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Road closures from flooding continue to hamstring remote communities on the lands.

2024-04-19T09:29:23Z

Flooding and road damage caused by rains in March 2024 continues to thwart supplies to remote communities on ��ɫAV lands.
(Pic: Shire of Laverton)

The 900-kilometre journey from Kalgoorlie to Warburton continues to be blocked for heavy haulage six weeks after torrential rains drenched the areas of the Western Desert in March.

While generally traversable, a short stretch of 130 kilometres from Cosmo Newberry prevents heavy haulage vehicles from continuing north to Warburton. While a small bypass allows smaller 4WD vehicles to continue the journey, it remains unsuitable for large trucks.

The road damage has created a logistical headache for supplies of fresh food, as well as building and maintenance supplies.

Mark Hutton, Acting General Manager of Housing at ��ɫAV Council, provided insight into the complexities of logistics as they await access to the road once more.

“Our most urgent transport deliveries, like fresh provisions, are required to add a combined 4,600 kilometres to their round trip by entering South Australia and accessing the lands via Alice Springs,” Mark Hutton said.

“It’s been six weeks so far, and the road won’t be re-inspected by the Shire until April 29,”

“There is still standing water on sections of the road, though nothing like it was right after the initial rains,”

“While fresh provisions have been taking the longer route since those initial rains, we’re now having to organise movements of building materials as well to continue maintenance activities and building projects in our communities,” Mark said.

The flooding of parts of the Western Desert was also the cause of a group of seven becoming bogged in a vehicle about 220 kilometres south-west of Tjuntjuntjara community in mid-March. More recent problems with access endangered the reliability of another community’s water supply.

With no guarantee of access following the road inspection by the Shire of Laverton at the end of April, significant overruns on transport costs are in danger of extending further.

“Each bulk load transported via South Australia costs an additional $12,000, which significantly impacts the cost of providing goods and services to the lands while also creating some uncertainty around ongoing delivery,” Mark said.

“It’s still too far down the track to change current realities, but the programmed sealing of the road out of Laverton will be a game-changer for these regular journeys—both for community members and service providers,” Mark added.

The current access to ��ɫAV lands is another example of the challenges of life in remote communities. While this isolation will always cause significant challenges, there is hope that heavy haulage access will be resolved as a priority.

Icon of the lands, Rod Moiler, celebrated with a bench to sit and remember.

2024-04-17T02:39:56Z

When Rod Moiler’s mate suggested that he tag along on a freezer run into the desert, Rod had no idea where it might lead.

His mate was Kim Riches, the desert was the Western Desert of ��ɫAV Lands, and the company was NATS - the transport service agency Joseph Williams had just founded for the ��ɫAV Council.

“I was 33 at the time and just coming out of a job managing a hotel for my father, having apprenticed as a mechanical fitter. I had no trucking experience, but it was love at first sight,” Rod remembers.

“After that first trip, Kim suggested that if I bought a truck, Joseph would probably give me some transport work out in the desert. It was an offer too good to refuse!”

“It was pretty rough back then. The journey from Laverton to Warburton was little more than an ungraded track, but the desert felt like home,”

“Every trip felt like an adventure. There were no phones to begin with, and the conditions were challenging, but I loved the remoteness,” Rod says.

Those remote roads would be Rod’s second home for the next 33 years.

In 2020, he parked the truck for the last time, having driven close to 2.5 million kilometres—the vast majority of which were on the fortnightly supplies distribution run around the communities that form the ��ɫAV Council.

“NATS was a professional setup from the very beginning. I was initially contracting with Joseph Williams. He wanted the best for the ��ɫAV communities and expected the same from his contractors. He was firm but fair,” Rod recalls.

As Rod learned the ropes and rigours of driving over challenging terrain, he also became a Mr Fixit. He had to. The rugged terrain frequently meant broken axles, blown tyres, and plenty of mishaps for drivers trying to make it out to Warburton or back to Kalgoorlie.

He took to making contingencies for himself and other travellers—extra water, fresh fruit from his fruit trees at home, and puncture kits to help fellow travellers out of a tight spot. All became part of the journey for the Desert Dog, as he became known.

“It can get pretty hairy out there in remote places; I was just keen to do what I could to help,” Rod says.

It seems fitting that a man who gave respite to many should be celebrated with a bench on his seventieth birthday that allows people to rest.

The bench, located under a shady tree at Tjukayirla Roadhouse, celebrates a man revered by all who know him and recognises his unwavering dedication and the positive impact on NATS and the broader ��ɫAV community.

