Alice and Surrounds

Flynn of the Inland
Last Saturday I took a drive west of town to take in some of the local sights. On the way I stopped at John Flynn’s grave – a monument to an amazing guy! The spirit of Flynn is around every corner here in the Centre. He is known as ‘Flynn of the Inland’ and gave his life to spread a ‘mantle of safety’ across the Centre – giving every community access to basic medical assistance. His most well known legacy lives on in the Royal Flying Doctors’ Service. But that is only the tip of the ice-berg (hmm, inappropriate metaphor).

It is almost a century since Flynn set up the first Australian Inland Missions (AIM) Hostel in the region. The Alice Springs AIM hostel was established 1926 - at that time Alice was known as ‘Stuart’ and had a population of 70! It still occupies a prominent position in the Alice Springs Mall, right alongside the John Flynn Memorial Uniting church. So much of the current Remote Area Services have grown from his early vision.

Ellery Creek Big Hole
After giving my tributes to the big JF(no K) I continued out west stopping 88km away from Alice Springs at the ‘Ellery Creek Big Hole’. [Had I continued another couple of hours I would have found myself at King’s Canyon – but that will wait for another day] Ellery Creek Big Hole is one of many waterholes around the centre, but few are accessible for public use.

As a beach kid, I had wondered how I would hold up here in the desert centre of Australia. So after one hour cooking in my unconditioned car the prospect of immersing myself in a natural body of that wonderful cool liquid H20 was intoxicating. Nonetheless, as I left the car I immediately noticed the bone dry river-bed and thought that maybe a ‘big hole’ was all that awaited me. Thankfully a short walk brought me to a spectacular water-hole where I frittered away the remainder of the day (getting painfully sunburnt in the process).

Work at 'Congress'
I've settled into a routine working at Congress - well as much of a routine as is possible when faced with such a huge spectrum of medical complaints as each patient walks through the door. Among the frequent issues are:

- Skin sores and infections. Hot weather and poor hygiene makes this a huge issue. Further complicating things is the risk of Rheumatic Heart Disease (RHD) being triggered by such simple infections. RHD is a disease of poorly resourced countries - yet outback Australia has the highest rates of it in the entire world! So we aggressively treat all respiratory and skin infections, and regularly check kids hearts to make sure they haven't developed valvular disease.

- Alcohol problems. The majority of Aboriginal people don't drink at all. However, I see the unfortunate ones for whom grog swallows all their money, time and life. Just last week I treated three young guys who presented with alcohol withdrawal, two of them well into DTs (delirium tremens). We have many drug and alcohol services, but as anyone who has worked with addiction would understand, the social complications and vast distances out here make providing help all the more difficult

- Cute kids. You probably know my affinity to kids, and working here I get to see some of the brightest, cheekiest kids around. So stay tuned and I can promise some photos coming your way.

Australia's Bloody History

We are Australian

Last Friday was Australia Day – otherwise known as ‘Invasion’ or ‘Survival’ day. There is much to celebrate about being Australian but it is disappointing to see Australia Day degenerate into a noisy parade of popular nationalism (i.e. legitimised racism). History demands a pause in celebration to remember all those people on our shores who are denied the freedom of calling Australia home. This includes not only Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders, but also hundreds of the world’s most vulnerable people who have legitimately sought refuge on our shores only to get shafted by our shameful ‘Pacific solution’ immigration policies. Genuine refugees or live under the insecurity of Temporary Protection Visas (TPVs) knowing that they can be deported at any time should the Minister give them the thumbs down.

Living History
History is so very important to the identity of central Australian Aboriginal people. For them, this history goes back thousands of years to the time of Dreaming. Contact with white folk only really began in the 1870s. At that time there were about 20,000 Aboriginal people lived in the Centre, clustered in tribal groups and living according to the social, economic and spiritual law of the land – having successfully adapted over centuries to survive the harsh local conditions.

Alice Springs started as the Stuart Telegraph station providing a link for the Overland Telegraph. Prospectors and pasturalists moved out during the 1870s, attracted by the cheap land and promise of striking it rich. Conflict inevitably arose with local Aboriginal people who were attempting to protect their land - particularly their scarce water resources. The police reacted aggressively and there were numerous massacres. The most well-known of which is the Conniston massacre, which was told to me by a local Arrente woman called Maria.

"A gold prospector stole an Aboriginal man’s wife and threatened her family with violence when they went to claim her. The family clubbed the prospector with boomerangs and cut his throat. The police sent a vigilant expedition who surrounded the family in camp so that no one could escape. Then they shot them. Official reports say there were thirty but there were almost certainly many, many more."

Maria spoke of the Conniston massacre like it was a recent family tragedy. The scar obviously remained so fresh in her consciousness.

Survivors
It many ways it is amazing that the Aboriginal nations have survived at all. One hundred years ago it was simply assumed that they would disappear by Darwinian natural selection. By the 1950s it became obvious that this wasn’t going to happen and the government needed a solution other than segregating them on reserves and in missions. Their solution then became assimilation, as a quote from Governor Hindmarsh illustrates:

"Black men, we wish to make you happy. But you cannot be happy unless you imitate white men. Build huts, wear clothes and be useful. Love white men and… learn English."

The debate about citizenship came to a head in the 1967 National Referendum, with an overwhelming vote in support of full citizenship. Since then there has been progress on many fronts, with limited recognition of traditional land owners and traditional law. However, the ideal of ‘self-determination’ is fraught with difficulties.

Repeating History?
As I peruse this history the thing that strikes me most strongly is that the majority of the white power-brokers did actually want to help the Aboriginal people. But at nearly every turn their paternalistic assistance has done more harm than good. It is still happening today. Indeed, until self-determination ceases being political hot air and really becomes tangible from the community level up I fear we are only finding new ways of making history repeat.