The Struggle of an Aboriginal Community to Control the Availability of Alcohol
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w f. ^ . / 1 1 r -? 'i {~^ i. f^y5 v 0 ? dch bloke wou d y an uip ror Yalatar h 3 -fc- the struggle of an Aboriginal community to control the availability of alcohol This is an historical account of one Aboh p- Maggie Brady 6m^l community md its attempts to control the availabifc ^ The Australim National UnivcrsitT.', Canberra of alcohol to, its iTLembers. The con ^"Y^miunityisYciJaia/a4- settlement on the far western coast of South Austria with a fluctuating population of between 150 and 300 foe Byrne Pitjsntjatjara and Yankunytjatjara-speaking people. It lies 200 km west of Ceduna/ the nearest majo/town Southern Flewieu Health Service, Victor Harbour f (population 3500 in 2001), snd 47 km from the nearest 0 liquor outlet/ a roadhouse and motel called Nundroo. The Eyre Highway/ which takes travellers and high- Graham Henderson speed interstate vehicles between Port Augusta mrhe0 east/ and Perth m the west/ passes the doorstep of the AWSIS, Canberra community Yalata is located on a 456 150-hedare parcel of land owned by the South Australian Aboriginal Lands Trust that is leased back to the community (Figure 1). Abstract: Legislation to restrict the supply of rlcohol has Yalata was created in 1952 as a displaced persons been intYoducU in many rural communities across camp for Aborigmal people who had been associated Ar,siralia over the past ten to fifteen years. Overr.ll these with the unired Aborigines Mission (UAM) at Ooldea restrictions have been ct the mstzgatian of Abor^inal ^ the ^north. " detailed social history of South /-I <-' ""If rr/ ^> ,f /T1.-3 ,1 sii l/L v 0 groups. This paper records the history of ike 66iC 'J L//~(-L Australia (including Yalata) during the period Aboriginal community in South Australia to restrict the 1550-79 has been^ written by Eriscoe (i931). Yaiata J, ready a-oailabzlity of harmful amounts of alcohol to its residents refer to themselves as /Anangu// although0 0 residents. Sixteen years after the first tentative attempts to ^V are drawn from a variety of Western Desert control supply, the commv.nity succeeded in ^lining legal groups that previously travelled m the spmuex ^,,, ^ ^,_ "-, ^, "" ^ ^ ^ons to the_north and northwest. These peoples ^ During this period the commwiiiy suffered great hardship, ^a<^ visited Ooldea soak (a highly significant with many individuals expenencmg poor health or ceremonial site and source of water) for centuries/ but premature death as a' result of excessive alcohol ^ad ^een driven out of the desert regions by drought. ./ cor^mrption. Now^ twelve years after the legislation was which^meant thatmcreasmg numbers were attracted enacisd, there is evidence that the community is a safer and to T^-e UA-M' establishment ar Ooldea and the promise better -place to live for its residents. of food supplies. Mrs Daisy Bates had lived in a tent at Ooldea between 1919 and 1935, documenting& local languages and social organisation and providing some limited assistance to persons there (Brady 1987; Gara et al 1988). In June 19.53, a year after the UAM imssion v.-as closed, a location 50 km northwest of Ooldea was announced as a major resting site for British nuclear devices on the Australian mainland. It came to be called Maralinga. Maralinga and surrounding 0 lands-the trsdmonal lands of the desert peoples 62 Aiistralic-m Aboriginal0 Studiss 2003/2 ^T .f ^< .^ ? T u» -a V--- ^f S^-w < S.3; T3S3¥' ^ .V ^ .^ ??. ^ fB?F 5^ ? -^ f 'I r^i ^s^. 1 t-h S°s 1»^E' .^i y '>.< » 1 's^ y f. '. ^ s-;-^ ^° ^ s^ F» :^ ^ r !fe^ .% ^' 11 -< J* 's 'Ci I' f ?s*iK fc'h SS* * ill -* JC. < .^ 's. 1 k*AJ*": m a^^ ^ Jr w: 'm I '^ fr£ r4' ^T^ '-.^. I- '*» IS§ST~ .^* §? ^^ * a;- v '^E f, ^N ^..K '-F"'^ ^:*? w", * *» 1 ^ <T ^-/^ 'W < '.S'L.^S^t £f M^- ,;Js 7i ^ t. 't, w^ss ^."''s 'V /V'T-ich b'o'u : .Quid sr-;^ \'.yfc '^-.L-!' -S.: ^-, Byme . ^d Henderson -.~t 1» J m f 1:.- -. *. .». .t * <I t ./ .yf;^-,..-^.^ ^"".^ -:.V. .i* >? ^ '-. 1.3 r-r ^v 1 ^ Ml AUSTRALIA Ol.D \ , -L *f VIA Z-r~ SA L.- ^ * --/ \ -L.- ^i HSV:' \ .4. h.. \ V)C & 1DOO h yiDms^EE V-AS ,^-'- O!) WOOMERA A.iiftSi T^ .J! ,400 ^s-ss PROHIBITED ^WN.»Mci ratings -. .< T- -rfU..-^? <f ;^^ ^ ; AREA ^.^.^- Jt-> ^;-A,-1-C ^fs>.<' **. ~.w^ ^ n^^^'^y^^^ *T TRA»S .<-.- Ik * » ^ » ft'J. s; u I - -Jfr' -^ /. ^ / l/i(. .AY \ 'S ^ffl / / / / ulaurm MJSTEAUA f / / ; f / / ./ 1^ lr/'?^.//'^L^TA '^^'^VjS'^ ? .^ -* y \'ALAT.\ h." LAND ^ / <T TV. ^ ^' f ^ ^'/ J k if / ..'"', Nullarbor r ^ 'Ahal^ ' : .-. f^\ * .» ^ /- , -^f ^ Roadhousej, . ^a [Wing ^ ^^^<^'~^^ Y T^ / v^-tj CofOna ^fSS 1 Head of . r.- ^" * .'< Bisht -' a ^,^- ~^Tf. 'ci< ^ '"k. iiiandrao ^\'P os y house Bookabie ./'^ » . ^ / T Koonibba 1 -/ / . r~- / 2. -I \ . ~1 --...' c <?. .