psychological
support to group members who are subjected to acute stresses. If there is
no basic cohesion there cannot be support for i nd i vi d ual s in the group.
That is my contention: that it is social cohesion itsel f, the very social
cement that holds any community together, that is at risk. T ogetherness'
is perhaps a simpl ification, but it contains enough of a message to be
understood. T ogetherness is under attack from dozens of directions: loss
of authority by the elders, the growing confidence and forceful ness of
A boriginal women in community affairs, rebel l ion by youth in al l manner
of matters, parental fear of discipl ining chil dren lest they be taken into
' wel fare' , the attractions and distractions of modernity, the loss of
central ity inherent in distinctive clan groups, faction fighting, poverty, il l
heal th, the horizonless horizons, the perpetual problem of being defined by
others, the lack of autonomy in so many aspects of l ife. Hunter has
explained the central ity of alcohol in all this, the role communal d ri nki ng
plays in strengthening a mutual ity that is disintegrating.
Elders have recognised the problems, however different their
language is from mine. T hirty years ago they began to make conscious
decisions to arrest the disintegration of the very ' things' that constitute
their civil isation. A t Yuendumu they needed a vehicl e for this
' restoration' . Ceremonies were one avenue, ritual occasions when
everything extraneous, especially alcohol, was rigidl y excluded. T hese
ceremonies were then grafted on to another kind of occasion, one that trul y
held the attention of youthsport.
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Physical l y, Yuend umu is in a mess. But a resil ient Warl piri people
did meet wi t h a few. rare, tal ented staff. T ed Egan was superintend ent
there from 1958 to !962
vx
He bucked the D arwi n orders to ' social l y
engineer' people by forcing them into impossibl e al umi ni um " t ransi t i o n"
huts, into communal feeding programs and into rote- l earning exercises of
dubious val ue ( l i ke T is for T rain and S is for Skyscraper, wh en nei t h er
existed in th eir l ives) . He sought, rather, an association of worl ds through
song, l anguage and sport. He coached and encouraged rul es footbal l in the
choking b ul l d ust . By 1961 he had regul ar competitions r unni ng between
Yuend umu. nearby Papunya, A reyonga and Hermannsburg, and distant
Warrabri (now A M Carung) settl ement . He was fol l owed by the non-
A boriginal head teacher George McCl ure who turned the original football
carnival for three communities into what is now a major veh icl e of
A boriginal identity for thirty communities the annual Yuend umu Games,
dubbed by Channel 9 in Sydney in 1984 as T he Black O l ympics' . T heir
tel evision documentary was an important tribute to a uni que event in
A boriginal l ife.
Since 1961 this annual sports and cul tural festival has been held on
the remote settl ement 300 km north-west of A l ice Springs. Crowds of
between 3000 and 6000 travel enormous distances even from South and
Western A ustral ia to join the Warl piri people for the five-day
cel ebration. T he major sports are A ustral ian rul es, softball, basketball and
athletics. Events usual l y incl ude spear- and boomerang-throwing. T he
cul tural centrepiece is a corroboree. followed by bush band, rock and rol l .
country and western, and gospel concerts. T he carnival atmosphere
doesn' t take the edge off the seriousness of the sporting competition.
O rganised and run by A borigines for A borigines, Yuendumu is
several triumphs in one: a major sporting event in the continuing absence
of any real sports facilities: the creation of a sporting tradition out of
l iteral l y nothing; the insistence on a carnival of and for A boriginal ity in an
era (the 1960s) which insisted on their being turned into white folks: the
abil ity to stage, without fuss, what they value in their traditions alongside
what they l ike in modern l ife.
Martin F lanagan, reporting on the 1987 ' A boriginal O lympics' for the
Age, perceived the essence of this event.30 It is a focus of contemporary
A boriginal cul ture, a time for initiation and ' tribal business' , an occasion
where rules football parallels the corroboree ' t h e elements of fl ight and
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grace, an emphasis on ritual ' . It is an event svhich invol ved the
community' s elected leader. A l bert Wil son, a man whose l i vi ng father
witnessed the p uni t i ve police raids in the Conniston massacre in 1928, a
man taken away to Mel vi l l e Isl and at 7 and returned at 33. a man who
doubted ' wh eth er t h i s rump of the traditional A boriginal nation can
wi t h st and another 20 years" exposure to Western society' .
F l anagan' s reactions are interesting. He had gone to the Games w i t h
strong images of traditional ceremony, wi t h expectations borne out of
' rigid Western val ues' , wi t h a desire to support the people in t h ei r
struggl es. T hree days at Yuend umu shattered ' the glass tower' of his
preconceptions: there was ' no place for urban sentimental ity' , th is is t h ei r
country, not his. and it is all so much more complicated than he had
imagined. But in the end F lanagan reached the same concl usion I have
always h el d t h at this carnival is as much about survival as if is about
sport.
T he Yuend umu success inspired other communities. Barunga began
its sports festival in the 1980s. It became so popul ar that the then Prime
Minister. Bob Hawke, attended in 1988. T here he was presented wi t h the
' Barunga Statement" , written on bark, cal l ing for A boriginal sel f-
management, a national system of land rights, compensation for
dispossessed lands, ful l civil rights and respect for A boriginal identity.
T he Prime Minister responded by saying he wished to conclude a treaty
between A borigines and non-A borigines by 1990. T hat hope has remained
unful fi l l ed , as have most of the Barunga Statement claims.
When visiting Barunga a year later, I was told by A borigines that the
1988 festival was too political and insufficientl y sporting and cul tural .
T raditional dancing and modern music were blended with rules, softbal l .
basketball and some athletics. F ourteen remote communities participated,
from as far south as Santa T eresa and as far north as Elcho Island and
Maningrida. T here were visits by Perth football star Bil l y Dempsey and
A F L umpire Gl enn James: ' they were what the people wanted and needed*,
said the local recreation officer Gordon Kennedy.
T here is now a Barunga Sports and Cul tural F estival each year and the
Pitjantjatjara Games in South A ustral ia began in 1989. Identity and group
cohesion emerge and are reinforced at festival s such as these. T here is an
emphasis on ritual through corroboree and sport. T he poetic F lanagan
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deals wi t h what he calls this paral l el of ritual dance and ritual pl aying.
T here is also the ceremony of colours, of bel onging to a cl an, of
competition and of sharing. F lanagan is not alone in his contention that
when A b orig inal teams pl ay a^ainM each other in carnival s such as these
they also play with each other. T here is no conscious, or even
unconscious, desire to h urt an opponent, and often effort is made to assist
the players on the other side. What we see here is yet another facet of the
p l ayi ng styl es of A borigines: th eir spirit is fun, sharing, freedomnot war.
( T his, unh ap p i l y, is vi si b l y not true of the Central A ustral ian F ootbal l
L eague, where the predominantl y urban A boriginal Souths and Pioneers
have pl ayed some horror matches against the essential l y wh ite R overs.
Some of the mayhem has origins in l ong- standing famil y feuds. In 1993
the Santa T eresa team withdrew from the A boriginal Communities
competition after an A l ice match when spectators threatened team
members w i t h armed viol ence.)
A nother aspect of sport as social cohesion is the matter of
organisation. A l most without exception, missionaries, publ ic servants and
cattlemen w i l l tel l you, adamantly and wi t h vehemence, that A borigines
have no organisational abil ity, no innovative ideas, no sense of system or
systemics, no abil ity to run a chain of command leading to impl ementation
of any desired goal.
T he Yuendumu Games are a l i vi ng denial of this assertion; they are an
organisational feat beyond measure. A mid what looks l ike nothingness,
apart from dust and drought, there occurs an outstanding ceremony of
dance and play for thousands of people travel enormous distances even by
A ustral ian bush standards.
Since the early 1970s there has been an annual A boriginal rules
competition, held in different parts of the country. T hat too is a triumph of
organisation in the face of sl im budgets and massive distances. I was able
to attend an early event in 1971 at Bassandean O val in Perth. High morale
was boosted further by the presence of several members of the ( then)
A boriginal Sports F oundation : Doug N ichol l s, Charlie Perkins, L ionel
R ose and Elley Bennett. Every team was rehearsed, trained, ful l y
uniformed, discipl ined and determined to share in both the play and the
companionship. It is quite an experience to observe and to feel so large a
group dynamic; the warmth, the brotherhood and the belonging were
almost tangible. A s wi t h Yuendumu, but perhaps with a lesser sense of
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urgency and desperation on the part of the organisers, Barunga' s sports
festival is a veh icl e for a cul tural recharging of the batteries and a venue
for asserting pol itical principl es.
A s i mp ressi ve is the organisation of the annual rugby league knockout
carni val in N ew South Wales. Begun in 1971. the co nvent i o n is that the
home town of the wi nni ng team hosts the next year' s event. I first saw a
carni val in A rmidal e in 1981. T he town of 21.000 people was inund ated
wi t h about 3000 A boriginal visitors for a week. A boriginal elders made a
deal \v ith the police: they would look after discipl ine inside the A rmidal e
Showground and police woul d handle matters outside the ground. Such
was the real ity. T here were three arrests, in total, that week. T he 1986
carnival was held in Moree: 10,000 visitors arrived. I checked wi t h the
Moree police: there were three arrests in al l . T he 1989 carnival was hel d in
Walgett. a town of about 2300 people. Police fears about an ' invasion' of
5000 A borigines reached such paranoia that the Chief Superintendent of
the region sought ministerial intervention to have the event moved to
another town and the local chief inspector asked me to use my ' infl uence'
wi t h police headquarters to have the tournament cancelled. In the end he
called in the special task forces, the tactical response peopl eand waited
for A rmageddon. T he local A borigines had to organise bil l ets and
camping facil ities, portable toilets, discipl ine, food and water for 5000
people pl us 1500 locals, for five days. T hey did so, superbl y. I wasn' t in
town for the ' final count" but the regional superintendent of police told me
later that there were five arrests in the entire period, three of them being
warrants issued against individual s long before the football week. T he
1993 final at R edfern O val in Sydney was played before 5000 spectators:
at most there were four pairs of police strol l ing along as if at an Engl ish
vil l age green cricket match. T he organisation story is the same at
Geraldton (WA ), where an annual A boriginal basketball carnival of great
magnitude and complexity is held. A t Barunga, police reinforcements are
sent from Katherine and Mataranka, yet there have been no problems as
general l y understood.
