poster invitation media release
stories and interviews from Parliament House sleepout
Stories and interviews of Longgrass people,
recorded at Freedom to Sleep,
Parliament House,
7th and 8th Oct, 2001
LEE POINT CAMP
Jeremiah: We're staying at lee point because that’s the only best place we got and we love camping down there for the rest of our life. We get moved out every time from the city council, night patrol coppers, they tell us to move away. Nearly every day the conservation mob comes around, one bloke said - if you leave your camp we'll burn your tent and all your stuff n that's a waste of money.
Q: what's the reason for doing that to you mob? I don't know, we don't like hassles any more. They the conservation commission, they have to look after the park, not kick people out. Their kicking us out, we was moving from free beach all the way to Lee Point, since two months back now.
Q: Are they giving you pressure to move? Yes, they always do that.
Q: You mob getting fines?
Jedda: Yes, Tiwi at the back, we had a hard time all the time, give us fine, we have a hard feelings from them.
Q: What where they fining you for?
Jeremiah: For camping along the beach.
Q: what do you do with the fine when you get it?
Jedda: We chuck it in the bin or put it in the fire.
Jeremiah: It's no use giving us the fine, why are they giving us the fine?
Mirriam: We making fire cooking breakfast, dinner or supper.
Jeremiah: He put that money in his pocket, they trying to make themselves rich.
Mirriam: Humbug us all the time, soon as we get the pay, we drink, making all the mess, then start picking us up. This time they are giving us garbage bag to pick up all the rubbish, before they where giving us the fine. Also telling us to move out, to make a camp in other places.
Jeremiah: Yes, when we got no money in our pocket, they should leave us alone. If we have money in our pocket, they can get us so we can get a cab back home.
OLLIE
Ollie: Yeah, I camp down the beach.
Q: Are you having trouble? Yeah, with the city council, they just tell us to move on. We been treated like animals, camp to camp, that's wrong for us. When they all tell us to move only when we're sleeping down the beach or the park.
Q: Have you been able to find a good camp where they can't find you? The only good camp is down the beach, coz you can just make a fire, you can relax, at least your 2km away from town, you know, bottle-o. We been treated bad, we all should be treated equal. No, they pick us up every time. It's our longgrass, it's our turn to stick up for the longgrass people. We should all be equal and plus they should leave us alone. (city council)
Q: What time do they come around? They do there round on the weekdays, early in the morning, yeah.
Q: Are they waking you up? No, we're to smart for them; we get up before they come, pack our gear because every fine we get is $50 fine for every people.
Q: What do you think about the fine? Rip off! We only get government money and what we got to do with the government money? We got to spend it for the police or night patrol, especially if we have warrant or something like that and we haven’t got money to pay them.
Q: So that fine, it turns into a warrant? Yeah.
Q: So they’re sending people to prison for…? For nothing, just for camping, there's no big deal about camping, we've got every right to camp in the longgrass, this our home, starlight motel. Well, I'm glad to be a longgrasser because I been born in the bush. Grew up in the bush. I piss and shit in the bush because I been grew up in the bush, so longgrass is my home. Nobody going to take that away from me. I was born in Katherine, Darwin is my home.
Q: How long you been here? To long. In the longgrass nobody humbug you, the only trouble we get is the police and the security guard (city council). They hassle us every day of the week; non-stop, well not me but other people round us. But I never been hassled with the coppers coz sometime they been good with me, sometime I been good to them and if I do the wrong thing, well tough luck. Only when we drunk we get locked up, watch house yeah.
Well I been walking all my life, I never stop walking so I walk until I drop.
Q: How many people do you reckon are living in the longgrass? To many, this only a little bit, there's big mob around Mindle beach, Nightcliff, some camping at the airport, that's Port Keats mob - big mob and Palmerston.
You only got Vinnies to go for lunch - that’s for lunch. For food you got to have to come to Darwin and go to St Vinnies for food.
RITA and JIMMY
Rita: I’m camping at Rocklands Drive (Tiwi) in the bushes. I don't know what time I will get house for myself. I am waiting for that house (Territory Housing)
Q: Are you having any trouble in the new camp? No.
Q: So there not giving you the fine now? Yeah
Q: So you got a lot of fines before? Yeah, lot a fine.
Q: Are you worried about the fine? Two months time I'll be in the jail more.
Q: You'll be in the jail? Mmmm, court.
Q: For the fine? Yeah and my old man, Jimmy and myself.
Q: What do you think about the fine? It's right, I'm not worried, you know, in the jail or out, last court.