Rod fondly remembers his three decades of driving.

“The desert was good to me; the most rewarding work I could have imagined,” Rod says.

“I was comfortable being on my own out there, but I have met so many people and made good friends—I’ve seen the Lands and a couple of generations of people on the lands grow up and become successful,

“To have that freedom and reward has been hard work, but it’s also felt like a bit of a holiday. I’ve loved it so much,” Rod says.

Reflecting on the fuss being made of him after all these years, he seems uncomfortable with the spotlight.

“I feel a little sheepish being recognised in this way—I’m a guy who was more comfortable behind the wheel in the cabin on my own or helping out some people broken down on the side of the road,” Rod says.

“There’s been a group of other drivers along the way, including Bill Baker in the beginning, who I learned from and observed, and who each made a huge contribution to life on the Lands,” he added.

The Western Desert breeds heroes, and Rod Moiler—the Desert Dog—is undoubtedly one of them! Not that he’ll tell you.

��ɫAV Symposium casts a vision for stronger child health outcomes on the lands.

2024-04-12T00:17:13Z

The ��ɫAV Health Service presented the ��ɫAV Aboriginal Child Health Symposium in Walyalup | Fremantle on April 10-11.

The symposium, attended by almost 100 delegates, included presentations from Professor Fiona Stanley AC and Dr David Scrimgeour AO, yarns about growing up from ��ɫAV women, and an overview of the Council's strategic plans for health by the Council's CEO, Thomas Williams.

Around 350 Aboriginal Children aged 0-9 years live on the ��ɫAV Lands and are regular clients of NHS.

Despite Australia being one of the wealthiest countries in the world, ��ɫAV children have a health status and social circumstances comparable to low-income countries.

The underlying factors for this disparity are complex, interrelated and intergenerational, creating a seemingly inescapable cycle.

The symposium was also an opportunity to present Tjilku Walykumunu: The ��ɫAV Health Service Child Health Study - a landmark 85,000-word report providing qualitative findings to inform health strategy for our children on the lands over the next decade.

Inge Kral prepared the study with a team comprising Angelica McLean, Lloyd Durie, Annie Tangey, and Rosalie Schultz. They sought to understand the factors that might contribute to poor child health outcomes on the ��ɫAV lands, how families think about child health, and what caring for children means.

The study considered vital questions:

What is going on in families around children's health and nutrition?
What is happening around homes that affects children's health?
What are ��ɫAV people's attitudes, beliefs and practices?
Understanding the mismatch between how health and nutrition services are delivered and how families understand them.
Understanding the mismatch between family understanding of what is essential in childhood and health professionals' understanding.

Most broadly, the study demonstrated that the best child health outcomes are a product of strong families, adequate housing and reduced overcrowding within households.

From those three core themes cascade a subset of recommendations and potential outcomes that reverberate across education, healthy choices, treatment and testing facilities, and housing strategy.

Speaking at the symposium, ��ɫAV Council CEO Thomas Williams encouraged delegates to contribute to positive change for children on the lands.

"This Child Health Study has much to make you despondent, but there are also glimmers of hope," he said.

"I encourage you to be part of the catalyst for delivering genuine change for our people on the Lands. In the work that each of you is doing, consider the children on the ��ɫAV Land and whether anything you're doing can help them," he added.

��ɫAV elder Preston Thomas echoed Thomas's encouragement:

"Progress might be slow and start small, but I believe we can do this," he said.

"For aboriginal people on the land, we struggle. We can't do it alone; our hand is up for help. Together, we can do this. We can change the next generation for the mob on the Lands,

"The time for change is now. I've already seen change happening. We need to keep doing the right things to make it better," Preston said.

There's no doubt about Yarnangu's aspirations—for their families and their children's health. They want to flourish in every sense—physically, socially, economically, and culturally—to thrive in the country and enjoy healthy outcomes in strong families. The symposium is one more dimension to the progress that is being made towards these aspirations.

A Cup of Tea, a Chat and a Hard Day's work

2024-04-03T06:34:27Z

There’s one thing for sure, if you rock up to the Warakurna Community Development Shed at eight in the morning, you’ll be greeted with a hot cup of tea.

It’s all part of CDP officer John Tibble’s approach of creating an environment where everyone is welcome to participate in work.

After a cup of tea and breakfast, the men sit together to discuss the tasks on the day’s agenda, before splitting off into teams to get the jobs done.