It is significant that the reporter who covered the 1992 A boriginal
knockout at Henson Park in Sydney described the affair as ' the big rugby
league corroboree',31 It is, indeed, a gathering of the clans. F ifty teams
from across N ew South Wales, their famil ies, 'countless mini- bus loads of
friends" , and Winfiel d Cup scouts meant that 17,000 people participated in
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rather than witnessed the event. After the final there was a terribl e confl ict
between A borigines and police at the Petersham Hotel d ue. in part, to an
ex travagant police presence ha fore any troubl e occurred.
T he carnival becomes the biggest singl e gathering of A borigines in
the Slate i n any year. It is the contention of the carnival secretary. Darryl
Wright, that A boriginal parents don' t warn th eir kids off l eague because of
its roughness: ' A boriginal people love rugby league . . . one of the first
gifts you g ive to a chil d is a footbal l " .32 |t i
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also a venue in wh i ch one
sees different cul tural val ues about ch il d ren and about parenting. Ch i l d ren
appear to wander around, unsupervised yet are never lost and are al ways
under the col l ective eve.
11. Reasons for being
What we have here is an extraordinary capacity to organise events of
great magnitude wi t h virtual l y no resources, no special cash reserves, no
sponsorships of note and wi t h a police conviction that all hel l must break
loose because the event is A boriginal . T he answer, of course, lies in the
fact that the events are A boriginal -designed, that for the most part the
organisers are famil y or kin-rel ated and that for a brief moment they
exercise and exert sovereignty over something. Yet the selfsame
organisers often appear inept when asked to run schemes or projects
designed by non-A borigines. T o this day most observers do not correlate
the two situations and seem unable to add two and two.
' Sovereignty' often appears in the vocabulary of A boriginal affairs. A
vexed word, it has at least five major meanings in law and politics.33 J
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this context it means what A borigines want it to mean, namely, control
over a situation, autonomy in the sense of not being undul y interfered wi t h
or coerced by others, the making of something self-generated and sel f- run.
A s compared with other groups in the larger society, there is l ittl e in
A boriginal l ife that has the opportunity for this kind of control. T he entire
history of A boriginal policy and administration has been one of unil ateral
decision-making or, latterly, one of outwardly appearing to consult wi t h
A borigines about what is all too often, in the end, unilateral decision-
making. Even where autonomy exists in the form of l egal l y incorporated
associations or companies, almost all such bodies are dependent on federal
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or State fund i ng for th eir existence. It is therefore possible to have
autonomy but not independence.
A utonomy does not al ways mean isol ation. F or A borigines to pl ay
co mp et it ive sport they need wh i t e co-operation, that is. a wi l l i ng ness on the
part of wh i t e teams to pl ay them and to travel to games. O ften that sp i ri t is
missing and A borigines are forced to pl ay sol el y w i t h i n t h ei r own
communities. When it comes to festival or carnival time. A borigines have
the freedom and the capacity to exercise pol itical infl uence, that is. create
and infl uence policy and direct it to frui t i o n. T here is no wh i t e opposition
nowadays, no fundamental ist missionary to thwart the action, no
administrator to issue or wi t h h o l d pl aying or travel permits. T he sporting
carnival becomes an entirel y black domain, wi t h black language, music,
muscles supreme. T he event becomes a reason for being, an affirmation
that it is worth being.
Sport, be it of the carnival kind or simpl y local league stuff, provides
what Victor F rankl calls purpose in life. T here is. he contends, a case for a
tragic optimism even whil e l ife is threatened and circumscribed by pain,
g uil t and death. O ne must search for meaning in l ife am/ find out how to
find such meaning. Sport is purposive and purposeful; it has simpl e, clear
goals: it has wel l - worn and wel l - known methods of achieving them: it has
i nb ui l t mechanisms for belonging, for loyalty and for treating disloyalty; it
has uniforms that signify true membership and equal ity: it has elaborate
ritual and its own special idiom; it has support groups, fans, audiences; it
has. always, the promise of rewards at best, of improvement at least. O ne
doesn't have to attend lectures on F rankl' s meaning in one's future to
derive these benefits: selection for the Barunga Eagles wi l l do as wel l .
L ife in Wil cannia, for example, is purposeless. T here is absolutely nothing
wi t h i n the community that signifies meaning and there is l ittl e on the
horizon beyond that town. T he Boomerangs and their victories provide
some kind of raison d'etre. A racist town, the unhappiest of towns, there
are 800 A borigines and 200 whites, empty of commerce, empty of people
wi t h purpose. H. G. Bissingers Friday Night Lights is a bril l iant account
of l ittl e O dessa in West T exas, a town socially and racially divided, its
economy fragile: the book is the story of a town, a team and a dreama
dream that the high school football team's success wil l diminish the harsh
real ities of an otherwise meaningless existence. 34 O dessa might be
Wil cannia. with Boomerangs rather than Permian High School Panthers
Col in T al/. Aborigines: Sport. Violence mid Survival
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I p ro vid ing the onl y common, vi si b l e, external meaning in dreary l ife. It is
not enough b ut it staves off a mass suicide of the mind and the soul .
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F or depressed mino rities, sport has another sense of meaning: it is the
chance of man or woman to exert his or her w i l l over another engaged in
the same enterprise. T hat phrase is Max Weber' s famous d efinition of
power. In the ring Henry Col l ins could exact his revenge on the man who
il l - treated him outside the ring. O n the fiel d men and women can pit t h ei r
bodies and minds against others on reasonably equal terms t h e onl y times
and places where A borigines can compete on equal terms against
mainstream society. ( A rt, dance, music, poetry are not competitions in the
sports sense.) T hat opportunity to compete is unl i ke any other form of
competition: one doesn' t need to have completed school, an
apprenticeship, college, worked one' s way up from office boy. fought
one' s way up through the hierarchy, curried favour wi t h those who bestow
favours, and so on. Competition takes place in a set time and place and
under special rules. It is a sporting competition, a piece of social theatre
for enjoyment, reward, entertainment or honour. But j ust as the
competition is an artifice, something contrived, something transient and. in
the end. il l usory, so sport for A borigines /// this particular sense is
il l usory. O ne cannot sustain l ife, and l ife wi t h meaning, with sport alone.
12. Sport and delinquency
T hroughout my visits there was a commonly expressed sentiment by a
wide variety of people: 'footy is the god', ' without sport people have
nothing' , ' in the offseason there is void' , 'boredom is the kil l er: we drink
and we fight' . A gnes R igney, a wise lady from Glossop in South
A ustral ia, put it this way: 'Sport is the best avenue and area of acceptance
of A boriginal people. If you' re good at sport and pl aying in competition,
you' re more readily accepted than in the workplace' . A former resident
doctor at Palm Island put his finger on perhaps the most significant insight
about sport in a context such as this: 'Sport is a contract to be of good
behaviourthere is much to lose if one is thrown out'.35 T his is indeed
the key: sport is a vehicl e, an activity that diverts people from poor
behaviour. It enables men and women, boys and girl s, to gain self-esteem,
to enhance networks, to belong and to participate in a structure.
Col in lM/...\lM>rii>ines: Sport. Violence and Survival
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Whil e sport cannot be seen as a singl e sol ution to these ex istential
issues, it can assist in providing ritual , regimen, bel ief, l oyal ty, a schedul e
of something to do. reference points and a support system provided a
sports agenda invol ves the co mmuni t y, is not seen as yet another wh i t e-
imposed faci l i t y or program, sets expectations that have a more than
reasonable chance of ful fi l ment , and gives the yo ut h a chance to ex ercise
power over something.
T here is much evidence for the above propositions. However, there is
a presentation rather than a methodological probl em here. Inconsistent
recording of arrests, charges and convictions by race (within States, let
alone between States) makes it impossibl e to produce neat statistical
comparative tables of A boriginal del inquency and del inquency correlated
wi t h sports activities. In the N orthern T erritory, for example. Police have
for several years now kept separate arrest figures for A borigines and non-
A borigines and for offences alcohol-related or not. But the L aw
Department does not, as a principl e of ' equal ity" , keep separate
identifications of those convicted. So unless one has the name of each
arrested person one cannot follow through to court, to conviction or to
acquittal . let alone subsequent behavioural history.
In any event, that wh ich is reported as informant' s speech or
observer' s perception is as rel iabl e for research purposes as that which
appears in statistical col umns and subsequent computer correlations.
Here I wish to make a sharp comment about some aspects of
methodology in the social sciences. In-depth interviews by an old hand,
based on trust, based on the respondents' eagerness to inform about matters
deeply fel t or experienced, cannot be demeaned by that abused term
'anecdotal'. A clipboard collection of numbers, regardless of historical ,
economic, legal and sociological context, remains just thatregardless of
the sophisticated arithmetic and mathematical treatments of such numbers.
My concern is to find out if things are bad, worse, better, good: it matters
not that we cannot state that compared to ' x' people, the
4
y' people are 'z'
times more l ikel y to ...
A ccording to police figures, the minor and serious crime rate at
Condobolin in N ew South Wales is very much lower than in Wel l ington, a
town notorious for drug- pushing and use. Walgett, hardly a model of
j uvenil e behaviour, nevertheless has a considerable sports program and
Col in T al/, Aborigines: Sport, Violence and Survival
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comes out wel l compared wi t h their brothers and sisters at Gingie R eserve.
9 km down the road. Sport for j uniors is the b i nd i ng force at Bourke. onl y
a l i t t l e less so at nearby Brewarrina, much less so at the Barwon F our
R eserve j ust out of town. Moree. for all its history of racial tensions, has
moments of cohesion, the moments when sport consumes everyone in
town. T here are now several mix ed teams in these towns, that is.
A borigines and police are in the same sides. T his rel ationship has
improved attitudes and helped reduce the astronomic arrest rates of youth,
a group given to much under-age d ri nki ng . T he tabl e below is not a pretty
one, but police and A borigines assure me sport is the key factor in keeping
numbers to this l evel . T here is a minor l evel of drug i nvo l vement but a
strong propensity towards assaults. T he A boriginal population is about
4500.
Colin T al/, Aborigines: Sport. Violence and Survival
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1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
Charges against Aborigines, Moree Police, January-May 1988
Motor Vehicle T heft:
R eports
Charges
Malicious Damage:
Street O ffences:
L anguage
F i g h t i ng
Conduct
Break bottle
Urinating
A ssault/R esist Police:
Malicious Wounding:
A ssaul t occasioning actual bodil y
Ind ictabl e assaul t
A ssaul t femal e
Break domestic violence
Common assaul t
Sexual assault
Drug O ffences:
Suppl y heroin
Possess heroin
Suppl y cannabis
Possess cannabis
Cul tivate cannabis
Break Enter & Steal:
Stealing:
O thers:
39
5
40
0
47
0
0
0
31
harm 25
1 1
29
0
21
7
0
0
3
19
2
27
65
183
T he four major A boriginal population centres in Queensland make for
an interesting study. Violence is a daily feature of life: domestic,
homicidal, suicidal . A lcohol is a major theme in many people' s l ives.
