Homeless Aborigines in Darwin protest
By Bill Day
DARWIN — Corrugated iron humpies and tarpaulins slung between trees around an Aboriginal flag flying from a bamboo pole make up the base camp for homeless Aborigines protesting the oppressive policies of the NT government and Darwin City Council.
Fish Camp, as the site is known, was established in bush land under the Darwin airport flight path a year ago after Aborigines were forcibly evicted from fringe camps on crown land at Lee Point, a scenic area to the city's north marked for tourist development.
The Fish Camp people have survived since their eviction by carrying water in containers. The site is dusty in the dry season and flooded during the monsoon. Appeals for shelter and water have received no response.
Now the group has lodged a complaint with the Anti-Discrimination Commission against the minister for lands. The complaint was accepted last week, and the minister has been given 14 days to respond. (Many of the Fish Camp people have lived in Darwin longer than the minister, and resent being told by him "to return to their homelands".)
The Country Liberal Party, which has held government since 1978, ignores the needs of Aboriginal people, who mostly live in the rural electorates represented by the Labor opposition. Because of the neglect of Aboriginal communities, there has been a migration to the city.
This racist regime uses Aborigines for cultural and tourist exoticism, with little thought for their living conditions. During the Festival of Darwin, Fish Camp people performed with the Waak Waak Jungi group.
George Banbuma introduced the show with a traditional song about rain: "Rain brings water, and we all need water". He pointed out that when the dancers returned to their camp they had no water to wash off their body paint.
As a result of support from the festival audience, Fish Camp now has a water tank, although the campers still have problems financing regular water tanker deliveries.
The group has maintained its protest camp in conditions of severe hardship. Their much-loved elder, Bob Bunduwabi, died in January when he returned to Lee Point in defiance of attempts to evict him.
Their struggle will continue, and expressions of support are welcome. Please write to Fish Camp, PO Box 41104, Casuarina, NT 0811. Letters of protest should be sent to the Minister for Lands, Planning and Environment, Parliament House, Darwin, NT 0800.
[Bill Day was arrested and charge with trespassing on crown land during a three-week occupation of the Lee Point site. The magistrate did not record a conviction.]