The Duke of Conceptual Architecture

I’ve been pretty slack lately with the blog. This is mainly owing to my efforts to catch every possible virus going around town at the moment. And then just as I was starting to recover from going 20 rounds with every known virus in central Australia I ended up breaking the knuckle bone on my right index finger – well, it’s more of a chip rather than an actual break. Either way, it hurts and, seeing how I’m right-handed, I’m unable to hold a pen let alone type this blog entry effectively. This paragraph has taken me 20 minutes…but I’ll persist…

So, yes, I’m working. My position at Waltja could best be characterised as a gopher and IT support. It’s a casual job and I’m working full-time hours at the moment, but that is likely to change as funding for my position runs out. But they were kind enough to put me onto another job vacancy for a aprt-time admin assisstant with a youth arts organisation they’ve done work with. Despite this, Waltja has mentioned that they would like to keep giving me work in the future as it becomes available – some project support stuff. That sounds pretty good although I imagine co-ordinating myself between two part-time jobs is going to be rough.

So, what have I been doing? Breeding viruses, mainly. I think I’ve come down with about four viruses in the last 5 weeks. Yes, I’ve been ill for 5 weeks. One of Sara’s colleagues told me the other day that this is normal for people who come to live in Alice – it’s part of the induction process. Well, that’s quite a slimey and less than attractive welcome mat, if ever I’ve seen one. Anyway, breeding viruses is a job best done lying on one’s back. In between viruses, I’ve been playing basketball which led to my recent injury that I mentioned earlier.

Just before this, however, there was a brief window of (relative) wellness that I took advantage of by going out to Standley Chasm with Sara to walk a short part of the Larapinta Trail (Stage 4) to Larapinta Hill.

This is not far into the Stage 4 trail. I’s quite a steep ascent and it was a little slippery because of all the rain that had recently been dumped in the area.

There are many rock formations, like this one, that amaze. At the moment, these quartzite ranges are just amazing given the contrast between the deep red rock and the lusciously green grasses, shrubs and trees that have benefitted from the recent rains.

This is the view of the West Macs from the top of Larapinta Hill. Roughly, in the centre of the photo, in the patch of trees that dominate, you can see a small white structure below the canopy. That’s the visitor’s centre at Standley Chasm where we started the walk. It’s a great half-day walk to Larapinta Hill, especially on a mild overcast day.

Here’s a close-up of Standley Chasm from the top.

And here’s Standley Chasm from a wider angle.

Obviously I was still harbouring some virus.

This is me expressing my gratitude to Sara for capturing that glamourous moment of me sneezing.

Here’s the trail going down Larapinta Hill back to Standley Chasm. You can see how green everything is.

This was a curious little Wallaby whose path we crossed walking back to the car at Standley Chasm. He was casually munching away at the fruit in that palm tree between watching us watch him. The thing that strikes me about wallabies is how seemingly indifferent they are to passers-by.

It’s a characteristic that is obviously not monopolised by the humble wallaby. Moreover, it could be said that it is a trait common to central Australia. This week’s committal hearing into the death of a 15 year-old Aboriginal girl brought to light some disturbing observations about the Alice Springs community. This girl had been beaten across the head by some other young adults and left on the side of the road. Another bunch of young guys came along and saw the unconscious girl and raped her. These are the emerging and disturbing facts from the case.

What is potentially more disturbing is the seeming indifference of other Alice Springs residents and authorities surrounding what happened to this girl. Firstly, this girl had absconded from Alice Springs hospital. Being a minor the hospital is meant to contact police immediately. However, this did not happen till 24 hours later. Considering her previous medical condition may have contributed to her death it is curious that this oversight by the hospital has not caused more of a stir.

Secondly, it was made clear that this girl laying on the side of the road had been spotted by at least 8 other Alice Springs residents – both Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal. yet no-one called the police. Most had even admitted that she did seem to be in some trouble. All of these witnesses, however, said that given how common it was to see Aboriginal people lying drunk on the side of Alice Springs’ roads that they opted to not call the police. I’m not sure for exactly how long she lay on the side of the road – it was overnight – but it seems as though it’s possible she may not have died from her injuries had she been attended to earlier. Yet most people are absolving themselves of any responsibility citing the frequency of public drunkness as a reason for them not being able to properly identify that this girl was in need of help. Sounds more like an excuse for indifference than a reason for inaction.

Indifference, however, does not plague everyone in Alice Springs.

(Photo courtesy of Alice Springs News)

The civialian patrol organised by a group called Advance Alice, for one, are not willing to let the streets of Alice Springs be run by “gangs of youth” after the sun goes down. Some reports about this group label them as vigilantes, others in a more neutral or positive light as a patrol. It’s a big deal in Alice at the moment – law and order. The basic gist is that no-one in a position to do anything about it is doing enough – law and order is being neglected and violence and public disorder, especially after dark, is running rife in Alice. This, of course, is contrasted to an era, usually identified around 4 to 10 years ago, when black and white got along better. Not to say that the violence is racial – there’s some of that in Alice, but not alot. In fact, most of the violence being discussed here is black on black. The problems that most people identify with regards to violence is that it doesn’t “look good” and that, although probably something like 90% of incidents are black on black, most residents live in fear. This coupled with the costs of vandalism is creating a great deal of resentment from many Alice Springs residents towards the Indigenous mob – especially the young adults.

No-one who has spoken out on these issues has really spoken about the welfare of Aboriginal people. They speak from a position of self-intertest – out of fear that the particular lifestyle and prosperity they enjoy is in jeopardy. At a time when Alice Springs is probably at its most prosperous it’s shocking to see so much self-interest. Perhaps it’s because people fear that they now have so much to lose? What is painfully clear is the very limited extent to which an ethic of care for others is shown to others. For all the talk of “normalising” town camps and “integrating” Indigenous people into the mainstream Alice Springs community, there’s still a long way to go when there’s still so much hostility and misunderstanding from that section of the community that’s supposed to be “normal” and “integrated”.