Cherbourg' s sporting success, the emphasis on football, the avail abil ity of
a floodlit ground, the boxing training, the serious beginnings of sport for
young women, all lead to some kind of containment. Containment is what
Col in T al/. Alxirigines: Sport. Violence and Survival
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is needed, given the suicide there of five young people in one year. T he
same is true of Palm Isl and. Woorabinda and Yarrabah. In 1989 the arrests
at Palm for viol ent offences were hal f the 1988 fi g urea fact that
correlates wi t h the i nst al l at i o n of l i g h t s at the oval . Sport at these places
doesn' t prevent alcohol intake but it certainl y regul ates behaviour.
Woorabinda has much more going for it now than ever before in its rather
sordid history as a penal ' d ump i ng ground" . Yarrabah has an el aborate
sports compl ex , designed in Canberra, badl y sited, not supervised, barel y
used. Yet sport, for a wh il e, holds the attention of the young.
Doomadgee has active programs but the costs make A boriginal sport
there among the most ex pensive in A ustral ia. T he Doomadgee elders and
staff are acutel y aware of the need for programs as a means of social
control . Mornington Island is in a dreadful state. T he figures below give
some indication of the societal mess that exists in a community of 700
people. It is important to reiterate that it is not statistical l y possible to
match arrests wi t h convictions, convictions directl y with sporting
occasions, or A boriginal rates of del inquency wi t h non-A boriginal .
However, whil e there are statistical sketches or portraits, for me the
preferable sources are the considered views of experienced A borigines,
police officers, social workers and j udicial officers.
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Arrests and Charges at Mornington Island, January-December 1988
Population: 700
R ape
Unl aw f ul wo und i ng
A ssaul t w i t h grievous bodily harm
A ssaul t occasioning bodil y harm
Common assault
R obbery wi t h viol ence
Indecent deal ing
Break and enter
Steal ing
R eceiving
Unl awf ul use of cars
Wi l ful damage
O bscene l anguage, street offences.
resisting arrest, etc.
F ire arms offences
T raffic offences (al cohol rel ated)
Drunkenness
8
0
I I
5
4
5
100
48
20
50
31
100
21
50
240
T here is statistical evidence that offences increase greatly in the hot
weather. T here is also a sports relationship: most sport is played in the
cooler season. T hus in the first six months of 1989 there were twenty-one
assaults causing bodily harm, as opposed to eleven for the whole of 1988.
Most of the stealing offences were for the theft of food. T o add to the
picture, a local resident compiled a list of attempted suicides between A pril
1987 and May 1989. In that two-year period, eleven men between 16 and
30, and one woman aged 18, made serious attempts at ending their l ives.
Boggabilla (N SW) has a population of 900, of whom at least 500 are
A boriginal . T here are between 600 and 700 people at T oomelah. T he
police statistics below are for black and white for the first six months of
1989:
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Statistics for Boggabilla Police Station, 1 January-30 June 1989
Combined Aboriginal population ofToomelah-Boggabilla approximately 1200
Offence
Mal i ci o us i nj ury
A ssaul t mal e wi t h indecency
Aboriginal White
\ 1 nil
nil 1
Possess loaded firearm so as to endanger l i fe 1 2
Break bottl e in p ub l i c place
T hrow bottl e in p ub l i c place
A ssaul t
O ffensive l anguage
A ssaul t occasioning actual bodil y harm
A ssaul t femal e
R esist/hinder police
A ssaul t police
Unl icensed shooter
Possess loaded firearm in publ ic place
Possess prohibited weapon
T respass on enclosed l ands
O ffensive conduct
T hrow missil e
F ail to leave licenced premises on request
Carry firearm unsafely
Carry firearm under influence
Carry firearm wi t h disregard to others
1 nil
3 nil
8 10
12 2
1 1
1 nil
6 nil
2 1
1 17
nil 4
nil 2
4 nil
1 nil
2 nil
1 nil
nil 1
nil 1
nil 1
T hese figures tel l us something about the nature of offences:
A borigines swear and take out frustration on property: whites break most
of the laws relating to firearms. Compared to other centres, there is very
l ittl e in the way of serious del inquency theredue. I would argue, to the
heavy investment in sport by one sector of the A boriginal community and
the invol vement in a Pentecostalist religion by the other.
Echuca on the Murray R iver is of major interest. In the four-year
period 1986 to 1989, there were no homicides, no suicides, no mutil ations,
no vandal ism charges, no molestings and onl y one rape charge among
A borigines.
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Aborigines charged at Echuca Watch House, Victoria,
O ffence
D runkenness
Drugs ( cul t i vat e)
Manner dangerous
Exceed P.C.A .
Deception
Burgl ary
Handl e stol en property
A ssault
Cruel ty to animal s
Intervention order
Warrants
T otal Watch House entries
T otal A borigines charged
T otal for Drunk
T otal A borigines charged
( drunkenness)
1989 -to 28/5/89
6
1
1
1
1
10
2
0
0
0
0
166
26= 15.66%
68
6 = 8.82%
1988 and 1989
1988 -to 1/6/88
8
0
0
3
0
2
1
1
1
1
8
216
25 = 1 1 .57%
80
8= 10.00%
Even the drunkenness figures are rel ativel y low. al beit proportionately high
given the A boriginal percentage of the population. T he town has a high
l evel of A boriginal integration in sporting activity, unl ike R obinval e. Swan
Hi l l and Mildura. T here is, indeed, a very marked contrast between Echuca
and these other towns in terms of internal violence.
I repeat that sport is not always a healer. If the social forces
underl ying a town are strong or passionate enough, sport can sometimes
exacerbate tension. In May 1993 the Coomealla team from Dareton, j ust
across the N ew South Wales border from Mil dura. was banned from the
Mil l evva L eague. T he L eague's president, John Collins, gave this reason:
players often failed to appear before the tribunal when suspended, had used
' und ul y rough play' and ' language' on their opponents, and had been the
subject of ' numerous compl aints' from other cl ubs and their supporters.36
T he Coomealla president. R od Smith, felt it ironic that such a ban should
occur in the International Year of the World's Indigenous People: ' could
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be a lot of reasons why they banned us ... don' t know if it' d happen if we
was an al l - wh i t e team' .
D uring my fiel dwork in 1989 and 1990 there were, among others, two
parasuicides at Bourke. three at Brewarrina. four at Wal gett. fi ve suicides
at Cherbourg, t o ur parasuicides at Palm Isl and in Queensl and, twelve at
Morning ton Isl and, four at Pul arumpi in the T erritory, four at Mur r i n
Bridge in N ew South Wales, two in Mil d ura. at least five attempts at
Dareton. two actual youth suicides at each of Koonibba, R obinval e ( V i c)
and R aukkun (SA ). T he forensic pathologist in the A CT tel l s me that he
does ' far. far too many autopsies on A boriginal teenage suicides in the
nation' s capital " . T here is no need to go on wi t h arithmetic of th is kind:
the parasuicide and suicide picture is stark. But what is significant is that
there were no reported parasuicides at Port L incol n and that gang warfare
and j uveni l e crime dropped markedl y during the sports season; there were
no parasuicides at Barunga. a phenomenon they consider is ' for si l l y bl acks
down south' ; there were no reports of parasuicide or mutil ation at N owra.
T here is enough evidence to warrant the assertion that sport is a
mitigator, an inhibitor, a restraint and, in season, a dampener if not
preventer of del inquent behaviour. Most of the l iterature talks about the
v al ue of sport as a rehabil itator of the del inquent chil d. T he obvious
question is why wait for the del inquency to invest in sport?
In the late 1980s most of the senior police and welfare official s in
Western A ustral ia were on the verge of impl ementing fairl y radical but
l iberal plans to deal with young A boriginal offenders, especially projects to
overcome the absurd situations by which, for example, a Kal umburu kid
woul d be transported to a Perth institution 2500 km away, deprived of both
l iberty and any remote chance of being visited by famil y. I was invol ved in
many discussions with Western A ustral ian officials about the replication of
an experimental model in the N orthern T erritory, the Wil dman R iver
Camp scheme. T his was essentially an open farm in A rnhem L and, with
youthful offenders working productively in farming and animal raising,
supervised more ' l ig h tl y* than one woul d expect, with much time spent in
sport and sports training. Inmates who worked wel l earned days off. at
home. Parental visiting and famil y support were an integral part of the
scheme. R egrettably the governmentin response to radio talkback
hysteria and as part of a tough law-and-order stancedecided to pass the
draconian Crime (Serious and Repeat Offender's Sentencing Act) 1992.
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T here is no doubt that this measure was aimed at A boriginal youth. T wo
years l ater there was no evidence that serious j uveni l e offences b l ack and
wh it e had lessened. In 1994 it appeared that the Queensland government
was about to embark on si mi l ar measures. T he per capita costs of sport for
sport' s sake, or for the sake of l i mi t i ng , containing or amel iorating some of
the conditions that give rise to the viol ence, the crime and the young
deaths, are very much less than the dail y costs of mai nt ai ni ng State
j uveni l e prisoners. Decision-makers don' t h ave to g i ve a damn about
human rights or moral considerationssimpl y l et them engage in t h ei r
fav ourite activity, cost-benefit analyses.
13. Sport as practicality
O f the functions of sport that can be called practical rather than
ex istential , some are speculative, or at least hedged wit h many
qual ifications. T o say that sport offsets, mitigates or even stops alcohol
abuse is to stretch real ity. It can be argued that in some communities the
opposite is true, that alcohol is central to sport. T hus Palm Island,
Woorabinda and N guiu, all heavil y populated centres, have successful
football grounds, clubhouses and competitions, but each relies on beer
sales in the local canteens for sports maintenance and travel . T here is a
real sense in which grog sales are pushed deliberately as fundraising for
sport. N guiu. with a population of 1600. has an average weekl y sale of 96
kegs (that is, 8736 litres of beer) in a canteen that is open only eighteen
hours a week. A l l owing for the chil d and non- drinking population, the
drinkers' consumption is approximately eight or nine standard drinks
(middies of beer) per day. O n the other hand, many sports teams engage in
serious training and alcohol is either avoided or banned outright. T he
Yuendumu Games, among other such festivals, declares dry days and dry
areas and these bans are enforced. Some research suggests that alcohol
stops, or at least lessens, during the time of tribal Maw* business. T ed
Egan' s special A BC radio program a decade ago, ' Wil l the Singing Stop?'
