I acknowledge the Larrakia people of the Garramilla/Darwin region who are the traditional owners of the land I am writing about in this post. I acknowledge all elders of the past, present and future.
On Friday I began the day with a visit to the historical Fannie Bay Gaol. The gaol operated as Her Majesty’s Gaol and Labour Prison for almost 100 years, and was Darwin’s main prison from 20 September 1883 until 1 September 1979.
​Male and female prisoners were held in separate buildings from 1928. The female prison block included a small garden designed to keep the prisoners busy. An infirmary was added in 1887, which contained gallows used up until the last executions held in the Northern Territory in 1952. A watch tower, “native section” for Aboriginal prisoners, kitchen mess building, remand section and two maximum security wings were added during the 1950s.
In the afternoon I caught the bus back down the road to the Museum and Gallery of the Northern Territory (MGNT) for the only writing workshop I had booked into during the festival. I returned to the lawn in the late afternoon to hear Hannah Kent discuss her book ‘Devotion’ with Sarah L’Estrange, producer of The Book Show on ABC Radio.
I squeezed in some writing time between Hannah’s author talk and the evening’s main event, a panel discussion and performance with surviving members of indigenous rock music group Yothu Yindi. The band members- founding Yothu Yindi band member Witiyana Marika, dancer Mangatjay Yunupingu, and band manager, Alan James, joined journalist and author of Yothu Yindi’s authorised biography, Matt Garrick, for an inspiring discussion about the band beginnings and ongoing influence.
This discussion was followed by a musical performance featuring Witiyana Marika, Mangatjay Yunupingu, esteemed Yidaki player MalÅ‹ay Yunupingu and Francis Diatschenko on guitar. I was so touched by the simple joy of Witiyana Marika and Mangatjay Yunupingu as they regaled the audience with their stories, and deeply moved as they shared their sorrows. Their chant of ‘Treaty Ma’, echoed their decades-old call for the promise from the Hawke government for a treaty by the year 1990, something that never materialised. With a smile on his face, Witiyana Marika gently repeated the words, calling them into the future. It was like nothing I had ever experienced before. In the balmy Darwin night, I had goosebumps on my skin.
Out of respect, I have not shared photos from this event. Instead, here is the music video for Yothu Yindi’s ‘Treaty’. The song was a worldwide hit and the first song by a mainly Aboriginal band to peak on the ARIA singles chart.
I then dashed back into the city centre on a bus for ‘Other Worlds’ speculative fiction reading night. The World War II Storage Tunnels provided an otherworldly atmosphere for the event, and the line-up of writers took us on a journey into imagined futures and alternative universes.
I emerged from the tunnels and walked quickly up past Bennett Park to Darwin Bus Interchange. I had planned to catch a bus back to Stuart Park at 10.30, but it never came, so I waited another ten minutes for the next one, using the time to write. An indigenous family sat at the bench seats down the way, laughing and shouting in language. I should have felt scared, but I didn’t. They were minding their own business, and I was minding mine.
In Darwin and nearby Palmerston, the Larrakia Nation Night Patrol service runs vehicles seven nights a week looking after Aboriginal people. They provide early intervention to remove people from danger and keep them safe, and resolve disputes using culture and mediation.
The patrol vehicle circled the city streets, and whenever it seemed that a situation was getting out of hand, they would intervene. At the start of any disturbance, security guards seemed to come out of the woodwork. Even at 11pm at night, I felt very safe in the Darwin CBD.
I boarded the bus but soon discovered I’d boarded the wrong one- this service was travelling to the northern suburb of Casuarina via Gardens Road, not Palmerston via the Stuart Highway. I ended up calling an Uber to get me the short distance home. I was not happy. Finally I arrived back at my Airbnb, showered and dove into bed, but after all the excitement and misdirection of the night, I wouldn’t get to sleep until 4am.
Kate Kelsen 