Night Patrols in Remote Central Australia

Clash of the Paradigms Night Patrols in remote central Australia Jennifer Turner-Walker (aka Jenny Walker, Jenny McFarland) Degrees and Diplomas: Grad. Dip. In Development Studies Deakin University, 1995 Bachelor of Arts, Anthropology major University of Queensland, 1990 Grad. Dip. In Art (Photography) Sydney College of the Arts, 1981 (University of Sydney) Diploma In Art (Photography) Alexander Mackie College, 1980 (University of NSW) This thesis is presented for the degree of Master in Criminal Justice, University of Western Australia Crime Research Centre, Faculty of Law 2010 1 Abstract: Clash of the Paradigms: Night Patrols in remote central Australia. Introduction: Includes a brief history of Patrol origins, and how they arose from the necessity to develop new forms of social regulation from a basis of extant cultural law after the colonisation of central Australia. Research Methodology: Delineates the field work methods and action research with remote settlement Patrols that informs this thesis. Local Knowledge: Describes some of the physical, cultural, and environmental factors that affect Patrols and their operations. Settlement Origins and Patrols: Describes how the differing origins of remote Aboriginal settlements (mission or pastoral) impacted on the functionality of settlements and their Patrols. Risk: Describes the most significant forms and sources of risks to health and safety in remote Aboriginal settlements in the region, with a particular focus on alcohol, substance misuse and violence. Culturally Specific Conflict: Investigates some forms of Aboriginal conflict such as ‘jealousing” that have no non-Aboriginal equivalent. Functional Patrols, being cultural insiders, are particularly good at mediating and resolving these forms of conflict. Job Descriptions and Night Patrol Strategies: Descriptive chapter, using the picture reports developed by RANP and data generated from them, to describe in some detail some of the most common challenges for remote settlement Patrols, and the Patrol strategies and responses that are used to address them. These are all based in the primary cultural imperatives of Aboriginal cultural law. Lost Opportunities: The most significant threats to the functionality and sustainability of remote settlement Patrols are a result of the recent imposition of culturally alien operational modes and models, largely as a result of the Northern Territory Emergency Response (NTER, or the Intervention), and the simultaneously implemented new NT Shire system of local government. Conclusion is that the new operational Patrol regimes are not congruent with the essential basis in cultural law of remote Aboriginal settlement Patrols, and that this is the factor that represents the most significant threat to their ongoing effectiveness, functionality and existence. 2 Table of Contents: Chapter 1: Introduction 6 A brief history of Patrol origins 9 Patrol role and functions 10 Community ownership 16 The Higgins Report 17 Chapter 2: Research methodology 20 Chapter 3: Local knowledge 25 Chapter 4: Settlement origins and Patrols 35 Papunya story 37 Co-location and conflict 38 Settlement origins 39 Chapter 5: Risk 43 Matters of substance 43 Native intoxicants 44 Availability and over-consumption 45 Risk and Alcohol 46 The “Positive Ways: An Indigenous Say” conference (2006) 48 Northern Territory statistics 50 General assaults 50 Sexual assault statistics in the NT 51 Alcohol and sexual assault: 51 Reporting assaults 52 Supply reduction strategies 53 Chapter 6: Culturally specific conflict 56 Jealousing 57 Family strife averted by Night Patrol! 59 Jealous for country 61 Stories from the front line 62 Japanunga and that fight 63 Payback 65 Payback stories 66 Cultural law and dispute management 67 3 Strategic syncretisms 69 Chapter 7: Job Descriptions and Night Patrol Strategies 72 Women’s Patrol Report Summary 72 Other Patrol report summaries 73 Reasons and Actions 75 Prevention 75 Making sense of the data 76 Notes on Fighting 76 The How of Patrols 77 The how of picture reporting 82 Encounter reasons 83 Reporting on Patrol actions 109 Other Patrol Strategies and Responses 118 Chapter 8: Lost opportunities 119 The high cost of corporate amnesia 121 Clash of the paradigms 121 If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. 126 Conclusion 128 Table of Figures: Fig. 1: “Community Life” by Blair McFarland ……….. Pg. 3 Fig. 2: Approximate area covered by Institute for Aboriginal Development (IAD) language map. ...…….. Pg. 29 Fig. 3: The old RANP region (IAD map). ...