(because of alcohol) endorsed the primacy of law-making ceremonies.
Dick Kimber, who has extensive experience of the south-west 'corner' of
the T erritory, is certain that the ' brakes' are put on alcohol during travel to
and during the ceremonies, and that 'backsliders' are dealt with. Hunter
and others now question this, at least in the areas they work in. If Egan
and Kimber are righ tand I believe they are, at least about the T erritory
Col in T al/. Aborigines: Sport. Violence and Survival
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one cannot avoid asking the obvious question: since bans can be. and are.
effective for so many days in each year, why can' t there be more of such
activ ity and more bans? A researcher should be found to address the matter
of alcohol and the t wi n activities of sport and ceremonies.
T here are several major reports on empl oyment, and the lack of it. in
the remote communities. Since the advent of the Community D evel opment
Empl oyment Program, empl oyment has escalated. In essence, the scheme
had its origins about fifteen years ago when T erritory A borigines expressed
t h ei r d isl ike of the ' sit-down money' system, that is. unempl oyment
benefits. Mornington Isl and was one of the first closed communities to
ex periment wi t h a system by which people who were entitl ed to vari o us
social service benefits (aged, inval id, deserted wives, unempl oyed) woul d
work a sufficient number of hours per week to reach the val ue of their
benefit, which was then paid as a wage, not as a benefit. CDEP has
wrought wonders in many communities. When one observes the
transformation of Woorabinda from a depressed ' penal colony' to a
thriving, ambitious and industrious township, one has to applaud the
scheme. But for the most part, CDEP in the end means that A borigines are
working, at times in a tokenistic and artificial way, for their dole money.
T here are few real jobs wi t h real wages.
Pl aying football or basketball can be a virtual ful l - time activity in
some communities. Sportagain using Palm, Woorabinda. Barunga and
N guiu as examplesoccupies time and energy. It engages much of the
popul ation, as supporters, manufacturers of j umpers, drivers of buses,
printers of programs. During the season, people are tuned in : the tal k is
endless, the practices wel l attended. Sport doesn't replace a meaningful
j o b b ut when meaningful jobs are that scarce, sport helps to fill the
vacuum in people's hourl y lives.
T he health issue is vexed. T here is one key question: given the
appal l ing pattern of ill health in almost all A boriginal societies, how is it
that men and women can achieve the heights they do in harsh, competitive
sport? T here are stories about A boriginal peds winning races or high j umps
one evening and being found dead, from tuberculosis or pneumonia, the
next morning. In Mul yaney and Harcourt' s Cricket Walkabout we learned
that in the Sydney visit before the 1868 cricket tour of Engl and. Sugar died
before the first match, Watty died on the road home, Paddy and Jellico died
of pneumonia soon after arriving back in Victoria and King Cole died of
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tubercul osis whil e on tour in Engl and. T he R overs F ootball Cl ub won the
1958 rul es premiership in the F ar West L eague of South A ustral ia. In a
team of eighteen young men from the Ceduna region, onl y Keith
Wi l l o ug h b y was al i ve in 1987. A ssuming an average age of 20 in 1958.
t h i s means that seventeen athl etes d i d n' t make it to age 50, or soon
thereafter! O f the Koonibba team wh i ch won the 1963 premiership, onl y
eight were al i ve at the end of 1993. In the 1945 R edfern A ll Bl acks team,
onl y three of fourteen have l ived into t h ei r six ties.
R ichard Smith, research fellow in the CSIR O Div ision of Human
N utrition, tel l s me there was l ittl e evidence of high blood pressure and
cardiovascular disease among remote communities unt i l the 1940s.37
Urban l i vi ng , together wi t h nutritional and cul tural deprivation, h ave l ed to
the present state of A boriginal ill heal th. A boriginal sportspeople continue
to make outstanding achievements yet stil l face the prospect of dying very
young. T here is ex pl anation of earl y death but not of how athl etes are abl e
to perform at such levels whil e suffering what is called ' the metabolic
syndrome' . Infant mal nutrition is clearly associated wi t h adul t mortal ity
and heart disease. T he exact mechanism is not understood but it is
believed that foetal and neonatal nutritional deprivation may distort co-
ordinated devel opment, particularly the development of vessels
(angiogenesis). in such a way as to predispose the person to later
deficiency of blood suppl y to the heart (ischaemic heart disease). L ow
birthweight and later, low body weight at one year of age is very much
associated with adul t mortality, ischaemic heart disease, high blood
pressure and the late onset of diabetes. T his cl uster of symptoms in singl e
individual s makes up the 'metabolic syndrome' , one which is now the
dominant feature of Aboriginal health.
Some research has been done on the relative longevity of athletes and
non-athletes, and on the lifespans of ' major' athletes and ' minor' athletes.
T here is some evidence that people with heavy bone and muscle structures,
people with compact physiques (mesomorphs). survive longer than other
physical types. In another study, however, the major athletes died earlier
from heart diseasewhich the researcher explains may wel l be due to their
body type rather than their athletic activity. In short, we don' t know how
and why qual ity athletic performance by A borigines can be generated and
sustained by people with flawed circulatory systems. T here is a flaw in
their systems, yet people survive. Smith suggests that perhaps the very
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flaw that stil l enables one to survive is also an advantage to performance,
or at least no disadvantage to performance. However, the cost of
performing at the top l evel may wel l accelerate the degenerative processes
that lead to heart disease.
T here may also be a fl aw in the accepted wisdom that sport and
recreation must be good for the mind and body. T he idea reaches back to
Plato 2381 years ago and forward into every school in A ustral ia today. But
where there is mal nut ri t i o n, as in wrong nutritio n, physical retardation after
weaning, organic disease, chronic respiratory, eye and ear problems, does
one place upon those young bodies the same physical regimen as one does
in other contexts?
T he contrary view may be correctthat the mere existence of some
kind of sport and recreation in some communities, even of the cal isthenics
and tunnel - bal l variety at primary school, is a way of overcoming, or at
least mitigating, ill heal th. (T here is clear evidence that sport and
recreation is vital for diabetics, of which there are al arming numbers in
A boriginal societies.) T here is no doubt that to the naked eye the young
men at football practice, or sparring, look marvel l ousl y heal thy, fit. l i t h e,
strong; the women are fast, nimbl e, agile, the antithesis of the obesity that
is to be the fate of so many later in l ife. O n balance, there is no hard
evidence to suggest that sport as such hastens early A boriginal death. We
know j ust how short l ife is for the many who do not engage in vigorous
activity.
14. Conclusions and suggestions
Sport has more positive attributes and functions than any other singl e
human activity in contexts such as these: it provides purpose, cohesion and
serves as a new or a replacement structure of ritual : it is a boost to morale
in long periods of depression; it is a means of reducing del inquency and
even more serious crime and is an alternative to suicide: sport has elements
of sovereignty and moments of autonomy; sport is the only means of
competing body against body on roughl y equal terms, the onl y forum of
revenge on the ' system' , indeed of beating the 'system'; it is a temporary
and occasionally a permanent avenue to upward social and economic
mobil ity; sport is essential to the treatment of some serious illnesses. T he
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virtues are overwhel ming, even if it should be proved that competitive
sport shortens some l i fe spans.
T here is an urgent need to bring ' normal sport' to remote
communities. A boriginal ach ievement has been a t r i ump h over absence. It
has also been a resul t of men and women having to move to places where
they coul d train and play. Most A borigines and Isl anders have an
inordinate affection for t h eir locales: they don' t move much, or for l ong,
and homesickness is a perennial problem. A ustral ia' s overarching
phil osophy is assimil ation in all things. T he real meaning of assimil ation is
not that the smal l er group is always absorbed by the larger, causing the
disappearance of the former. R ather it is that the mainstream establ ishes its
way of doing things r unni ng schools, curricul a, hospital sand minorities
must change their ways by accommodating to the mainstream ethos. A nd
so it is in sport: if A borigines want to play, they must come to the
pl ayground. If people want to be el ite athletes then they must come to
Canberra, to the Institute of Sport or to its various metropolitan academies.
It is not difficul t, given the extraordinary budgets we provide for each
( hopeful ) gold-medallist, for the Institute and simil ar bodies to export a
part of itsel f, part of its staff, to spend a few months in the A boriginal
domains. T hey could show people how to play strange gamesl ike
badminton and vol l eybal l and what the rules are. T hey could start
training referees. T hey could provide and demonstrate equipment. T hey
could even bribe some of these talented black pearls to come to the
metropolis in search of sporting gold for the nation.
T he sports institutes could provide what I believe to be essential: a
degree or diploma course in sport and recreation, taught in conjunction
with a variety of neighbouring colleges and universities on a partly
residential (both home and away) and partly external basis. T here are
excellent tertiary facil ities in Port Hedland. Cairns, Darwin, A lice.
Kalgoorlie. T hat way, the A borigines and Islanders would not have to
leave for three to five years to qual ify. It is said to be cheaper to send a
trained non-A boriginal sports person to these communities for l imited
periods. Perhaps cheaper, but the idea is that A borigines have trained
personnel who belong to the community and who want to stay there, at
least for the most part. O ne glance at the duration of stay of nurses,
doctors, schoolteachers and legal aid lawyers should be enough to convince
Colin T at/. Aborigines: Sport. Violence and Survival
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institutes that these quick sojourns are pointless for all concerned and that
indigenous people are the onl y ones who ever stay.
T he federal and State governments have to face the needs of
A boriginal sport at a national l evel . N ational sports and cul tural carni val s,
vi si t s by al l - bl ack teams abroad and reciprocal visits by indigenous teams
are essential . In 1994 the Canadian Ind i an soccer teams came to A ust ral i a
to continue a series yet paid t h eir own way entirel y. A T SIC and its
regions are but one vehicl e for improvement, yet at the beginning of 1994
there is vi rt ual l y no sports desk at A T SIC in Canberra. State departments
of sport and recreation cl earl y attempt to take some care of their own. But
transport and movement to competition and to training are the keys,
elements that can onl y be handled by serious national co-ordination. T here
is need for a national A boriginal Sports Commission, a small professional
and knowledgeable independent authority with power to raise funds and to
disburse them directl y to communities in need. Basketballers at Broome.
for example, need to know before the season starts whether they can travel
to their fix tures. Under the present system there is hardl y a black team in
A ustral ia that knows where its next bus is coming fromor if it is coming
at al l . Such a Commission is necessary to facil itate national events of a
cul tural and sporting nature, to assist in overseas and reciprocal visits, to
establ ish sport and exercise programs for the general population and for
special groups such as the diabetics, and to work with other agencies in
establ ishing better nutrition patterns, especially among the sporting youth.
