Gawa, Elcho Island
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Gawa is a place on Elcho Island in the Arnhem Land of Northern Territory, Australia.
Elcho Island is situated about 90 kilometres west-north-west of the Gove Peninsula in the Arafura Sea. Approximately 60 km long and 6 km wide, it is home for some 2,500 Indigenous Australians whose homelands are scattered on Elcho, several neighbouring islands and surrounding mainland regions. Elcho Island is one of the most remote communities in Australia.
The "GAWA PROJECT" is one of Australias first 'return to the homelands' initiatives. This is an exciting new concept in transferring skills to indigenous homeland communities that will provide genuine empowerment and a sustainable vibrant community. This philosophy is a unique approach to development – we don't start with technology, but with the people. The tools available may be simple or sophisticated – but to provide long-term, appropriate and practical answers, they must be firmly in the hands of local people. People who shape the use of 'appropriate technology' and control it for themselves.
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[edit] Early history
Historically, Gäwa, on the northern tip of Elcho Island, was a meeting place for Indigenous groups long before white people came to these shores. The seafaring Macassans from Indonesia visited Elcho Island to collect trepang, a sea animal that is to be found lying on the sea bed, a Chinese delicacy. The Macassans visited for a period of over 400 years prior to 1901 when the Australian Government stopped the practice. During that time, some Gäwa and Elcho people travelled back to Macassar. Since then some have made periodic visits back and forth. Many Macassan words, artefacts and cultural practices were adopted into the local languages and lifestyle. Macassan artefacts have been bartered via Indigenous trading routes as far as the southern and western coasts of Australia.
[edit] European settlement
The first Europeans only moved to Elcho Island during the Second World War. These people were missionaries who came to live side by side with, and learn from their Indigenous co-workers. Most of these were committed to learning local languages, and training those workers with skills to equip them to live within the changing world.
Initially, a mission base was established at Milingimbi, 60k to the west, but during the war, this became a USA Army base and thus a bomb target. Rev Harold Shepherdson, (Sheppy) and his wife Ella, moved their settlement from Milingimbi to Elcho Island, a place of less mosquitoes and better water supplies. They removed the sawmill, piece by piece on a lugger. As Sheppy was not committed to bringing people from their homelands to Elcho Island, (today’s current practice), he therefore needed an aeroplane and radio to meet with people on their own land. With very limited training, he built then flew a plane servicing people on their homelands. Ella had some rudimentary nursing knowledge and set up a dispensary and one on one schooling. Her students are the ancestors of today’s community leaders. This couple retired after serving 50 years in Arnhem land. Sheppy humbly said on his retirement, that if he’d lived there 200 years, he still wouldn’t fully understand. Today, some ‘consultants’ fly in and fly out in one day and think they understand the complex issues faced by Indigenous Australians.
Government policies of the 1970s encouraged missionaries to leave, and hand over their work to local people. Government policies tend to have a 4 year currency, after which there is always a better policy. With 2 year tenures, airfares home, and generous entitlements, (compared to mission rates), new government workers who did not have the long term commitment for Indigenous people, stepped into the gap, exposing Yolnu to further disadvantage and confusion caused by the rapid and unrelenting change.
Various enterprises were set up on communities everywhere; grazing, fishing, gardens, sewing, baking; some employing and training Indigenous people, others acting as supply bases. Before the equal pay policy of the 70s, Indigenous people could work as stockmen and domestic workers and often retained their dignity and connection to the land, even when they were used as cheap labour. However, the Welfare age that began at this time, left Indigenous people who had been working, no longer able to work. The introduction of welfare created a long term disincentive to work, learn, care for self and country and has made a serious impact on Indigenous Australians today. Welfare dependency leads to unemployability, lack of motivation, depression, illness, domestic violence and early mortality. At Elcho the average male life expectancy is 36 years of age. Leaders in communities such as Gäwa, are seeking to change this situation by regaining control of their own and their children’s lives.
The current situation has largely become one of relying on handouts and support from government. Nevertheless the island has an arts centre and could be a way to receive some external income support outside welfare.
[edit] References
- Excellent Reference for the content of this article is, "Why Warriors lie down and die" by Richard Trudgen Aboriginal Resource and Development Services Darwin, Australia.
