Fighting For A Brighter Future

In the Northern Territory where the youth incarceration rate is three times the national average, a group of First Nations grandmothers are uniting to prevent the next generation of children from being locked up and let down. Alley Pascoe meets the women on the frontline.

- Alley Pascoe

It’s an icy winter’s night in Mparntwe (the Arrernte name for Alice Springs). The desert cold has a way of seeping into your bones and seizing control. Instead of curling up on the couch with a cup of tea and a blanket, a group of local grandmothers are preparing to brave the weather and patrol the city’s dark streets in high-vis jackets. The Strong Grandmothers of the Central Desert group was formed nine years ago to help vulnerable children in the community. The group includes artists, traditional owners, healers, academics and teachers. Many of them are descendants of the Stolen Generations – and all of them are staunch advocates for the children in their community. In April, the group started their night patrol after noticing the number of kids wandering the streets well past their bedtimes.

“We need to keep our kids safe,” says Arrernte elder Sabella Turner, 63, who has 15 grandchildren and 11 great grandchildren. “I came to the Grand mothers Group after my grandson got caught in the justice system. He was sent to Alice Springs Youth Detention when he was 11 for something he said he didn’t do, while hanging out with a group of older boys. After that, he was in and out of jail for years. There was no support in place for him, or kids like him.”

Every night, there are an estimated 1128 children in the NT who don’t have a safe place to sleep. Issues of overcrowding, domestic violence and substance abuse stem from chronic underfunding of housing and decades after the Intervention in Aboriginal communities, which has displaced people from their Country and broken up families.