A t the local municipal level, Police Boys Clubs or, rather, refurbished
versions of that essentially good idea must be reinstituted. T he cost is
usual l y the salaries of two or three police officers per cl ub. If the new
vogue of community pol icing means anything, it surely means interacting
with youth, black and white youth, who in some instances have become
less literate and less functional than the earlier cohort group now in their
thirties, who have reached a stage of mindless violence that cares nothing
for property and, at times, nothing for l ifetheirs and everyone else's.
In all this discussion the importance of role modelling must not be
overlooked. In Obstacle Race I show that in the decades up to the 1960s
A boriginal parents saw the ring and the rugby league arena as better
avenues for their sons than the classroom. Eric Simms and company held
out greater promise than the (then) two university graduates, Charles
Perkins and Margaret Valadian. But even with about 5000 A borigines in
Culm T al/. Aborigines: Sport. Violence and Survival
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some form of tertiary study in the early 1990s, it seems that league and
A ustral ian rules at any rate are stil l the major (even if temporary) way out
of f ut i l i t y. Most A boriginal youth I met wh et h er in urban..peri- urban,
rural or remote A ust ral i ah ave a greater veneration for the histories and
personal ities of the sports (and music) stars than for any group. If they
have any v ision of a future, it is one that embraces these achievers,
incl ud ing the good, the bad and the ugl y that have been a feature of t h ei r
l ives. A s the Obstacle Race book shows, of the more than 1200 A b o ri g i nal
achievers mentioned or discussed, perhaps onl y six grew up in a ' normal '
sports environment, with ready access to school sport, special t rai ni ng ,
professional coaching, the necessary equipment, money to travel and a
sports schol arship of some kind. F or many, sport was the avenue to some
degree of upward economic and social mobil ity. F or most, it was their
passport to respect in an essentially racist society. It is perhaps a sad
reflection on A ustral ian values, but such respect as we accord
A borigineshowever l ittl e it is. however grudgingl y it is givencomes
from their sporting prowess rather than from their social organisation,
survival skil l s, music, art, lore. law. cul ture, their ci vi l i t y and civil isation.
Colin T at/. Aborigines: Sport. Violence and Survival
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15. References
I I . Publ ished by the A ustral ian Society for Sports History. A del aide
2. V ol ume 25. N umb er 4. N ovember 1990. pp. 245-60
I 3. O l i ver Mendel ssohn and U. Baxi ( eds) . The Rights of Subordinated Peoples, N ew
D el hi: O xford Uni versi t y Press. 1994. pp. 159-77
I 4. Sydney Morning Herald. 23 O ctober 1993
5. Sydney Morning Herald, articl e by Henry R eynolds. 22 N ovember 1993
I 6. Sydney Morning Herald. 23 O ctober 1993
I
7. R oyal Commission into A boriginal Deaths in Custody. N ational R eport. 1991. 5
vol umes
8. Mr Justice Marcus Einfel d. A BC radio, A ugust 1987; see also Svdnev Mornim*
Herald, 19 and 21 Jul y 1987
9. Dr Jeff Sutton. Sydney Morning Herald, 13 A ugust 1987
10. Bulletin, 14 Jul y 1987
11. A BC radio news. 17 September 1987
12. Weekend Australian, 26-7 F ebruary 1994
13. ibid.
14. Sydney Morning Herald, 28 F ebruary 1994
I 15. A da Jarrett, Penny Driver, R eur Herscovitch, Community Profile I V9I Toomelah
. 16. Age. 11 A ugust 1993
17. ' South A frica. Sport and the Boycott', BBC 1 T elevision, screened in the UK 28
June 1983
I 18. Australian. 3 A ugust 1989
I
20. Judy A tkinson, ' Violence in A boriginal A ustral ia' , draft paper for the N ational
I Committee on Violence, Canberra, 1988
19. ibid, 'outrageous' comment was made by Mr Clauson, Queensland Minister for
Justice and Corrective Services
21. Ernest Hunter. 'A Question of Power: Contemporary Sel f-mutil ation among
A borigines in the Kimberl ey' , Australian Journal of Social I ssues. Vol ume 25.
N umber 4, N ovember 1990. pp. 261-78
I
m
22. Burdekin. Brian. Our Homeless Children: Report of the National I nquiry into
Homeless Children. 1989, Canberra: A GPS. pp. 65 & 129
23. L ouis Wekstein, Handbook of Suiddoloqv, N ew York: Brunner/Mazel , 1979.
pp. 25-35
Col in T al/., Aborigines: Sport. Violence and Survival
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1
1
1
"
1
.
1
1
1
"
1
"
1
1
1
1
1
24.
25.
26.
27.
28.
29.
30.
31.
32.
33.
34.
35.
36.
37.
Colin
Emanuel Marx, The Social Context of Violent Behaviour: A Social Study of an
I sraeli I mmigrant Town. L ondon: R outl edge & Kegan Paul , 1976. pp. 2-6
Ernest Hunter. ' Changing A boriginal Mortal ity Patterns in the Ki mb erl ey R egion
of Western A ustral ia 1957-86: T he Impacts of Deaths from Ex ternal Causes' .
Ahor initial Health I nformation Bulletin 11. May 1989: Aboriginal Health and
History: Power and Prejudice in Remote Australia. Mel bourne: Cambridge
Uni ver si t y Press. 1993
A boriginal Education F oundation and F l inders Uni versi t y of SA . Taking
Control: a Joint Study of Aboriginal Health in Adelaide with Particular
Reference to Stress and Destructive Behaviour /VM-W. F l inders Uni versi t y
Monograph, no. 7
Personal communication
Parl iament of A ustral ia: House of R epresentatives Standing Committee on
A boriginal A ffairs. Alcohol Problems of Aboriginals: Final Report.. 1977.
Canberra: A GPS
Australian. 28 F ebruary 1994
Age. Saturday Extra. 5 September 1987
Sydney Morning Herald. 5 O ctober 1992
ibid
Colin T atz. ' A borigines and the A ge of A tonement' . Australian Quarterly, vol.
55, no. 3. Spring, pp. 291-306
Bissinger. H. G. Friday Night Lights. N ew York: Harper Perennial . 1990
Personal communication, Dr Barry Parsons
Sunday Age . 30 May 1 993 .
Personal note to me entitl ed !Mortality in A boriginal A thletes' , F ebruary 1994.
Dr Smith' s references should be noted: Wilson, B., 1990, Research Quarterly for
Exercise and Sport, no. 61. p. 1; Polednak, A . P.. 1972. Geriatrics 27. p. 53:
Barker, D.. 1990. British Medical Journal, no. 301. p. 259; ibid. 1991. no. 3093.
p. 1019; ibid, 1992, no. 304. p. 801
T at/.. Aborigines: Sport. Violence and Survival
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Appendix I: Persons Interviewed
N ew South Wales
A hoy, L ewis. A rmid al e
A l l en. D arryl . A boriginal L egal Service. Moree
A l varez. Esther. WA L S sol icitor. Bourke
A nderson. Michael . A rmidal e
Bambl ett. Del l . Erambie. West Cowra
Bel l . Grant. Constable. Dareton Police
Birtl es. Greg, Moree Police
Bloxsome. Eddie. South Coast A boriginal L egal A id Service. N owra
Boney. A thol . A boriginal Programs Branch. Dubbo
Brennan. Col in. Constable. L ake Cargel l igo
Caine. Gi l l i an. A boriginal L egal Service. Moree
Cameron. Ian. general practitioner. Bourke
Cl ark. Chris. Wil l owbend A boriginal Corporation. Condobol in
Cl ark, Kay. Murrin Bridge
Coe, Isobel, Erambie. West Cowra
Coe. John. Erambie. West Cowra
Cogan. N oel. Inspector. Moree Police
Connor. Dr Brian, general practitioner. A rmidal e
Crouch. Graham. Inspector. Patrol Commander. Cowra Police
Dennis. Dul cie. Gingie R eserve
Dennis. Steve. Gingie R eserve
Dennison. A lbert. T oomelah R eserve
Donnel l y. John. Snr Sergeant. Bermagui Police
Dorrigo. T ony. Drug & Counsel l ing Service. Dubbo
Eckermann. Dr A nn- Katrin. anthropologist. University of N ew Engl and. A rmidal e
Edwards. L en. Sergeant. Walgett Police
Eggmolesse. Gloria, youth coordinator. Dareton
El l is. Irene. T oomelah R eserve
F ardell. Michael. Constable. Brewarrina Police
F oster-Penrith. Shirl ey, Merriman L ocal Government L and Council, Wallaga L ake
F rench, T homas, A boriginal liaison officer, Walgett Police
