Fearful group defies government order to return home
The Age
Tuesday March 29, 2011
A GROUP of 102 Aborigines yesterday refused an order by Northern Territory authorities to return to their homes at Yuendumu, 300 kilometres north-west of Alice Springs, saying they fear for their safety there."We will go back when it is ready and safe for our women and children," Robin Granites, one of the group's leaders, told The Age yesterday."We don't want white people forcing us . . . this problem could have been resolved seven months ago if we had been allowed to sort it out in the cultural way with traditional payback," he said.The group that includes 35 children and two newborn babies was forced to move from Yuendumu last September after inter-clan violence erupted in the community after the death of a man in an Alice Springs town camp.The NT government and police refused to allow elders in the community to organise traditional punishment, which could have involved the spearing of a leg. Many of the group spent most of yesterday in bushland near Alice Springs after being told they could no longer stay in a government temporary visitor centre.Government officials last night arranged temporary accommodation for the group.An official said the group had promised last night they would return to Yuendumu today.
© 2011 The Age