Q: So you got no home at the moment? Maybe November (2002), yeah, November I think.
Q: How come you’re camping in Darwin? Because I have my boy here, Jimmy. He's in the dialysis, that's why I come here and staying here, waiting for him.
Q: So you'll be camping in Darwin for a long time? Yeah, long time.
Q: What would you like to say to that city council person that’s giving you the fine? I’m always get that fine for myself and burn it to the fire; otherwise I tear it, that paper fine. They don’t think about that I am an old lady now.
Q: And you got your whole family camping with you? Yeah, my sister and my brother in law, children. Boys they with me.
Q: Are you looking after them Rita? Mmmm, yes, my grandson Steven, that boy is from my sister.
Three Lady’s – Didn’t want to say where their camp is.
Q: You mob getting any humbug?
M: Night patrol, they humbugging us. We might be somewhere sitting down, little bit quiet and peaceful drink, but some night patrols they just pick them and take them strait to spin-dry. They used to go bottle shop, get that one or two moselle for drinking where secret places. Because all the night patrol they know all the drinking places, but they know right through all the areas, they like police. Sometime hey usually take moselle to spin dry.
Q: What sort of things are they doing to people? All the black people they can get their own money from bank. They can go bottle shop and get their own moselle, sometimes they get upset or sorry because family we got a lot of feeling for ourselves. When we loose our brothers or sisters, like that, sometimes we drink really hiding place, our feelings – someone’s worry.
I’m from longgrass. I’ve been living in the longgrass all my life. I’m from Alice Springs way but I been living here for a long time in the longgrass. When we buy our nunagi, our grog, police come up and bust them up when they’re not allowed to.
DAISY: They keep on moving us around.
Q: DO THEY GIVE YOU FINE?
DAISY: Yeah, they fine us.
EVON: Year ago a warrant for $50 from city council for sleeping in a public area.
Q: DID YOU GO TO PRISON?
EVON: No, maybe later when I’m in trouble.
DAISY: Every time when we find a new camp they snoop around and find us and they keep on asking us to move. When it’s raining, sometimes we get our blankets and clothes all wet and we sleep sometimes in the barbecue area or sometimes in the toilet.
EVON: Night patrol, city council got no mercy for all the longgrass people.
DAISY: And they ask us to stand on one leg like a brolga.
EVON: One leg like a brolga, they tell us to stand up and then they count slowly right up to ten. One, two. That’s right, Mick?
Q:WHO?
EVON: Night patrol.
DAISY: And if you don’t stand, they just pull you up and push it in the van - real rough. Sometimes they pick up all the girls and they take them halfway and dump them.
Q: TAKING THEM WHERE?
DAISY: Halfway to spin-dry, dump them. Start walking back home from Nightcliff way and walk back. Even though we got no money in our pocket.
Q: OTHER PEOPLE GETTING THE FINE?
DAISY: Yeah, people getting the fine from city councils - $50 for a person for sleeping in public.
MICK: From $50 it goes to $120 after court costs.
Q: HAVE YOU BEEN TO COURT FOR THAT?
MICK: No, I’ve been to jail. I don’t go to court, just go to jail.
Q: WHAT DO LONGGRASS MOB THINK ABOUT THE FINE?
MICK: They just laugh at them. They refuse to pay; they’d rather go to jail.
DAISY: They give us pink slip and court, and if you doesn’t go to court
- Berrimah jail.
MICK: They just track you down and give you all the court fines and court costs.
Q: WHAT HAVE WE GOT TO ASK FOR TODAY, THEN?
MICK: We got to ask them to not move us from camp to camp, just leave us and make sure they give us plastic bags for cleaning up; for cleaning the rubbish.
Q: ARE YOU GETTING FINES FOR THE RUBBISH?
MICK: Yes, too.
EVON: And when they find people sleeping; they’re still asleep, they come and wake them up. City council they wake them up.
Q: WHAT TIME IN THE MORNING?
EVON: They come around, maybe 6 AM in the morning.
Q: AND WHAT DO YOU MOB DO?
EVON: We’ve done that, we’ve been through that.
DAISY: From 6 o’clock [morning] right up to 6 o’clock afternoon, then night patrol comes. And then cops comes.
Q: SO YOU GOT NO CHANCE TO SET UP A GOOD CAMP?
DAISY: No.
Q: WOULD YOU MOB SET UP A GOOD CAMP IF YOU COULD STAY SOMEWHERE?
DAISY: Yeah that’s why I’m camping at Coolmarlie Creek at Marrara.