Gil l on, N oel, coordinator WA L S, Dubbo
Graham. Colin. Sergeant, Boggabilla Police
Gray. A ndrew, specialist officer, DA A , Dubbo
Hahn, T ony, Chief Inspector, Walgett Police
Harris, Cl iffy, health centre. Murrin Bridge
Harris. Jack, Murrin Bridge
Harrison, Harrold, Merriman L ocal Government L and Council. Wallaga L ake
Harrison, R obert, Merriman L ocal Government L and Council, Wallaga L ake
Hawl ey, T om, Sergeant, Condobolin Police
Hooper. L inda. Gingie R eserve
Hooper, Stan. Gingie R eserve
Hummel . R ay: Sergeant, Moree Police
Hunter, Dr Ernest, psychiatrist and researcher, N orthside Clinic, Sydney
Ingram. Josie, Erambie. West Cowra
Irel and. Stephen, Detective Sergeant. Police Headquarters Sydney
Jeffries. Dan. Erambie. West Cowra
Johnson. L ynette. L ake Cargelligo Central School
Johnson. Mark, Murrin Bridge
Kidd, Michael , solicitor, WA L S, Dubbo
King, F rancis. Murrin Bridge
Kirk. John. Director, M.A .S.H.. Moree
L eon. Cecil. Merriman L ocal Government L and Council. Wallaga L ake
ColinT al/., Aborigines: Sport, Violence nnd Survival
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L ockwood. Phil . Constable. Condobolin Police
L ong. Cec. Inspector. Personnel. Dubbo Police
McDonal d. John. Cl ient Services. Yo ut h . Police HQ. Sydney
McKay. John. DA A . Bourke
Moonie. Kel l y. Wil l o wb end A boriginal Corporation. Condobol in
Morgan. R ose. Gi ng i e R eserve
Morgan. T opsy. Gi ng i e R eserve
Munroe. Bruce. A boriginal L egal Service. Moree
Murphy. Gary. Gingie R eserve
Murph y. Queenie. Gi ng i e R eserve
Myers. Ian. A ct i ng State Director. D A A . N SW
N ayl or. Eric. Merriman L ocal Government L and Council . Wal l aga L ake
N ew. Dennis. Dubbo Police
Parsons. T imothey. Merriman L ocal Government L and Council . Wal l aga L ake
Patrice. Bob, Sergeant, Brewarrina Police
Penrith. Mervyn. Merriman L ocal Government L and Council . Wal l aga L ake
R eid. V aughn. Sergeant. Bourke Police
Satour. Gl en. Special Projects O fficer. DA A . Bourke
Silove. Dereck. Professor of Psychiatry, University N SW
Sloane. Kevin. Wil l owbend A boriginal Corporation. Condobol in
Stafford. Christine, criminiol ogist. University of N ew Engl and
Stutsel. Bob. Sergeant. Bourke Police
T aylor. Gl en, famil y support officer. Dareton
T homas. Carl. Merriman L ocal Government L and Council . Wal l aga L ake
T home. R oy. administrator, M.A .S.H.. Moree
T ighe. Brian. A boriginal L egal Service. Moree
T ighe. R onal d. CES project officer. Wallaga L ake
T ownsend. L loyd. Superintendent. Staff O fficer Intel l igence. Dubbo Police
T rindel l . Gary. A boriginal liaison officer. Walgett Police
Ure. John, Superintendent. Program Development and Coordination Branch. Police
HQ, Sydney
Widders, T erry. A boriginal historian. Macquarie University
Wil l iams. Pat, A rmidal e
Wil l iamson, Bob, Snr Sergeant, N owra Police
Wilson. Chris, Barwon A boriginal Community L td, Walgett
Windsor, Peter. DA A . Canberra
Woods, R on, Chief Inspector, A rmidale Police
Wright, Clinton, A boriginal L egal Service. Moree
Yeo. Peter. Staff O fficer O perations, Dubbo Police
Queensland
A dcock, T revor, Sergeant, A boriginal & Islander L iaison O fficer. Brisbane
A l l en, Glen, Constable, Yarrabah Police
A miet, L ou, Principal, Woorabinda Primary School
Bassini, Paddy, Gungarde Community, Cooktown
Bl ackl ey, Bil l . ex-Principal , St Michaels School, Palm Island
Bl air. N orris. Deputy Chairman, Woorabinda Council
Brand. R ay. District Superintendent, T ownsvil l e Police
Brown, A listair. DA A . T ownsvil l e
Buchanan. Bob. Director. Chil d Care Centre, Palm Isl and
Burgess. A ndrew, teacher, Doomadgee
Butl er, Mary. T rachoma Program, Cairns
Button. Joe, Cherbourg
Callaghan. Peter, DA A , R ockhampton
Cameron, Michelle, A boriginal preschool teacher, Mornington Island
Cameron, N orman, School Principal, Yarrabah
Castley. Chris, Constable. Doomadgee Police
Colin T at/., Aborigines: Sport. Violence ami Survival
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Chandl er, Darryl, Constable. L aura
Chase, A thol . anthropologist, Griffith University. Brisbane
Clay. R ick. Chairman. Palm Isl and Council
Cobbo. Warren. A boriginal Co mmuni t y Police. Cherbourg
Col l ins. T om. construction engineer, Woorabinda
Col l ins. Warren. Council cl erk. Cherbourg
Conl an. Vincc. Chil d Care Centre. Woorabinda
Connol l y. Mick. Council Chairman. Yarrabah
Cool uel l . Gl ennis. fiel d officer. Deaths in Custody R oyal Commission
Copeman. John. Principal . Mornington Isl and
Davey. Joan. F amil y Services Dept. Brisbane
Deemal. R obbie. DEET . Queensl and
Douglas. David. Council cl erk. Doomadgee
Doyle. Gerry. O ld People's Home. Woorabimda
Dunl op. Chris. DA A , T ownsvil l e
Edbroke. Bi l l . Constable. Mornington Isl and
Eustance. Ken. Sergeant. Palm Isl and Police
Evans. Brett. CDEP Project O fficer. Mornington Isl and
F itzgibbon. Sister N orah. Cathol ic Church. Worrabinda
F ourmil e. Henry, wel fare officer. Yarrabah
F raser. Donny. Dept of Community Services. Doomadgee
F reeman. Eddie. Gungarde Community. Cooktown
Gela. David. DA A . Mt Isa
Gela. Wazana. sports administrator. Woorabinda
Gooda. Mick, field officer. DA A . R ockhampton
Gordon. Wil l y. Chairman of Council . Hopevale
Gorham. Maude, teaching aide. Cherbourg
Greatrex. John, teacher. Doomadgee
Gul l iver. Peter. DA A . Brisbane
Harradine. Jack, A ngl ican minister & boxing trainer, Woorabinda
Hart. Doreen. Hopevale
Hegarty, Michelle, A boriginal L egal Service, QEB Division. A boriginal & T orres Strait
Isl ander L egal Service
Henry. Dr Jean, Momington Island Hospital
Hogan, T erry, tax consultant. Cairns
Holden, A nnie, PhD student, Griffith University
Hooker. A ilsa. Council clerk, Wujal Wujal
Hul l s. R ob. solicitor, Mt Isa
Johnson, Hil da, A boriginal L egal Service, Mt Isa
Johnson, N orm, R egional Manager, DA A , Mt Isa
Johnson, Sally, A boriginal heal th sister, Yarrabah
Jones, Sister Margery, Cairns
Jose, Victor, A boriginal consultant. Cairns
Juhel , Jack Jnr, Momington Island
Keilor, Gary. Sergeant. Woorabinda Police
King. Jenny. Educational R esources. T ownsvil l e
King. Warren. CDEP Project O fficer. Doomadgee
L ake. James. Constable, Bloomfield R iver (Wuj al Wuj al )
L ind, Evel yn, administrator. Palm Isl and
L ucas, Helen, School Principal, Hopevale
Mackay, John, Director. Chil d Care Centre, Woorabinda
Mackl in, Matt, teacher, L aura School
Maclean, L ois, kindergarten. Hopevale
McL ean, Greg, Welfare. Hopevale
McN ab, John. Constable, Mt Isa
Meadows. Geoff. R egional Manager. DA A . Caims
Michael. Connie. Gungarde Community. Cooktown
Musgrave. Christine. A ng-Gnarra A boriginal Community. L aura
Colin T ai/, Aborigines: Sport. Violeiwe and Survival
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Musgrave, George, A ng-Gnarra A boriginal Community. L aura
O ' Connel l , John. CDEP special ist. DA A . Brisbane
Parsons. Dr Barry, resident doctor. Pal m Isl and
Peachie. Phil . T eacher. Doomadgee
Pearson. Gerhard. Council cl erk. Hopeval e
Pearson. N oel , l aw student. Hopeval e
Powder. Pcarcic. sports ad ministrator. Woorabinda
R eays. Ken. R egional Manager. DA A . Cairns
R euben. Syl vie. Councillor. Palm Isl and
R oberts. F red, sports administrator. Woorabinda
R ol fe. R oss. Deputy State Director DA A . Brisbane
R oss. R ob. Chairman. Gungarde Co mmuni t y. Cooktown
Schul tz. N igel , Constable. Cherbourg Police
Schul tz. Steve, A cting Sergeant. Cherbourg Police Station
Scott. David. Senior Constable. Bl oomfiel d R iver ( Wuj al Wuj al )
Simms. Bob. sports administrator. Woorabinda
Simpson. A da. Cherbourg Council
Simpson. Kippy. Hospital . Palm Isl and
Singleton. Bernie. Dept of Community Services. Queensland
Stapl eton. F red, sports administrator. Woorabinda
Stephenson, David. Principal. State Primary School. Palm Isl and .
