Anindilyakwa Land Council’s

Ayakwa

One People. One Voice. anindilyakwa.com.au

30 Bougainvillea DrivePO Box 172Alyangula NT 0885

$50m community plan unveiledNEW life will be breathed into Groote Eylandt communities with more houses, water parks, playgrounds, oval upgrades and basketball courts

The ALC will spend $51 million over the next five years to build houses plus facilities agreed on by Anindilyakwa people, which could also include a skate park and BMX track.

The ALC and NT government have joined forces to roll out a single, community-led plan for Groote and Bickerton islands.

ALC chief executive Mark Hewitt said government and private experts considered the efforts to be the most advanced in addressing community housing supply in northern Australia.

INSIDE THIS ISSUE• Food for Groote

Page 3.

• Free white goods Page 4.

• Cultural objects returned Page 5.

Continued Page 2.

ADVANCED: About 50 new houses will be built in Angurugu.

| Newsletter August 2017

Community effort saves stranded whale

RANGERS and volunteers worked tirelessly to rescue a false killer whale in July, after Umbakumba locals raised the alarm.

Spear fishers discovered the unusual visitor in distress and thrashing about on a shallow sand bar inside Umbakumba lagoon.

Land and Sea Manager Adrian Hogg coordinated the work to keep the whale wet with buckets of water and prevent sunburn by covering it in wet sheets and blankets before “re-floating” it as the tide came in. But it again swam into trouble in shallow water at the far eastern end of the lagoon.

Adrian said he then realised it needed to be escorted out of the lagoon or it would weaken and become exhausted, stressed and eventually die. With the help of a boat, they herded the whale to deeper water outside the lagoon before the tide dropped again.

“It became stuck several more times and needed rangers to manually move it before making it through the narrow channel into the safety of the deeper waters of the Gulf of Carpentaria,” Adrian said.

He thanked rangers and volunteers for their tireless efforts.

JOINT EFFORT: Ranger staff Philip Mamarika, Jennifer Yantarrnga and Adrian Hogg prepare to re-float the stranded False Killer Whale at Umbakumba.

MORE HOUSING AND FACILITIES FOR COMMUNITIESFrom page 1.

IN ANGURUGU, there are expected to be more than 50 existing homes renovated or replaced with new culturally appropriate housing.

The plan includes a new cultural and recreational precinct for Umbakumba and new and renovated housing.

Milyakburra would be revamped with new community facilities, shade structures and new and renovated housing.

Design director, Kieran Wong from company COX

Architecture, said both Angurugu and Milyakburra had plenty of available land to build on, but service upgrades were required. He noted that many vacant lots or houses could be renovated or rebuilt to make more housing sites available. But Umbakumba required new land subdivisions, he said.

The ALC board is still discussing whether new housing subdivisions would be set out as clusters for family groups, or individual stand alone houses.

The ALC board has approved spending the money from interest earned from its mining trust.

| August 2017 Page 2

ANINDILYAKWA people are reconnecting with the land to improve their health, as part of the Food for Groote plan.

The plan is a blueprint to create health on Groote through nutrition and hygiene.

Elders and community leaders are helping to roll out the plan in a bid to improve quickly declining health on the island.

One part of the plan is teaching community members about the importance of fruit, vegetables and bush tucker in a healthy diet.

All ages will join to grow, harvest and prepare fresh produce to create healthy meals.

The plan is being rolled out by non-profit organisation, Edge of Nowhere Foundation (EON), together with the CDP, GEBIE and GEAT.

It includes reviving the GEAT market garden so fresh vegetables and fruit are available for community, educating children in schools and mothers of families, creating healthy clean homes, and ensuring homes have working fridges and stoves to prepare fresh food.

ALC chief executive Mark Hewitt said Anindilyakwa people were hungry.

“They’re not eating properly, very little healthy foods are being eat, very little cooking is happening at home and as a result kids are hungry, they are struggling to concentrate and they are often sick,” Mark said.

EON has spent more than a decade helping remote Aboriginal communities make changes to improve health.

Co-founder Caroline de Mori said poor nutrition was a contributor to the soaring rates of type two diabetes and heart disease in Aboriginal communities.

“People are having so many terrible but preventable

health problems because they are not eating good food,” Caroline said.

“One of the most disturbing results is that by school age 70 per cent of Indigenous children have hearing loss.”

EON’s program provides sustainable access to fresh produce in schools and communities and offers training in how to grow, harvest and prepare the produce to create healthy meals.

EON hopes to be working with the ALC on Groote and Bickerton islands by October.

HEALTH: All ages will join to grow, harvest and prepare fresh produce to create healthy meals. Pictured are Truzelda Murrungun and Katrisha Jaragba. Photo by Jasmin Ford

Healthy food for Groote

NT ELECTION day is Saturday, August 26 and all citizens over the age of 18 must vote.

Nominees for the two Anindilyakwa vacancies close on August 3 and the candidates will be announced on August 4.

DO YOU have a photo that shows something happening on Groote Eylandt? We would love to see it and possibly print it in Ayakwa.

Send it to danielacooper@outlook.com.au in full size.

| August 2017 Page 3

FRIDGES, WASHERS FOR COMMUNITYWORKING TOGETHER: Wayne Warrawiliya and Lance Lalara install a washing machine as part of an ALC-funded program delivered by Amangarra. White goods such as washing machines and fridges are delivered from the Royalty Shopper warehouse to community homes. Coordinator Brent Woods said traditional owners employed by Amangarra inspected homes and white goods were delivered to those that needed them. “We’ve got more white goods coming in and we’re looking at how to service Groote Eylandt people who are off island due to medical requirements,” Brent said.

THERE were big smiles at Bartalumba Bay when the GEBIE Social Program delivered beds in July.

