After settling in and enjoying a rather easy first day, except for the cleaning and washing and scrubbing that come with a house that has been unoccupied for some time.....and the Tuesday night where Nathalie was on call, and had three call outs, Wednesday was pretty slow.
As stated the walk to work for Nathalie is quite arduous..a whole 150 metres or so....
but there are hazards that aren't immediately evident at home
Think it might be a brown tree snake...? and yes it was dead.
Whilst Nathalie was at work Andrew took a wander to the police station, introduced himself and was made most welcome. He met most of the staff during the visit, Bettina, an aboriginal community officer, Ralph, an aboriginal liaison officer, Geoffrey, a local elder, and the boss (Sgt.) Ian and his offsides Nathan.
Parking is very difficult.
Nearest back up is at least 90 minutes away if there is a plane ready to go...mostly any backup will come from Darwin or Gove. They have to be very self sufficient and rely very much on good liaison and relationships with the local people of Elcho Island. The island is eighty kms or so long, 6-8 ks wide and not really a lot of metres above sea level. It is serviced by one main road and two airstrips, the one at Galiwin'ku for the larger planes. The population is 2000 to 3500 - 13 language groups. Policing concerns center around sniffing, mostly avgas at the airport, as there is no fuel other than opal diesel available on the island. At one stage no aircraft was left on island over-night. Kava ( a narcotic drink famous in Vanuatu) smuggling cannabis smoking and home brew selling. As Elcho is a Dry Community, there is no legal possession or supply of alcohol. The home brew is not beer that's for sure...described by Nathan as vomit smelling evil stuff.
As unemployment is so high much of the money coming to the local people is in the form of Commonwealth Benefits, or locally known as 'Sit down money'. Gambling is a big problem, cards being the obvious and major method. At one stage the local shop stopped selling decks of cards, but the locals just developed their own supply chain.
The problem with unemployment is that it won't be simply solved. To have high levels of employment a major industry will have to come to the island....that is not likely to happen, and the peoples' connection with their land is so strong that it isn't viable to move them away from the island for employment.
Policing here is very difficult and it is apparent that many local law and odd issues are resolved right is right and wrong is wrong..despite the unique cultural beliefs and practices of the local people as Ian points out in no culture is it ok to hurt children, your partners or anyone else for that matter.
The island is mostly made up of red...very red, almost iron ore , but obviously not rich enough to mine And this time of year it is very manageable as much of the dust is kept down by the wet.
There are two 'other' characters hanging around the clinic all the time. DogDog is a dog of some age, of indeterminate, but multiple breeds.
He had a friend you know! 'LittleDog' younger and littler than DogDog but of equally firm breeding. Little dog has an aboriginal name that despite being told several times the author can not .
LittleDog still a companion at 2.30 in the morning outside the clinic.
DogDog just appears, and then will look at you bark and mutter,mother walk about 20 or so metres in front of you and keep turning to you and talk. It's as if he's our escort. LittleDog is less aloof, actually nuzzling up when you least expect it. We are under no illusion that these are not inside dogs, bed warmers, or couch ornaments, lest we be de-fleaing for months.
The clinic, is run by the community, funded entirely through federal funds.
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