Streatfiel d. Dr R ick. Queensland State Heal th Dept, Cairns
T aylor. John, antrhopol igist. James Cook University. T ownsvil l e
T homas. Bob. finance officer. Woorabinda Council
T hompson. John. Sergeant. Mareeba Police
T omson. Dr John, surgeon. Cairns
Veering. A ndrew, teacher, Doomadgee
Walsh. A l gon. Guest House. Palm Isl and
Walsh. Bella. Guest House. Palm Island
Wano, Ken. DA A . T ownsvil l e
Webster, John. Principal. Bloomfield R iver Primary
Wil l is, A l an. Principal, Cherbourg School
Woodleigh. George, project officer, DA A , Cairns
Yoman, Delvena, kindergarten. Hopevale
Yougie, A ndrew, Council Chairman, Wujal Wujal
Northern Territory
A lice, Phillip, police aide, Santa T eresa
A nderson, Don, O perations Director, N T Correctional Services, Darwin
Bartlett, Peter, R edbank O utstation, Kintore
Bell, N eil , Member of L egislative Council, A lice Springs
Boland, A rthur, Deputy Director, Correctional Services, Darwin
Brennan, F ather T im, Santa T eresa
Brown, Stewart, solicitor. A boriginal L egal A id, A lice Springs
Bunduck, F elix, Port Keats
Bunduck, L ike, Chairman of Council. Port Keats
Burke, Maurie, Inspector, Police, A lice Springs
Calma. R honda. DA A R egional O ffice, Darwin
Carton, L orraine, Sergeant. T ennant Creek Police
Castillio. Usha, R egional Manager DA A , Darwin
Crabb, Bronwyn, administrative officer, Hermannsburg Council
Crocombe, Mark, resoruce coordinator. Port Keats
Curwen-Wal ker. Peter, probation & parole officer. Port Keats
Davey, Stan, Uni t i ng Church. Darwin
Devanesen. Dr Dayalan, Heal th Dept, Darwin
Dieudonne, Miriam, adul t educator, Santa T eresa
Downing, R everend Jim. Uniting Church. Darwin
Col in T at/., Aborigines: Sport. Violence and Survival
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Egan. T ed. A l ice Springs
Ellsgood. Phil . Darwin Hospital
F olds. R al ph , head teacher. Kintore
F rampton. Derek. DA A . A l ice Springs
Gardner. Sister A nne, head teacher. N g ui u
Gordon. Peter. Sergeant. Pul arump i
Granits. R ex. Council Chairman. Yucnd umu
Hansen. Greg. Constable. Maranboy Police
Heppl ewhite. R oss. Deputy State Director. DA A . Darwin
Hughes. Geoff. Constable. Papunya Police
Hughes. Peter. Dept of Heal th. N T
Ingram. John. Batchelor College
James. Marion, teacher. Hermannsburg
Jeffrey. R oger. Constable, Hermannsburg Police
Jones. L iz, head teacher, Hermannsburg
Jordan. R ob. Constable. Hermannsburg Police
Kennedy. Gordon. R ecreation O fficer. Barunga
Keogh. L ynn. Juveni l e Justice Program. Darwin
Kerinaiua. Walter. Deputy Chairman of Council . N g ui u
Kimber. Dick. A l ice Springs
L angmair. T ony. Superintendent of Juveni l e Justice. N T
L indsay. Charles. T own Clerk. Pul arumpi
L ittl e. Sister El izabeth. School Principal. Port Keats
Maher. Brad, teacher. Barunga School
Mal oney. Dean. Constable. Pul arumpi
Marmion. Doug, ad ul t educator. Kintore
Martin. L es. Senior Constable. Port Keats
Martin. Wesley. R egional Manager. DA A . Katherine
McDonall. L indsay. Superintendent. Police. A l ice Springs
McGowan. Dr Heather. Director Sport & R ecreation, Darwin
McKeon, Dave, store manager, Mt L iebig
McKeon, Veronica, Mt L iebig
McL eay, David, teacher, Batchelor College
Muddel l . Bil l , DA A . A lice Springs
Mul l i n, L ee. Principal. Yuendumu
N arndu. L ouis, Vice-Chairman of Council. Port Keats
N arndu, T heodora, Port Keats
N orman. John, teacher, Papunya
N orman. Pamela, teacher, Papunya
O ' Brien, Joseph, teacher, Barunga School
O wston, Doug, Director of Correctional Services. Darwin
Palmer. Mick, Commissioner of Police. N T
Pang, Dr Henry, Pintubi Health Service, Kintore
Parker, Steve, Superintendent of Wil dman R iver Camp
Pastor, Bob, Principal, Barunga School
Pitman, Sister Paul ine, Community Health Centre. Santa T eresa
R asmussun. O utstation R esource Centre. Yuendumu
R ichardon, Jan, Darwin
R obb. A drian. Constable, T ennant Creek Police
R yan. Bil l . Santa T eresa Sporting & Social Cl ub
Schwartzkoff, Peter, senior project officer, DA A , Darwin
Scobie, Johny, Chairman, Kintore Council
Smith, Barry, N orth A ustral ia Development Unit. Darwin
Smith. L es, Detective Snr Constable, A lice Springs
Smythe, L es, Constable, Yuendumu Police Station
Stewart. Colin, Council clerk. Santa T eresa
T apsell. Barbara, project officer. DA A . Darwin
T aylor. Jack. Superintendent, T raining Commissioner. N T Police
Col in T al/.. Aborigines: Sport. Violence and Survival
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T emme, Peter, Principal . L utheran School. Hermannsburg
T horley. Peter, teacher- l inguist. Kintore
T il l brook. Marcus. Sergeant. CIB. A l ice Springs
T i p ang wut i . Stanl ey. Council member. N g ui u "
T i p uamant umi rra. John F rancis, school worker. N g ui u
T i p uamant umi rra. L uke. Council member. N g ui u
Wh cl an. Guy. D A A , Kathcrinc
Wicks. Chris. DA A . D arwin
Wi l l i ams. D aphne. A rts Cooperative. Kintore
Wi l l i ams. El na. D A A . A l ice Springs
Western Australia
A l ton. Joe. DA A . Kalgoorlie
A ndrew. A dam, Junj uwa Council . F itzroy Crossing
A ndrew. P h i l l i p . Derby Shire
Baird. Ian. outstation director. Coonana
Benning, A my, N gunga Women' s Group. Derby
Benning, Sal l y. N gunga Women' s Group, Derby
Bin Hitam. Sherena. DA A . Derby
Bin O mar. L oretta. administrator. L ombardina
Boehm. R od. Sergeant. Hal l s Creek Police
Brahim. A drian, Charles Perkins Hostel. Hal l s Creek
Brandis. David. R egional Manager. Kununurra
Bronner. John, Constable. Police Citizens & Youth Cl ub, Kal goorl ie
Budisel ik. Bil l . Director of O perations, Corrective Services, Perth
Cal yun. A l an. Kurrawang A boriginal Christian Corporation
Carter, Ivan. Inspector. Derby Police
Casey. Chris, community clerk. Kal umburu
Casey. Helen. Kal umburu
Chal ker. May. A boriginal sports administrator. Perth
Charles. Dominic, R ed Hil l Community. Halls Creek
Cl ark. Bob. Sergeant, Broome Police
Clements. Doug. R egional Manager. DA A , Geraldton
Clements. Mary, pensioner, Kal umburu
Collard. Sandra. A boriginal sports administrator. Perth
Cornish. Gl enn. DA A R egional Manager, Perth
Council l or, L oretta. DA A . Derby
Cowley. Mary, WA Drug & A lcohol A uthority, Derby
Cul l en. Bil l , Dept of Corrective Services, Perth
Dann. Gl ennis, R egional Manager. DA A . Kalgoorlie
Davey. Caroline, Catholic College teacher. Broome
Davies. A rnold. Superintendent. Geraldton Police
Djanghara, A ndrew, Council member, Kal umburu
Djanghara, Basil, Council member, Kal umburu
Djanghara, Clarence, foreman, Kal umburu
Dodson, Patrick, Commissioner. A boriginal Deaths in Custody R oyal Commission
F arrer. Josey. shire councilor, Halls Creek
F rench, L es, Chairman of Council , Kal umburu
F yfe, A nn, Kimberl ey heal th nurse. Halls Creek
Green. Patrick, Junj uwa Council, F itzroy Crossing
Green, Sarah, A BC, Geraldton
Greig, Bert, WA Dept Sport & R ecreation
Groves, Denise, DA A . Perth
Hayward. Eric. A boriginal Studies. Hedland College, Port Hedland
Henderson, Sharon, N gunga Women' s Group, Derby
Herrod, Elizabeth, Community Heal th, Derby
Higgins, David, psychologist, Perth
Colin TM/.. Aborigines: Sport. Violence and Survival
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Holmes. Mike, WA A lcohol & Drug A uthority, Derby
Hunter. Puggy, A boriginal resource officer. Community Services. Kununurra
Il l ingworth . Brian, Chief Superintendent. Police Headquarters. Perth
Jamison. Margaret, N gunga Women' s Group, Derby
Johnson. T rish. A boriginal sports administrator. Perth
Jones. Myra. nurse. Kununurra Hospital
K el l y. El izabeth. Community Heal th. Derby
Ki cket t . Marian. A boriginal sports administrator. Perth
L ake. Bi l l . Superintendent. Kal goorl ie Police
L amb. R ichard. Director. Kal goorl ie College
L amboo. Chal ma. R ed Hi l l Community. Hal l s Creek
Latham. Pat. Ngunga Women's Group. Derby
L ea. Martin. Corrective Services. Perth
L eslie. L ex. Principal. Kal umburu School
L ock. T ania. Community Heal th, Derby
MacN amara. A lbert. A boriginal sports administrator. Perth
Marshal l . A ndrew. Corrective Services. Perth
Mason. A l ex , A boriginal sports administrator. Perth
McCl el l an. Greg. WA Dept Sport & R ecreation
McL arty. A l an. Junj uwa Council . F itzroy Crossing
McL ennon. Ethel, administrative officer, T urkey Creek
Middl eton. Selina. Junj uwa Council. F itzroy Crossing
Munroe, A l an. DA A . Kal goorl ie
N obler. A my. R ed Hil l Community. Hal l s Creek
N udding. A lbert. Chairman of Council. Coonana
N udding. Joyce, home maker & school cook. Coonana
Pedersen, June. N gunga Women' s Group, Derby
Pell, John. A boriginal sports administrator. Perth
Phil l ips. N eil . A boriginal sports administrator. Perth
Phoenix. A b. administrator. Kurrawang
R eid, Michel l e, Dept of Community Service, Halls Creek
R iddl er, Sister Maree, Principal, T urkey Creek Catholic School
R iley. Spencer. A boriginal sports administrator, Perth
R oberts. Jean. N gunga Women' s Group, Derby
Sampi. A ndrew, teacher, L ombardina
Scott. Karen, N gunga Women' s Group, Derby
Shadforth, Ina, N gunga Women's Group, Derby
Sharrett, A rthur, Superintendent, Kimberley R egional Police, Broome
Shinn, John, community advisor, L ombardina
Sibosado, Glennis, A boriginal Visitors' Scheme, Broome
Sincl air, Steve, recreation officer, Coonana
Smith, R ay, DA A . Perth
Spargo, Dr R andolph, T ropical Medicine, Derby
Stevens, L eonie, resident, Coonana
Stuart, Bob, Sergeant, A rgyle Police
T angwei, A lan, police aide. Broome
Tataya, Patrick, Norforce Army. Kalumburu
T homas, A drian, DA A , Kalgoorlie
T homas. Peter, recreation officer. Coonana
T hornton. Gail, Halls Creek School
T ucker, L es, Chairman, Kurrawang A boriginal Christian Corporation
Ugle, Greg, Coonana community
Unghango, A ustin, Council member. Kal umburu
Unghango, Patricia, social security clerk. Kal umburu
Unghango, Pauline, social security clerk, Kal umburu
Vick, George, Sergeant, F itzroy Crossing
Waina, L aurie. Council member. Kal umburu
Walley. Jack, A boriginal sports administrator. Perth
