While the setting sun rotates the sky above Halls Creek Red, Aldo Macale drives along the edge of the city, waving to the young people and families he knows well.
A few children jump in the backseat, giggle and thank the Jaru man while tying.
Aldo Macale with his five children returned to the Eastern Kimberley. ((ABC Kimberley: Giulia Bertoglio))
As the sports and recreation manager of Halls Creek Shire, he offers lifts to the hall in the city, 2,700 km north of Perth, where the young people of the city gathered for a meeting.
The goal, in a community where juvenile crime has been an eternal problem, is to get a feeling of the children themselves of what they need and want from their city.
“I would like to have a large playground and a large store where we can shop,” says 10-year-old Charlotte, one of the five children of Aldo.
With a pen in hand and supported by damper and stew, local children dream of big things for their hometown.
Community Consultations are part of the 10-year strategic plan of the Shire. ((ABC Kimberley: Giulia Bertoglio))
“This is my country”
Marlee, 16, even thinks with the limited facilities available, Halls Creek is “pretty great”.
“Being on your country is good. You have the feeling that you are at home and” this is my country, “she said.
But the city has its problems, with overcrowding, poverty and crime that affects its young people.
There is a lack of means to occupy young people in Halls Creek. ((ABC Kimberley: Giulia Bertoglio))
“Around around … The big children steal cars and such,” says a child under 10 years old when he is asked what there is to do in Halls Creek.
In recent months, the community was angry with a series of car thefts, while a burglary in the language center of the community led the elderly to ask for change.
Some Hallen Kreek children complain about boredom, especially in the dark. ((ABC Kimberley: Giulia Bertoglio))
WA Police data obtained under freedom of information shows that between December 2022 and July last year 172 arrests were made under Operational Shield in the Sub-district Halls Creek.
232 burglaries were registered and 63 theft of motor vehicles for the same period in a city of around 3,600 people.
Overcrowded houses, unemployment and chronic illness are all mentioned as causes for juvenile crime.
Part of the solution
Youth crime is part of daily life for many Halls Creek children, but they do not want it to be normalized.
“They think it’s really cool until someone is injured, but yes, it’s not cool,” says Marlee.
Sixteen -year -old Marlee says that Halls Creek is “pretty great”, despite his problems. ((ABC Kimberley: Giulia Bertoglio))
It is sad and frustrating for the teenager.
But just like many other young people in the city, she wants to be part of the solution.
“They like to steal cars and steal from the stores,” explains Charlotte.
“[So] Maybe you put a fake car machine so that they can feel that they actually drive, but they don’t have to take it. “
A voice and an ear
Shire Chief Executive Sue Leonard says that youth voices are often overlooked in the Kimberley-wide efforts to help children with a risk.
“If you don’t ask them, how do you create the environment with which they can grow and are their best themselves?” She says.
“If you constantly believe that you know the best as an adult and a service provider, you will miss the goal.“
Sue Leonard says that the organization wants to listen to young people and hear their ideas. ((ABC Kimberley: Giulia Bertoglio))
Since he and his family moved back to the Eastern Kimberley five years ago, Aldo has not only listened to, but also supported the children of Halls Creek.
“I think their dreams are great, but there are people in the community who can help them,” he says.
Aldo says that even the young people who are confronted with complex challenges often have simple needs “to illuminate the fire under a tree … tell stories around the campfire.”
Aldo Macale says that drugs, alcohol and crowded houses are the problems of some Halls Creek. ((ABC Kimberley: Giulia Bertoglio))
“They like to come and are just a child … The majority of them don’t get that in their normal life,” he says.
A place and a plan
A new nightplace will open soon, so that local children will be collected somewhere in the dark when the majority of crime and other risky behavior takes place.
It will be modeled on the Fitzroy Crossing Night Place, which has contributed to considerably reducing youth violations since it was opened in the city earlier this year.
Jungarni Jutiya Aboriginal Corporation will lead the program in collaboration with other agencies, with the help of financing the Kimberley Juvenile Justice strategy.
Children who eat stew in the town hall of Halls Creek. ((ABC Kimberley: Giulia Bertoglio))
“From March last year there were 28 [stolen vehicles in Fitzroy Crossing]And March this year it was three – that speaks volumes in itself, “says Chief Executive Lucy Navoka.
Lucy Navoka (right) and Madrina Martin hope that a new nightplace will make a positive change. ((ABC Kimberley: Giulia Bertoglio))
Jungarni Jutyia Worker and mother Madrina Martin grew up in Halls Creek and remembers that she had more available as a teenager.
“They are probably really bored, that’s why the crime percentage is high,” she says.
“We hope it will change a change in crime, and hopefully we have children happy to enjoy the night program.”
Many young people in Halls Creek Dream to become afl players or bull drivers. ((ABC Kimberley: Giulia Bertoglio))
The key is consistency: the nocturnal place is the latter in a series of attempts to change the streets of Halls Creek, after many programs have collapsed or had no impact.
Consistent financing, for both the programs themselves and the surrounding infrastructure, is the key to local leaders.
“We need more housing and jobs that have a future for our young people,” explains Sue Leonard.
Sport appears in the dreams of many local children. Halls Creek has produced a series of Afladers, many of whom regularly return home to run clinics and inspire the local population.
But their immediate future will hold a common step for many children in the city: road to the boarding school.
“I will cholen,” says an 11-year-old.
He is accompanied by his friend, who is planning to go to Sydney or Melbourne to study.
Dilly Butters hopes that the future is rosy for local young people such as her daughter Charlotte. ((ABC Kimberley: Giulia Bertoglio))
Charlotte says she wants to stay in Halls Creek and her mother, Dilly Butters, who had left the city, hopes that more local capacity will mean that her daughter does not have to leave.
“What’s wrong with being successful in your own city?” she asks.
“In Halls Creek there are many organizations in Aboriginal and Aboriginals who have their own companies-we can continue to build that if we continue to raise our children.“
Chloe Mandijarra says she started her own company to change things for herself and her younger brothers and sisters. ((ABC Kimberley: Giulia Bertoglio))
Chloe Mandijarra, 19, has just opened her own company through the Ladies Hub of Job Pathways and hopes it can turn around for her family.
“There was not much to do at home and not much money came in,” she says.
“I wanted to do this because of my little brother and sister; they are the reasons why I started.”
Marlee also hopes to inspire other young people, starting with the children in the local swimming pool where she works after school, and who look up at her.
“I really hope that Halls Creek will get better and the children realize:” Oh, this is our hometown, “she says.
“Absolutely will increase the younger generation.“
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