THE CREEK'S DRYING UP

Why the Creek's drying up

Richard Di Natale has finished his tour of duty as a doctor at
Anyinginyi Congress. He stopped on his way out of town
to give us his diagnosis of Tennant's ills.

It is one of the most isolated towns in Australia. Around three thousand people live in this flat, dusty and inconceivably remote place. The nearest capital city is Darwin, about 1000km away and the cost of a flight to most other capital cities equates with a trip overseas. To call this town inhospitable is an understatement. With summer temperatures that are more suited to baking cakes than supporting human life and a winter that produces little or no rain one would not expect Tennant Creek to feature prominently in most real estate guides.
Yet somehow the people who live here manage to eke out an existence. In fact some of them positively thrive in this atmosphere of red dust, heat haze and spinifex and they remain defiant in a global environment that seems to have no regard for the people of the bush.
Originally built on the back of the mining and pastoral industries the fate of Tennant Creek, like so many other towns like it, hangs in the balance. Its population is made up of a large indigenous base, a transient population and a shrinking number of 'locals'.
Visitors like myself arrive on short to medium term contracts and work largely within education, health, and other smaller government sectors and we eventually move on within a few years. The term local is used a little more loosely here than in other places and is could be applied to the group of residents who have a stronger connection with the town than just their work.
Over recent years many of these long-term residents have been feeling a little uneasy. A quantum shift is occurring within the town that is challenging their very existence. A town that previously existed because of what lay beneath the ground rather than what lay on top of it has been forced to adapt to a sobering reality. Tennant Creek is no longer a mining town.
In fact there are no operating mines within the region for the first time in the town's history. The change reflects a global shift away from old economy stocks to the booming hi-tech sector, a change that has inflicted near fatal wounds on the commodities markets. Even though the stockmarket is a volatile beast that can take unexpected turns, the future for mining in Tennant Creek remains grim. An unexpected recovery in the mining sector will probably not impact significantly on the town as mining companies now prefer to fly their contractors into operating mines on a rotational basis.
The residents now live in a town that exists because of and not despite its indigenous community. Without it the town's economy would collapse. Julalikari Council is easily the biggest employer in town with a payroll of several hundred employees. Anyinginyi Congress has an annual operating budget of almost four million dollars.
Local businesses are now reliant on the income from the indigenous community and without it the town would no longer exist. Hence the dilemma. Suddenly a reality that many people refused to acknowledge is now the source of their very existence. A town that previously relied on the right to mine land is now confronted with land rights. Businesses that once had to deal with reconciling accounts now have to deal with reconciliation.
Members of the community have developed their own very different measures for coping with this shift in the town's demographics. There are those who revel in a new culture that is infinitely complex and ancient. There are others who have somehow managed to remain insulated from this confronting sector of their town.
And there are those who thrive on the limitless opportunities to exploit and misappropriate. For these people Tennant Creek is still a gold mine. Over the years they have developed clandestine schemes that have contributed to the Territory's reputation for corruption and exploitation. The town's list of dubious enterprises is lengthy.
A transport service operates a mobile banking service complete with collection of customer bankcards. A retailer cashes personal cheques under the proviso that a significant proportion of the cash is spent on their high-priced goods. There is also the peculiar situation of a nightclub that actually opens at midday, against the spirit of alcohol restrictions designed to reduce alcohol consumption and minimise associated harm.
The indigenous organisations of Tennant Creek are also struggling to deal with this new reality. Circumstances would suggest that this new economic reliance on the indigenous community would allow them to occupy a powerful position within the town's political spectrum. Yet they are still striving to grasp this opportunity. In the recent past these organisations were strong, united and progressive voices in the fight for change.
Issues like the fight to implement alcohol restrictions seemed to signify a movement toward real independence and galvanised a groundswell of community support. But many of the strong voices of the past are now silent, muffled by years of frustration and burnt out by life in a town where the odds are stacked against them. They already have much to be proud of but strong leadership and innovation are needed now.
The Community Development Employment Program and the burgeoning arts industry could be developed further, progressive initiatives such as recycling could be resurrected and opportunities in areas such as indigenous tourism could be explored. Creative alternatives such as the family income scheme proposed in Cape York by Noel Pearson need to be considered to counter some of the destructive effects of welfare and royalty payments and to demonstrate to the entire community that this is a shared problem with shared responsibilities.
