A week in an Aboriginal community

Indigenous Australians have been on this continent for around 40,000 years. So it was a great privilege to spend 5 days in the Aboriginal community of Hopevale, in Cape York in the far north of Queensland.

My principal impression was the warmth of the people I met. Each evening a different family invited me to their home for dinner. This usually meant a barbecue with a large extended family; invariably someone strummed a guitar and we had a good singsong.

Of course there are many challenges. Some of them are the kind of things you can find in spots in inner cities around the world – unemployment, substance abuse, violence. But the scale and the nature are much more difficult in these remote rural communities far away in the bush.

I was hugely impressed with the commitment of the people I met, from local community leaders to public service professionals, to improve people’s lives and tackle the underlying problems.

Hopevale is particularly interesting as it is the focus of a number of pioneering initiatives, developed by the Cape York Institute under Noel Pearson, Australia’s leading indigenous thinker, who actually originally came from Hopevale. I learned about Welfare Reform delivered through the Family Responsibilities Commission and about Alcohol Management Programmes.

At the local primary school I did some reading with young children following the Direct Instruction programme, which is a return to the basics of the three Rs. I also visited a banana farm which has been set up recently to provide sustainable jobs for local people.

My 21 year old son, who had accompanied me on the trip, spent a day helping there, cutting down huge bunches of bananas and humping round their heavy weight. It looked pretty hard work. We also went out with a group of Indigenous Rangers, whose job is protecting and promoting their local heritage, and saw some spectacular rock art dating back tens of thousands of years.

It was another reminder of the sheer beauty of the Australian landscape. As the sun set over the stunning Elim Beach, site of the original Lutheran mission which gave rise to Hopevale, Eddie a local elder, taught us how to throw spears using a woomera spear-thrower. At 87 years old he effortlessly hit the target every time with a graceful motion. I struggled to hit a stationery cardboard box. Clearly, if I had to lead the traditional lifestyle I’d find it very hard to feed myself.

Aboriginal Australians, who make up around 2% of the population, are a vital part of Australian uniqueness. I felt genuinely privileged that they shared some time with me.