Day 5

Thursday 28 September

With three voyages complete, we now have about 65 Bama people on Lizard, just for this one day. Tomorrow we’ll start sailing three boatloads of people and gear to Cape Flattery with the last voyage out on Monday 2 Oct.

Today is an important day as it’s the one day when everyone is here together. Following Ross and Des’s meeting and initial conversations, Des asked Lee Robinson, the CEO of Hope Vale Council, and Paul Wallace, a Council member, to fly out and join us at Lizard. Des’s idea is to have a brainstorm about how the ANZ bank and Pelican Expedition may be able to help Hope Vale to open up businesses and provide sustainable employment. This is following through with Des’s Fightback Plan (see HV06 Log 1).

The day is full of potential, starting with a post-breakfast brainstorm with Ross, Louis, Tim, Gareth and I. Tim is an Elder whose families have traditional title to a huge area around Bathurst Bay further north, Gareth has ideas around his Dingaal country around Cape Flattery. No decisions about any of this would be taken on a camp like this. All Elders and appropriate Community members need to be fully consulted. This is a chance to fling ideas around in the presence of a business and bank professional –Ross.

Kalpower brainstorm, Hayden, Ross, Gareth, Louis, Tim & Rohan

Last year we listened to Tim’s story about how he wanted to open a rehabilitation centre on traditional country for up to 20 prisoners from Mareeba gaol. Most of the inmates are Aboriginal –some, Tim reckons, are inside for such petty offences as walking down the street drinking from a tinny, there’s probably more to the story, but it doesn’t take much for a Bama male to cross our Wangarr lines. Tim has a strong idea of taking these youngsters away from the cycle of re-incarceration by getting them onto their own country and teaching them skills that they can use to get committed jobs –perhaps then to self-respect and dignity.

Maps of the area are laid down and Tim shows us his country and points out where the family’s homestead is and another camp, Kalpowar that already does a similar program. His idea is to rebuild the old cattle station and teach the young offenders stockman skills. Ross said he’d be interested to go with Tim to see Kalpowar. A few other potential business ideas are discussed, before we head up to meet the charter flight.

Whole Lizard Island Project Team with Lyle

It feels such a privilege to be operating at Lizard because of it’s raw wilderness beauty plus it has the added advantage of being able to fly people in and out by regular Hinterland or charter flight if needed. This means that if we had a medical emergency we can get people to help fast and do what we’re doing today.

It’s not long before we are walking back to the camp with Lee, wielding an extra guitar for the camp, Paul, Des and Caroline Frost, a BBC World Radio Producer. Caroline joins us to do an audio piece for the BBC World Service. We chat as we amble along the stunning boardwalk over the bright green mangroves, ending in a quaint bridge over the creek and then along the sandy track behind the beech. It goes past the ruin of Mrs Watson’s house where Dingaal people supposedly killed one of her Chinese servants in 1881. Mary Watson plus her baby with the remaining Chinese servant escaped in an iron-steaming tub to sea. Their bodies were later found dehydrated to death on No 5 Howick Island; her diary told the brief story of how they had lasted just nine days.

It feels complete to have Des with us again. He is the Daarba Elder, being the senior man in the Bowen family and he is also the male Elder of this project since it’s inception. We settle down to teas and general introductory talks before gathering all the Elders, Lee, Paul and Ross to set up a meeting in the shade away from the main camp.

First on the unwritten agenda is Tim’s Kalpowar idea with various views expressed around the table. Ross makes arrangements to meet up with Tim to go and see Kalpowar and then maybe the next step is to support Tim to visit Lotus Glen Correction Centre south of Mareeba to discuss real options. We believe Tim can look after and train these youngsters on their traditional lands, for a lot less than what it costs the government to incarcerate them, and that they would come out of their sentence with the ability to secure a job on a cattle station or other skill based work.

Tim, Paul, Lee, kneeling:Gareth, Louis, Marty, Dustin and standing: Des, Ross and Elaine

Other business ideas are discussed with possible ways that the ANZ can set up financial support for sustainable business ideas. No commitments are made but the conversation has begun between Elders, the Council and the ANZ, with a firm understanding to keep talking and to see if we can open doors to develop prosperous businesses. It feels like an important step has been made on this traditional Dingaal land, this place of Initiation.

Boys are sent off to gather the whole camp together, as we conclude the meeting. Soon nearly 70 people are standing in a large circle in the shade of the pandanus trees. Des talks about why he called the brainstorming meeting, and about his plan to turn Hope Vale around, creating real opportunities for Hope Vale youngsters. Lee talks about concrete steps that the Council are making and I finish by telling a story.

I speak about how we were all deeply affected when we visited their country last year, of how Adrian and Paul, the ANZ team from last year, had taken their transformational story into their corporate world and how the ripples had gone out to influence many people. I spoke about the deep interest many westerners have for Indigenous and wilderness experience. And how here, their Shire Council and Hope Vale Community now stood in control of 110,000 hectares of some of the most amazing sea and land country in Australia. But the impetus has to come from them and when it does, we can jointly assist to see if we can convert some of their aspirations and hopes towards establishing work and businesses.

Des describes his Fightback Plan to the Bama youngsters

Lunch is served round at the main campsite - always a social time with the chatter of adults, the giggling of children and now the buzz around the meetings. Colin runs a group of us in the inflatable boat round to the Lizard Island Resort for a meeting with Amanda Silk the Manager and Nicole Dent the HR Manager. This is to discuss an agreement I made last year with Voyages, who run the Lizard Island Resort, to take on two Bama trainees. They need to be suitable for the Resort, need to want to be there and be away from Hope Vale for 2 to 3 month periods and possibly have some sort of hospitality training. Lee will liase with Nicole to take this initiative forward.

From the Resort, Lee and Paul head to the airport to catch the charter flight back to Cooktown. Pelican prepares for a visit to one of the outer islands, so spears and fishing gear is loaded along with a boatload of people.

Naturally the young men in particular love nothing more than going fishing, snorkelling and spearing fish. The Indigenous people are the only people allowed to hunt in this Green zoned area. We ask them not to take the large fish, which are the best breeders (and worst eating) and try to reduce our impact by varying where we go to fish. The Bama only take what we can eat that night and after four hours, Pelican again races round the corner sailing downwind. The hunters come home proud to supply their camp with a few coral trout that feeds most of the group that evening. Part of the balance here in Lizard is that we have only come here twice in the last two years and that most of these people have never been here before –it’s not a regular spot for these Bama people.

The camp now has three guitars and after the meal is cleared away, Brenton, Renni and Luke gently jam away, singing country and the occasional rock songs – their melodious tones add colour to the camp. The wind seems to sense we need a break from the constant south easterlies to listen to their music.