Anindilyakwa royalty recipients with a medical condition can apply for a new bed and mattress every two years through the program.

Staff delivered beds and mattresses to Angurugu in May. Deliveries were made to Umbakumba in June.

The Green Ants team, Umbakumba Aged Care and Umbakumba CDP and Mikbamurra Store came on board to help.

SLEEP TIGHT: Melva Wurramara, Brian Bara and their grandchildren test their new beds in Bartalumba.

Good night’s sleep for royalty recipients

| August 2017 Page 4

IN THE past 100 years many culturally important objects have been taken away from Groote Eylandt and the ALC is making plans to have some of these returned.

A heritage protection training program for traditional owners, ALC staff and rangers is being put in place so objects can be looked after and kept safe for future generations.

The training program will also teach how to identify and protect culturally important sites on country.

ALC anthropologist Hugh Bland spoke about the benefit of having trained people so that museums returning objects would know they would be looked after.

“It is important that we develop a training package for heritage management in the next few months so we can get objects back and to make sure important cultural sites and objects are preserved,” Hugh said.

Following consultation with senior men, a group of objects including restricted men’s objects have been approved for return from the Museum and Art Gallery NT (MAGNT).

Another repatriation project is arranging the return of excavated archaeological material from Sydney University. This material is mainly shells taken from dinner camps, and has remains of ochre, pottery shards, iron and introduced material.

The material has been used to give carbon datings

for some sites that were used by Anindilyakwa and Macassans, and in other sites they record Indigenous occupation of the island prior to arrival of the Macassans.

Other objects to be returned include photographs and other work by anthropologist Fred Rose, mostly related to Umbakumba and the Qantas base.

The training will be mainly for rangers and traditional owners learning to become cultural guides.

Once trained, they can accompany tourists or workers going on country.

Rangers will also have an ongoing job managing heritage sites and testing art or archaeological sites for threats such as fire, weeds and feral animals.

FRIDGES, WASHERS FOR COMMUNITY

CULTURAL OBJECTS: Sean Angeles and Adam Macfie from MAGNT with Jabani Lalara, Lionel Jaragba, and Jonathon Nunggamajbarr.

Cultural objects to be returned

DID YOU KNOW?IT HAS been 90 years since the first Girl Guide unit in the NT was opened in December 1926– on Groote Eylandt at a Mission Station on Emerald River.

| August 2017 Page 5

PITCHING IN: Shannon Jaragba, supervisor Shane Smith, Joel Mamarika, Enosh Mamarika, Bethuel Bara and Eliezer Mamarika collected more than 100 bags of rubbish in July by walking the streets. The CDP men have also made their own ‘pick-up rubbish’ spears and have joined Anindilyakwa rangers for marine cleanup at 8 Mile Beach.

CDP crew clean up rubbish

AN app developed in language will help

Anindiliyakwa speakers to get their driver’s

licence.

DriveAbout was trialled in Galiwin’ku and the

Anindilyakwa version has now been created.

The new learner driver app uses animation to

teach road rules. Project manager Kaye Hall, from

Ambrose Business Solutions, said getting a car

licence was critical in remote communities.

“A quarter of people in prison in the NT are locked

up for licence infringements, which is shocking

and unnecessary,” Kaye said. She said “the NT Road

User’s Handbook and the written theory test were

all in English and only in the written form, which

required a high level of English literacy.”

The handbook is full of great information, but

some of it is not necessary so we’ve reduced the

information in the app to what is important to pass

the test and drive safely,” she said.

The DriveAbout project was part-funded by the

Australian Government. The DriveAbout pilot was

a partnership between Ambrose and East Arnhem

Regional Council.

The app is expected to be available after a trial

period.

New driving app trialled in Anindilyakwa

| August 2017 Page 6

| August 2017

YOUNGSTERS went out on country to prepare for NAIDOC Week celebrations in Angurugu.

The week before the event, the boys from the YSR school holiday program cut and made spears, the girls cut and prepared pandanus leaves and other children helped prepare the kangaroo target for the spear throwing competition.

Both the Milyakburra

and Umbakumba school holiday teams joined the fun and festivities in Angurugu on the day.

It started with games and face painting, then women’s basketball, children’s basketball, lunch, NAIDOC Awards, a cultural dance competition and prizes, jumping castle, team problem solving games, spear-throwing competitions and finished with a mixed teens and adults basketball game.

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Big preparations for leadup to NAIDOC week

FESTIVITIES: Desley Bara gets her face painted by Vanessa Allen during celebrations.

FESTIVITIES: Azariah Yantarrnga has fun on the jumping castle. Photo by Jasmin Ford.

Ph 08 8987 4010Fax 08 8987 4098info@anindilyakwa.com.au For editorial contributions email danielacooper@outlook.com.au

30 Bougainvillea DrivePO Box 172Alyangula NT 0885

anindilyakwa.com.au

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WOMEN’S basketball has made a powerful return to Groote, inspired by an elating competition at the Barunga Festival.

Umbakumba and Angurugu women joined forces to form a basketball team for the first time in many years for the June competition.

Coordinator Jasmin Ford said the event stirred up renewed excitement around women’s basketball on Groote.

“It’s trips like this that boost moral and empower our beautiful Anindilyakwa women,” Jasmin said.

“It was great to see the women work together and bond throughout the weekend and although they didn’t make it through to the semi finals there was a great sense of pride, empowerment and positive energy throughout the entire trip.”

She said the council team had been trying to run women’s basketball for most of the year and the trip had sparked new passion.

A well-attended training and game night on the Angurugu basketball court was held just three days after returning from the festival as a result.

The team has plans to continue to grow the basketball program.

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ELATION: Shianne Amagula plays an opponent during the festival. Photo: Jasmin Ford

BASKETBALLERS BATTLE IN BARUNGA | August 2017