Warakurna CDP General Hand, Roy Bennett, said that they get involved by fixing things around the community, tending to the community garden, and making sure the community stays clean through regular rubbish collections.

“We’re out here every day. We come to CDP shed, we have breakfast, and then get to work,” he said.

“I enjoy the work, it’s good for me, good for community.”

John says teamwork is crucial to the program's success, with local Yarnangu empowered to take responsibility for the jobs that need doing around town.

“It’s like that saying, you can give a man a fish and he will eat today,” John said.

“But if you teach a man to fish, he will eat tomorrow.

“That’s the kind of analogy we want to implement here in Warakurna, empowering people to become self-sufficient and self-reliant. We’re just here to support.”

Jason, Warakurna’s CDP Activities Coordinator, says it’s nice to see the ownership the men take in keeping the community clean, and the pride they hold in doing so.

“Every Monday we are out here with the men, working as a team to collect rubbish,” he said.

“If you look around the community, you’ll see the men here do a really, really good job.

“One of their favourite things is to keep the community tidy and clean and take care of the rubbish.”

When the men aren’t out on tractors cleaning up community, you’ll often find them in the Warakurna Men’s Shed, a hub for a variety of CDP activities. The shed is a safe space for men to work together and was built in collaboration with the support from the whole community.

John said his approach prioritises supporting local people to learn life skills that empowers them to support their community.

“It means people can take control of their own destinies, while getting people job ready.”

We’re working to reimagine CDP and the work being done in Warakurna is a great example of how community collaboration is leading the way for a better future.

The light is returning to the Lands

2024-03-26T00:00:00Z

For decades now, there has been a sentiment within the Yarnangu of ��ɫAV Lands that for anything substantive to change, it will need to be through government assistance. But hope is returning from within the Lands.

While there’s measures of assistance from state and federal sources, these lands cry out for transformative change that will help see the aspirations of Yarnangu realised in their lifetime. A sense of dashed expectations and desperation is a reasonable reaction to what has prevailed.

As the ��ɫAV Council celebrates its 43rd anniversary, CEO, Thomas Williams, reflected on this perception.

“I think our people have long had this opinion that if it’s not funded by the government, we don’t do it, but the reality is that gaps of funding are so great that we had to look beyond those sources,” Thomas said.

“We came together 43 years ago on these lands through a collective choice to walk together. We have accomplished so much together and as I reflect on the milestones of this history, I see times of great expectation and sometimes despondency as well,”

“These realities have stopped us dreaming of the future for too long. But I think that we’ve realised that the future might be within us,” he added.

Through strong financial stewardship in recent times, ��ɫAV Council had enough funds in reserve to work on plans that would develop each of their communities through their own means.

With the appointment of Creating Communities Australia, there has been a series of engagements from which Community Plans have already been developed for six of the eleven ��ɫAV communities

“These plans have breathed fresh life and expectation in our communities and fuelled their aspirations for lasting positive change to come to the lands,” said Thomas.

“I stood alongside one of elders, Mr. T, who reflected on the genuine change that he was seeing emerge in the Lands,”

“Mr. T said: ‘ It’s starting to change the world - the light is returning to the Lands. I really thought for a while that we might be done and there was nothing that we could do, but I’m starting to see the light again— I’m encouraged by the work that’s being done by the Council, and by that Creating Communities’ mob’,” Thomas recalled.

It’s an insight that both stimulates and encourages the work that is being done at so many levels large and small—housing, health, education, employment, culture & country—to realise the overarching goal of Yarnangu living lives of purpose and agency through Ngurra Rapa, Tjukurrpa Rapa (Strong homes and Strong Stories).

There’s no doubt that the road ahead is long. The transformation of communities is good work but, most times, it’s slow and hard work .

As the ��ɫAV Council commemorates 43 years of walking together, it’s with renewed endurance for the work ahead. The light is returning.

The Ngurra Rapa, Tjukurrpa Rapa (Strong Homes, Strong Stories) Community Plans are live

2024-01-17T02:55:19Z

It’s with great excitement that we share with you the ��ɫAV Lands Community Plans, Ngurra Rapa, Tjukurrpa Rapa – Strong Homes, Strong Stories.

These Plans represent the ideas of Yarnangu from across the ��ɫAV Lands. They were developed in late October when the team from Creating Communities visited the Lands to listen and learn our communities’ aspirations for the future.

We made these Plans because we know that Yarnangu are strong. Yarnangu get their strength from Ngurra and Tjukurrpa, the stories and language passed down by ancestors, guided by thousands of years of continued culture on the Lands.