^.^ .^ rf^ Psnong' -;" / /'' e, Fcwiefs\ /, /. \ '^ ^, -^ / Bay^ ^s f^ ^ Fwisrs /' ^^^.-^Ceduna ^ "I / / / '^ Bay 'V-. 1^ » -^ ,.^. ^ \ A. / te- ^//; ^ A _ - -I -. _' <%>: ^ ;5_ Ttiev l^v .^ -'-. ^ s / 0C^Streaky Bi -~ I ? ^^^,. l§ht a V- -( s 100 /. 0 c*^> / [- yiomstres ^ '^ \ a \: fl Location map. were declared prohibited areas and access to them from later political developments among the Was. blocked, throughout and following the testing. PrEjan-tjatjara/ Ngaanyatjarra and YarLkunyqarjara. With the closure of Ooldea mission m 1952, the people In the 1950s, rhess displaced desert peoples --F-vere reluctantly resssembled at Yalata on the edge of found themselves to be the only tradition-oriented tite Nullarbor, to be supervised by missionaries from Aboriginal population of South Ausrralia/s far the local Lutheran evangelical fellowship, The ex- western coast region. The impact of settling three Ooldea Aborigines were Aus separated geographf- hundred Aborigines at Yalata Mission has been felt ail cally, socially and spu'irually from the region they over the West Coast/and/particularly in recent years/ ^riev: best^ n'oni. their kin to th0 noith and west/ and in Ceduna'/ observed a historian of the area (Fault / ^ .7 Azi.strdion Abori^ial6 Studies 2003/2 6; T-CTpr 0 I -1 >r-1 L. T I .' J '.'' . i '^ " * ^ ^1; J ./ , 938:329). The new neiglibours to these Anangu v;.jre prohibited; ^^hen dripJ<ing rignts were s:;-Lended/ < ^ T^\ 9f L^ ..zgiJsnte *, ^ f- ^-hite sh&ep graziers pnd v/Iieat gro^'/ers-people Cedun^ resi.dei^ts threatened to set A c/' f 1 £ .^ ^_ ^ 1 \-J W^A L-Jt. r £;rou'o3 i.u protect mezr i "oruen from drunken ^0£i=cs "^ ^rsii.i. nd gr^ndparerLts0 h-ad settled ths & j,' westernr coast from the time of the first leases in the Aborigines (Bennett 1985). Despite prohib-itioa/ 1860s/ and who attempted to wrench a living from many Aborigines/ especially rural workers and town nia r.c^mal land. Wl-ien the South Australian dwellers/ had gained access to alcohol long before it yovernmer^0 purchased the Yalata land in 1951, local became legal to do so. Aborigines living on the far tarniers strenuously opposed 'good farmland/ being western coast recall that it was relatively easy to get aside for Aboriginal peoples to live on. They persuade Whites to obtain drin-k for them. These' succeeded m lobbying the government to excise some peopie were called /go-getters/ or ''bullockies^ and c or this land from the proposed lease area (Hampel risked'gaol -for their trouble. A local Aboriginal man \9'77}. There were also objections to the proposed recalled (Brady field tape YA6B/1992) that: siting' of tj^e new ^alata Lutheran mission at Colona 0 I got to know a raxi drh'er in Port Lincoln/ so he didn't on the easternmost edge of the lease/ bringing it closer mind getting it and I \\ras lucky he didn/t cost me any to White settlement. In the end the area known as extra. Just a taxi fare out to North Shield on a Sunday. 'I-'-.. Tallowan/ hirfcher west/ was chosen for the mission But my mate also had a perinit so I'had no problem ;Hampel 1977). getting drink. We had BO problems getting drink in Ceduna because there'd be hitcl-iliikers traveHing & Early contact with alcohol through who didn't mind a few quid, few extra pounds so of course wine wasn't very dear in them days but they used t'o get anything up to ten pounds extra for his alcohol \va.s an integral0 featzire of White settlement in he area/ but its consumption by Aboriginal peoples problems. But/ if he was caught, there was no option, six mcmrhs/ straight0 off/ first offence even. las lon.ff0 been the focus of local attention, a focus that ?ersiste to the present. Drunkenness among the entire He also recalled that when it became difficult to nale (Whii-e) population at Fowlers Bay was evid- obtain methylated spmts/ the only option was for ntly common in the 1880s -vvhen boats such as the meths drinkers to buy camping- stoves i-hat came with -.race D^'lm: brought supplies of bottled beer (Faull a borrle of spirits; they would throw away the stove 988). Indeed/the man in charge of the Fowlers Bay and drink the fuel. Both Aboriginal and0 non- dice station for 17 years/ remembered as one of the Aboriginal commentators believe that the restrictions -'-.-' r-- 1. real pioneering policemen of South Australia/ was nn. le,^.I sccess to alcohol contributed i-ij a 0 A a Ad5L/ n alcoholic who was Forced to leave the post in secretive and desperate style of consumption/ isgrace (Faull 1988:49) In 1901, land was surveyed/ observed by Jeremy Beckett in the 1950s (Beckett i rodaimed and named as Ceduna, and a liquor 1964), as well as by a Ceduna man (Brady field tape f^- "^ ence was granted that same year to the Ceduna KA10/ 1992); ^otel even before the building had been completed.