Education, or lack of it, remains one of the most obvious and fundamental issues in Tennant Creek. An environment exists where indigenous children are simply not achieving the necessary standards of literacy and numeracy necessary to function in an increasingly complex society. The reasons are multiple and involved but almost certainly reflect a failure in current educational models.
This cohort of adolescents is already showing evidence of becoming increasingly marginalised and the signs are worrying. The emergence of American ghetto culture is a new feature in the landscape of Tennant Creek. Gangs with names such as Westside and Boys in Black are embracing the clothes, the gestures and now the violence that forms the fabric of parts of American society.
Unless the educational environment for indigenous students becomes more appropriate this will only get worse. Total integration into mainstream classes still remains a threatening prospect for many indigenous children and alternative models could be explored.
At the core of many of these issues is a paradox. Those people who resent the 'handouts' and special privileges given to the indigenous community and believe that social justice should not be a core part of economic policy now find their own dire economic circumstances have come about from this very ideology. This zealous pursuit of a free market agenda at the expense of all else is pursued fervently by politicians across the political spectrum and has strangled rural Australia almost universally.
The recent exodus from Tennant Creek is a direct result of a dogma where competition is a sacred cow to be protected at all costs and profits are pursued single-mindedly in the name of improved efficiency.
But it is an ideology that is fundamentally flawed and based on false assumptions. Conservative politicians can no longer profess to support 'family values' while maintaining their current obsession with free trade and economic rationalism because the two ideologies are no longer compatible.
Sadly most of these problems seem to be ignored by those groups within the town who could otherwise be catalysts for change. The town boasts a newspaper whose content is bland and predictable. It has missed most opportunities to debate serious issues in any detail and this has greatly diminished its influence.
The Regional Tourist Association promotes the town almost entirely on the basis of its mining heritage. They have shown little interest in promoting indigenous culture or utilising local resources, an approach that is counterproductive for both social and economic reasons.
The Barkly Blueprint, a document that was developed by a narrow cross section of the community, offers little hope for a town that is in such obvious need. Reliance on short-term projects like the railway and refusing to incorporate indigenous issues into the mainstream agenda continues to demonstrate a distinct lack of vision.
Tennant Creek is at the crossroads. It has the potential to become a vibrant and prosperous town, an example of living reconciliation that offers a unique cultural experience to both visitors and locals. But it could also become a symbol of this nation's shame. The choice is yours.

Why the Creek's drying up Richard Di Natale has finished his tour of duty as a doctor at Anyinginyi Congress. He stopped on his way out of town to give us his diagnosis of Tennant's ills. It is one of the most isolated towns in Australia. Around three thousand people live in this flat, dusty and inconceivably remote place. The nearest capital city is Darwin, about 1000km away and the cost of a flight to most other capital cities equates with a trip overseas. To call this town inhospitable is an understatement. With summer temperatures that are more suited to baking cakes than supporting human life and a winter that produces little or no rain one would not expect Tennant Creek to feature prominently in most real estate guides. Yet somehow the people who live here manage to eke out an existence. In fact some of them positively thrive in this atmosphere of red dust, heat haze and spinifex and they remain defiant in a global environment that seems to have no regard for the people of the bush. Originally built on the back of the mining and pastoral industries the fate of Tennant Creek, like so many other towns like it, hangs in the balance. Its population is made up of a large indigenous base, a transient population and a shrinking number of 'locals'. Visitors like myself arrive on short to medium term contracts and work largely within education, health, and other smaller government sectors and we eventually move on within a few years. The term local is used a little more loosely here than in other places and is could be applied to the group of residents who have a stronger connection with the town than just their work. Over recent years many of these long-term residents have been feeling a little uneasy. A quantum shift is occurring within the town that is challenging their very existence. A town that previously existed because of what lay beneath the ground rather than what lay on top of it has been forced to adapt to a sobering reality. Tennant Creek is no longer a mining town. In fact there are no operating mines within the region for the first time in the town's history. The change reflects a global shift away from old economy stocks to the booming hi-tech sector, a change that has inflicted near fatal wounds on the commodities markets. Even though the stockmarket is a volatile beast that can take unexpected turns, the future for mining in Tennant Creek remains grim. An unexpected recovery in the mining sector will probably not impact significantly on the town as mining companies now prefer to fly their contractors into operating mines on a rotational basis. The residents now live in a town that exists because of and not despite its indigenous community. Without it the town's economy would collapse. Julalikari Council is easily the biggest employer in town with a payroll of several hundred employees. Anyinginyi Congress has an annual operating budget of almost four