…….. Pg. 30 Fig. 4: Hogarth, “Gin Lane” ……….. Pg. 43 Fig. 5: Women’s Patrol report summary ……….. Pg. 69 Fig. 6: Other Patrol’s report summary ……….. Pg. 70 Fig. 7: Other Patrol: reasons for encounter summary Pg. 71 Fig. 8: Sample report 1 ……….. Pg. 76 Fig. 9: Sample report 2 ……….. Pg. 77 Fig. 10: Sample report 3 ……….. Pg. 78 4 Acknowledgements. Fist and foremost, I would like to acknowledge and thank my Aboriginal colleagues from the remote settlements and Night Patrols of Central Australia, who shared their extraordinary skills and knowledge with me. I hope this thesis does them sufficient justice, and contributes to a broader cross-cultural understanding of what makes a functional remote Aboriginal settlement Patrol such a potent force for crime prevention, community safety, and justice. I would also like to acknowledge and thank the Alcohol Education and Rehabilitation Foundation (AERF) for the Professional Development Grant that permitted me to work part-time, and focus on the writing of this thesis. Tangentyere Council played a crucial role in supporting remote settlement Night Patrols by auspicing the Remote Area Night Patrol (RANP) program for many years. William Tilmouth (CEO, Tangentyere Council), Margaret Reilly (RANP Project Officer), Blair McFarland (first RANP Coordinator, currently manager of Central Australian Youth Link-Up Service (CAYLUS), and many others worked very hard to maintain Patrol continuity and support, in Alice Springs as well as in the surrounding remote Aboriginal settlements. I would like to thank and acknowledge the support of my friends and colleagues from many other agencies and areas, who were prepared to discuss ideas with me, read my draft chapters and provide me with invaluable insights and comments. Among these people are my supervisor, Prof. Harry Blagg, NT Police Superintendent Kym Davies, Melinda Hinkson (CAEPR, ANU), Anne Mosey, and others to numerous to mention. 5 Chapter 1: Introduction Fig. 1: “Community Life” by Blair McFarland This research examines the crucial crime and violence prevention role of Aboriginal Night and Community Patrols in the 20 plus remote Aboriginal settlements of the Northern Territory region south of Tennant Creek. The research focuses on the period from the early 1990s with the appearance of the first remote settlement Night Patrols in the Northern Territory, to their demise as community owned services with the Howard Liberal government’s Northern Territory Emergency Response (the Intervention) and the implementation of a Shire system of local NT government. These measures removed the last vestiges of remote Aboriginal community ownership of Patrols and other Aboriginal initiatives, thereby undermining the Aboriginal cultural and family imperatives that were the basis of functional Night and Community patrols. 1 Though there are some similarities to community safety initiatives in other cultural and geographic areas, Aboriginal Night and Community Patrols in 1 Remote settlements are commonly referred to as “communities”. The term “community” is a problematic one. My own preference is for the term “settlement”, as it does not have the connotations of an illusory social cohesion and harmony inherent in “community”. See Chapter 4 “Settlement Origins and Patrols” for a fuller explanation of my use of these terms. 6 remote regions of Australia are very locally and culturally specific. The intention of this thesis is to explore some of the enormous range of roles, strategies, and methodologies of remote Patrols during the time when they could have been viewed as stellar examples of Aboriginal self-determination in action, a genuinely grassroots wholly Aboriginal initiative to improve the safety of their families and settlements where the non-Aboriginal domain had so clearly failed. The Patrols’ local and cultural specificity has disadvantaged the patrols in their interactions with non-Aboriginal organisations such as police and government agencies, as their strategies and actions are largely opaque to the non- Aboriginal administrative, regulatory and social domains. The tendency is to try to understand Patrols in terms of equivalence to non-Aboriginal community policing initiatives such as Neighbourhood Watch, or security services. This does the Patrols a great disservice, and fails to recognise the extraordinary complexity of Patrol functions and strategies. It also overlooks the skill, commitment and determination of the Patrollers in undertaking to protect their families and make a difference to quality of life and safety in their home settlements. Night and Community Patrols’ major strengths are in harm minimisation, crime prevention and dispute mediation. As cultural insiders, they have a deep and intimate knowledge of the intricacies of family and individual relationships that comprise the remote Aboriginal political and socio-cultural milieu. This enables them to identify, manage and mediate potentially dangerous disputes and situations before they escalate to unregulated violence. Preventative

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