Col in T at/.. Aborigines: Sport. Violence and Survival
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Westbury, N eil . State Director. DA A , Perth
Wil l iams. Diana. Council member. Kal umb uru
Wil l iams. F rank. Chairman of Council . L ombardina
Wi l l i ams. R oy. Derby Yo ut h Centre
Wi l l i amso n. Ian. Sergeant. K ununur r a Police
Won Don. co mmuni t y coordinator. L agrange
Woodhousc. Cind y, teacher. K al umb ur u School
Yal ung a. R al p h . Chairman. Warmun Co mmuni t y. T urkey Creek
South Australia
A spinal l . R ichard, community co-ordinator. Yal ata
Baddams. Wayne. Sergeant. Port A ugusta
Barrett. State A boriginal A ffairs Dept, A delaide
Belts. Sharon, recptionist. Port L incol n A boriginal O rganisation
Brice. Graham, F l inders University
Bristow. Wayne. Sergeant. Murray Bridge Police
Bryan. L aurie, A boriginal Education F oundation, A del aide
Buckskin. Peter. DA A . A del aide
Burgoyne. F aith, committee. Port L incol n A boriginal O rganisation
Burgoyne. Joe. captain. Mal l ee Park F C. Port L incol n
Casey. Gary. Sergeant. A del aide Police
Cook. Yvonne. Gerard
Davies. Hadyn. DA A . Ceduna
Domaschenz, Malcolm. Gerard
Dudl ey. Kurt, committee. Mallee Park F C
Dunnett. Mitch. CDEP officer, Ceduna
Edwards. Bi l l . SA College of A dvanced Education, A del aide
F itzgeral d. Danny. Segeant. Ceduna Police
F reeman, T racy. R egional Manager. DA A , Port A ugusta
F uschtei. Val . basketbal l organiser. Port A ugusta
Garrett. Karen, commitrtee. Port L incoln A boriginal O rganisation
Gascoyne, John, Ceduna A rea School
Gerhardy, David, Senior Sergeant. Port L incoln Police
Graetz. John. Constable. Port Victoria
Hanl ey, Phil . Senior Constable. Ceduna Police
Howie. Bob, Chief Inspector, Bern Police
Hul l . R odney, coordinator T ji T ji Wura Centre. Davenport
Isles. Eddie, director. R anges Youth Centre. Port A ugusta
Johncock. John, Mallee Park F C youth worker. Port L incoln A boriginal O rganisation
Karpeny, Jeanette, Gerard
Kidney, David, DA A , A delaide & Melbourne
Koolmantrie, Colin, deputy chairman, R aukkan
L affin, T ed, Sergeant, Bern Police
L amshead, Barry, DA A , A delaide
L iddle, T om, deputy co-ordinator. Port L incoln A boriginal O rganisation
Maher, A nthony, teacher, Ceduna A rea School
McKenzie, A l wyn, coordinator, Davenport A boriginal Community
McKenzie, Carol, Port L incoln A boriginal O rganisation
McKenzie, L averne, sports coordinator, A boriginal Community A ffairs Panel, Port
A ugusta
McKenzie, Marvin, R anges Youth Centre, Port A ugusta
Mclean. A ndrew. Constable, Ceduna Police
Mil l er, debbie, DA A , Ceduna
Mil l er, Hary, A boriginal liason officer, Dept of Social Security
Mil l er, Maurice, footballer and teacher aide, Ceduna A rea School
Mil l er, R ussell, vice-president Mallee Park F C, Port L incoln A boriginal O rganisation
Mil l era, L ionel, coordinator T ji T ji Wura Centre, Davenport
Col inTM/.. Abori%ines. Spori. Violence and Survival
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Moller. Peter, Sergeant, A delaide Police
Pippos, A ngelo. Senior Constable. Ceduna Police
Priestl y. Wendy. Constable. Ceduna Police
R anki n. Henry, chairman of council . R aukkan
Rankin. Jean. Raukkan
Rankin. Jimmy. Raukkan
Rankin. Laurie. Lower Murray NungarsClub. Murray Bridge
R at h man. D avid, deputy director. State A boriginal A ffairs Dept. A del aide
Richards. Brenton. co-ordinator. Port Lincoln Aboriginal Organisation
R igney. A gnes. Jerry Mason Senior Memorial Centre. Glossop
R igney. Wendy. L ower Murray N ungars Cl ub. Murray Bridge
R il ey, Steve, permanent relief teacher & acting principal . Point Pearce
Sambo. L inda, committee. Port L incol n A boriginal O rganisation
Stanton. Jeff, coordinator T ji T ji Wura Centre. Davenport
T regenza. John. F ar West A boriginal Peoples' A ssociation. Ceduna
T revena. R ichard. R egional Manager. DA A . Ceduna
T ripp, Marge. DA A . A delaide
Wanganeen. Craig, community centre youth worker. Point Pearce
Watts. Jeff. Snr Sergeant. Port A ugusta
Wilson. Peter. Snr Constable. N arrung Police
Winsl ow. L aura. L ower Murray N ungars Cl ub. Murray Bridge
Victoria
(some Victorian centres are serviced by NSW departments across the River Murrav)
A tkinson. Mary. R umbal ara community
Body. Geoff. Snr Constable. R obinval e Police
Brookes. John. Sergeant. Morwell Police
Bryant. Eddie. L ake T yers
Bryant. Johny. L ake T yers
Bul l ed. Denise. Warrna A boriginal Cooperative. Echuca
Chandler, Greg. Snr Sergeant. Swan Hi l l Police
Dalton. Eddie. Snr Sergeant, Swan Hi l l Police
Dalton. Paddy. Central Gippsland A boriginal Heal th & Housing Coop. Morwel l
Dunbar. Janice, bookkeeper. L ake T yers
Edwards. Paul. DA A . Melbourne
Edwards. R on, L ake T yers
Endacott. F rank, historian. Healesville
Grist. Brian. Snr Sergeant. Warragul Police
Harrastal. L es. historian. Healesville
Hayes, Harry, Morwell
Hayes, Johny, Central Gippsland A boriginal Health & Housing Coop. Morwell
Herauvil l e, Ian, Sergeant, Echuca Police
Hoffman, Elizabeth, Cummeragunja
Jackomos, A l ick, Melbourne
Jackomos, Merle, Melbourne
Jackson, L enny, president, R umbalara F C
Johnson, Melva. Warma A boriginal Cooperative, Echuca
Kelton. Don, Sergeant, Drouin Police
L alor, A drien, Snr Sergeant, L akes Entrance Police
Marheine, John, Chief Inspector, D enil iquin Police (N SW)
Mayes, Phil , Inspector, Echuca Police
McKay, Mel, Chief Inspector, Shepparton Police
Mitchel l . Gerandine. secretary, Coomealla F C, Dareton (N SW)
Mitchel l , Valerie, Warma A boriginal Cooperative, Echuca
Morgan, Des, Warma A boriginal Cooperative, Echuca
Mul l ett, A lbert, Central Gippsland A boriginal Health & Housing Coop, Morwell
Mul l ett, Paul ine, Warragul
Col inT utz, Aborigines: Sport. Violence mid Survival
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A ppendix II: A boriginal sports facilities
-
T hese captions apply to the numbered photographs below:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
16.
17.
T he Yuendumu Games, held annual l y in A ugust, with attendances
reaching 6000 on occasion.
T he O lympic pool at Woorabinda (Qld), buil t by money levied on
cans of beer sold in the local canteen.
T he installation of Woorabinda's rugby league football clubhouse:
seven of these demountables were bought from the Burdekin Dam and
joined.
T he A boriginal-owned and run sports complex at Condobolin (N SW).
T he oval at Palm Island. T he population of 3000 sustains no less than
sixteen football teams.
Cricket at Doomadgee (Qld).
R ugby league at Doomadgee.
Primary schools' sports day, Goondiwindi (Qld). Many of the prizes
are won by A boriginal children from T oomelah and Boggabilla, about
seven km across the border in N ew South Wales.
Gymnastics at Port Keats (N T ).
Basketball action at Mowanjum (WA ).
Basketball court, Santa T eresa (N T ).
Basketball court, L agrange (WA ).
Basketball court, L ombadina (WA ).
Basketball, A li Carung (N T ).
Basketball court, L ake T yers (Vic).
ton
Basketball court, Morning island (Qld).
Basketball court, Kal umburu (WA ).
Colin T atz, A borigines: Sport. Violence and Survival
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N ichol l s. Doug, Swan Hi l l District A boriginal Coop
N ichol l s. Howie. Swan Hil l District A boriginal Coop
N ichol son. T hel ma. Cummeragunj a
N ichol son. Veda. Cummeragunj a
Pepper. Mona. L ake T yers
Peter. Beverl ey. Birral ee Piringa F amil y Group Home. Dareton ( N SW)
Proctor. Dorothy. West Gippsl and Hospital . Warragul
R oberts. R obert. Swan Hi l l District A boriginal Qxfp
R odgers. Cecil. Cummeragunj a
R ose. Darryl. Sunraysia & District A boriginal Corporation. Mil d ura
R ose. Deidre. Central Gippsl and A boriginal Heal th & Housing Coop. Morwel l
Rose. Jenny. Drouin
Sanderson. Charles. Detective Sergeant. D eni l i qui n Police ( N SW)
Saunders. Ken. F itzroy gymnasium. Mel bourne
Savage. R ussel l . Snr Sergeant. Mil dura Police
Stewart. Barry. Sunraysia & District A boriginal Corporation. Mil d ura
T ippett. Dr George. Melbourne
T regonning, Hil da. L ake T yers
Walker. Colin. Cummeragunja
Wandin. Joe Jnr. L ake T yers
Wandin. John. L ake T yers
Wil l iams. Kevin, youth programs, R obinval c A boriginal Coop
Col in T at/, Aborigines: Sport. Violence and Survival
68
^^H
I Appendix II: Aboriginal sports facilities
I
T hese captions apply to the numbered photographs below:
1. T he Yuendumu Games, held annual l y in A ugust, with attendances
reaching 6000 on occasion.
2. T he O lympic pool at Woorabinda (Qld), buil t by money levied on
I cans of beer sold in the local canteen.
3. T he installation of Woorabinda's rugby league football clubhouse:
seven of these demountables were bought from the Burdekin Dam and
joined.
4. T he A boriginal-owned and run sports complex at Condobolin (N SW). I
1
5. T he oval at Palm Island. T he population of 3000 sustains no less than
sixteen football teams.
6. Cricket at Doomadgee (Qld).
M 7. R ugby league at Doomadgee.
8. Primary schools' sports day, Goondiwindi (Qld). Many of the prizes
I
are won by A boriginal children from T oomelah and Boggabilla, about
seven km across the border in N ew South Wales.
9. Gymnastics at Port Keats (N T ).
_ 10. Basketball action at Mowanjum (WA ).
1 1. Basketball court, Santa T eresa (N T ).
I 12. Basketball court, L agrange (WA ).
13. Basketball court, L ombadina (WA ).
14. Basketball, A l i Carung (N T ).
15. Basketball court, L ake T yers (Vic).
I
-ton
16. Basketball court, Morning^island (Qld).
17. Basketball court, Kal umburu (WA ).
Colin T atz, A borigines: Sport. Violence and Survival
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18. Basketball court amid the cotton fields, Maningrida (N T ).
19. T he oval at Kal umburu.
20. T he oval at Santa T eresa.
21. T he oval at L agrange.
22. T he salt pan used as an oval at L ombadina.
23. T he oval at Kintore (N ).
24. T he ' oval' covered by wil d bushes, Gingie R eserve, Walgett (N SW).
25. T he oval at Hermannsburg (N T ).
Colin T atz, Aborigines: Sport. Violence and Survival
70
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