million dollars. Local businesses are now reliant on the income from the indigenous community and without it the town would no longer exist. Hence the dilemma. Suddenly a reality that many people refused to acknowledge is now the source of their very existence. A town that previously relied on the right to mine land is now confronted with land rights. Businesses that once had to deal with reconciling accounts now have to deal with reconciliation. Members of the community have developed their own very different measures for coping with this shift in the town's demographics. There are those who revel in a new culture that is infinitely complex and ancient. There are others who have somehow managed to remain insulated from this confronting sector of their town. And there are those who thrive on the limitless opportunities to exploit and misappropriate. For these people Tennant Creek is still a gold mine. Over the years they have developed clandestine schemes that have contributed to the Territory's reputation for corruption and exploitation. The town's list of dubious enterprises is lengthy. A transport service operates a mobile banking service complete with collection of customer bankcards. A retailer cashes personal cheques under the proviso that a significant proportion of the cash is spent on their high-priced goods. There is also the peculiar situation of a nightclub that actually opens at midday, against the spirit of alcohol restrictions designed to reduce alcohol consumption and minimise associated harm. The indigenous organisations of Tennant Creek are also struggling to deal with this new reality. Circumstances would suggest that this new economic reliance on the indigenous community would allow them to occupy a powerful position within the town's political spectrum. Yet they are still striving to grasp this opportunity. In the recent past these organisations were strong, united and progressive voices in the fight for change. Issues like the fight to implement alcohol restrictions seemed to signify a movement toward real independence and galvanised a groundswell of community support. But many of the strong voices of the past are now silent, muffled by years of frustration and burnt out by life in a town where the odds are stacked against them. They already have much to be proud of but strong leadership and innovation are needed now. The Community Development Employment Program and the burgeoning arts industry could be developed further, progressive initiatives such as recycling could be resurrected and opportunities in areas such as indigenous tourism could be explored. Creative alternatives such as the family income scheme proposed in Cape York by Noel Pearson need to be considered to counter some of the destructive effects of welfare and royalty payments and to demonstrate to the entire community that this is a shared problem with shared responsibilities. Education, or lack of it, remains one of the most obvious and fundamental issues in Tennant Creek. An environment exists where indigenous children are simply not achieving the necessary standards of literacy and numeracy necessary to function in an increasingly complex society. The reasons are multiple and involved but almost certainly reflect a failure in current educational models. This cohort of adolescents is already showing evidence of becoming increasingly marginalised and the signs are worrying. The emergence of American ghetto culture is a new feature in the landscape of Tennant Creek. Gangs with names such as Westside and Boys in Black are embracing the clothes, the gestures and now the violence that forms the fabric of parts of American society. Unless the educational environment for indigenous students becomes more appropriate this will only get worse. Total integration into mainstream classes still remains a threatening prospect for many indigenous children and alternative models could be explored. At the core of many of these issues is a paradox. Those people who resent the 'handouts' and special privileges given to the indigenous community and believe that social justice should not be a core part of economic policy now find their own dire economic circumstances have come about from this very ideology. This zealous pursuit of a free market agenda at the expense of all else is pursued fervently by politicians across the political spectrum and has strangled rural Australia almost universally. The recent exodus from Tennant Creek is a direct result of a dogma where competition is a sacred cow to be protected at all costs and profits are pursued single-mindedly in the name of improved efficiency. But it is an ideology that is fundamentally flawed and based on false assumptions. Conservative politicians can no longer profess to support 'family values' while maintaining their current obsession with free trade and economic rationalism because the two ideologies are no longer compatible. Sadly most of these problems seem to be ignored by those groups within the town who could otherwise be catalysts for change. The town boasts a newspaper whose content is bland and predictable. It has missed most opportunities to debate serious issues in any detail and this has greatly diminished its influence. The Regional Tourist Association promotes the town almost entirely on the basis of its mining heritage. They have shown little interest in promoting indigenous culture or utilising local resources, an approach that is counterproductive for both social and economic reasons. The Barkly Blueprint, a document that was developed by a narrow cross section of the community, offers little hope for a town that is in such obvious need. Reliance on short-term projects like the railway and refusing to incorporate indigenous issues into the mainstream agenda continues to demonstrate a distinct lack of vision. Tennant Creek is at the crossroads. It has the potential to become a vibrant and prosperous town, an example of living reconciliation that offers a unique cultural experience to both visitors and locals. But it could also become a symbol of this nation's shame. The choice is yours.