Since first contact, Yarnangu have sought to understand and navigate many changing systems and processes that haven’t worked in remote communities. This has made life hard.

These Community Plans for Warakurna, Wanarn, Blackstone, Jameson and Warburton, aim to provide direction from the community to create lasting positive change. The team also plan to visit the remaining ��ɫAV Lands communities to work on developing Ngurra Rapa, Tjukurrpa Rapa – Strong Homes, Strong Stories Plans with their community members.

This change relies on embracing new ways, while at the same time maintaining strong connections with Tjukurrpa, Country, language and family.

We invite you all to review these plans, to share them with your family, to talk about them. We also invite you to give us feedback, tell us what you think will and won’t work.

The team from Creating Communities will be back in the Lands at the start of 2024 and they’re looking forward to hearing your feedback.

Aged Care to expand across the ��ɫAV Lands

2023-11-29T02:55:58Z

The ��ɫAV Health Service has received a significant funding boost ensuring it can continue to look after elderly Yarnangu through its vitally important aged care services.

The service, provided through the Kungkarrangkalpa residential aged care facility, based in Wanarn, and through the various Home and Community Care (HACC) services across the lands, ensures our elderly Yarnangu community members are looked after, by providing cooked meals and various levels of care depending on the individual’s need.

In the past 12 months, the increasing costs of providing services, like the cost of food, transport, and resourcing, has made providing the high-level service that our communities deserve more challenging than ever. However, despite these challenges, the ��ɫAV Health Service has continued to provide exceptional quality care.

The funding increase is a result of the diligent and effective advocacy of ��ɫAV Council Group deputy chief financial officer Andrew Black, who worked with the health team to lobby the Federal Health Department to significantly increase the funding.

This will allow the service to increase its employment opportunities for Yarnangu workers, upgrade and purchase new equipment for its facilities, upgrade its respite and palliative care service delivery and host more community events to ensure older members of the community are engaged with social activities to keep connected with family and friends.

The outcome reflects the importance of this valuable service for our communities and reinforces the dedication of our health team in ensuring older Yarnangu are cared for.

It would not have been possible without the collaborative efforts involved, with Andrew Black and the health team playing a pivotal role in fighting for more funding for aged care across the lands.

When we all work together, we achieve great things. It’s a testament to the kind of difference we strive to make in our communities.

��ɫAV Council Group CEO Announcement

2023-11-28T06:48:13Z

Richard Kanari, Chairperson of the ��ɫAV Council today announced that, after an extensive search process, the ��ɫAV Council Group Board has appointed Thomas Williams to lead the ��ɫAV Council Group into the next season.

Search firm Lester Blades supported the Board’s search. The role garnered much interest and there was a strong field of candidates.

Mr Kanari said, “Thomas has a strong connection to the ��ɫAV Lands, having spent his early years and some of his working life in Warburton. This, along with his vision for the people and the communities in the lands to thrive, will ensure we forge a better pathway forward together.”

The appointment of Mr Thomas Williams reflects an important moment in ��ɫAV Council Group’s history; with community planning now in full swing, the organisation is well positioned to improve life for community members in the ��ɫAV communities while at the same time ensuring members can take advantage of emerging opportunities.

Reflecting on his selection, Thomas said: “I am honoured and excited to be selected to lead the ��ɫAV Council Group. We have a unique opportunity at this time to deliver better outcomes for the communities. I am committed to building and implementing a unifying organisational strategy that puts the community first. I look forward to working together with our team, partners and industry for the betterment of the people in the ��ɫAV Lands.”

Thomas’s appointment as Chief Executive Officer of the ��ɫAV Council Group will commence on 28 November, 2023.

��ɫAV Council Group AGM

2023-10-11T07:16:56Z

��ɫAV Council Members AGM and Election for Lady Directors

All ��ɫAV Members are invited to the ��ɫAV Council Group Annual General Meeting to be held on Wednesday 1st November 2023 in Warburton.

There will be a barbecue lunch and the nomination and election of four ��ɫAV Lady Directors for the Boards of:

��ɫAV Council Aboriginal Corporation

��ɫAV Health Service Aboriginal Corporation

��ɫAV Services Aboriginal Corporation

��ɫAV Land Council Aboriginal Corporation and;

Yarnangu ��ɫAVku Parna RNTBC Aboriginal Corporation

��ɫAV Council Members Meeting, Wednesday 23rd August 2023

2023-07-05T02:42:57Z