MICK: They’ll go looking for you. They know you all by name; every camp you go to, they know which camp. If you’re not at this camp, they’ll go to other camps looking for you.
Q: WHAT DO YOU WANT TO ASK THE GOVERNMENT TODAY?
DAISY: Can’t they just leave us alone, because we know; we’ll clean up the mess, it’s not their mess, it’s our mess. Just give us a break for awhile and they might see that we are looking after the area that we are staying, camping.
Q: ONE THING CITY COUNCIL ARE SAYING IS IF WE KEEP HARRASSING THAT LONGGRASS MOB, THEY’RE GOING TO GO BACK TO THEIR OWN COMMUNITIES – WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT THAT?
DAISY: This is a free country anyway; they can’t do that. We are not going to tell them to go back to their own home.
EVON: This is our land, Australia.
Q: THEY RECKON THEY CAN MAKE LONGGRASS PEOPLE DISAPPEAR BY GIVING THEM THE REALLY HARD TIME. WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT THAT?
DAISY: This is our place.
EVON: Could try; we’ll still hang around here, longgrass.
DAISY: They’re not going to tell us to go back. We want to stay here; we want to stay here.
Q: HOW MANY PEOPLE DO YOU RECKON ARE LIVING IN THE LONGGRASS?
EVON: Ooh, can’t count; there’s too many. Big mob from all over.
Q: HOW MANY CAMPS, YOU RECKON?
DAISY: So many.
EVON: Palmerston to city area. Casuarina, everywhere, Leanyer, Nightcliff, Lims, Seabreeze.
Q: SO EVERYWHERE THERE IS LONGGRASS PEOPLE?
EVON: Everywhere; Spot on marine, East Point.
Q: WHAT ABOUT IN THE WET SEASON; WHAT DO YOU MOB DO?
EVON: We look for the shelter. When we try and go in the shelter, like this kind [Parliament House], security comes up and tells us to go.
Q: SO YOU GET HUMBUG FROM SECURITY, TOO?
EVON: They can’t let us sleep. They got no mercy. When it’s raining, they should let us stay for a night until we can find another place to stay.
Q: WHAT DO YOU THINK CITY COUNCIL SHOULD BE DOING FOR YOU, INSTEAD OF GIVING YOU THE FINE - MAYBE THEY COULD HELP YOU?
EVON: [shaking head] They against us.
DAISY: They don’t talk nice way to us.
Q: HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT HOW THEY’RE TREATING YOU?
DAISY: We don’t feel good about that. By forcing us. We don’t force them to keep on moving.
Q: ANOTHER THING THEY SAY IS EVERYBODY SHOULD LIVE IN THE HOUSE – THEY SHOULD GET THE HOUSING COMMISSION.
MICK: And you got to wait six years to get one, and if you’re single, you can’t get a house. You got to go single man’s flat out there – I mean, I’d rather live in the longgrass than some of those flats.
Q: SO THERE’S A LONG WAITING LIST FOR TERRITORY HOUSING?
MICK: I’ve been waiting three-and-a-half years. That’s emergency housing in the NT, three-and-a-half years, single men.
Q: WELL, THAT’S PRETTY UNFAIR, HEY. SO IF YOU CAN’T GET IN TERRITORY HOUSING, YOU’VE GOT TO LIVE IN THE LONGGRASS AND THEN THEY PUT YOU IN PRISON FOR NO HOUSE. IT’S PRETTY ROUGH FOR THE GOVERNMENT TO TREAT PEOPLE LIKE THAT.
MICK: I’m sure they’ve got people in the bottleshops, giving people up, when they turn up to buy grog.
DAISY: My brother, all my brothers, my dad, my aunty, we still waiting for a house from housing commission - already been form, fill in the form for the house; nothing’s happening.
Q: SO ALL YOUR FAMILY, THEY’RE LIVING IN THE LONGGRASS?
DAISY: Yes.
Q: ARE YOU CAMPING TOGETHER?
DAISY: Yes.
Q: AND HOW MANY IN YOUR FAMILY CAMPING TOGETHER?
DAISY: About thirteen or fourteen, carrying our gear from camp to camp.
When we’ve got no money we run, carrying our stuff.
Q: ARE THEY TAKING YOUR GEAR?
DAISY: If we not at the camp when they come around to our camp, they take all our gear and burn them.
Q: DID THAT HAPPEN TO YOU BEFORE?
DAISY: Yes, I had four bags, four bags; they took my bags.
EVON: Just like we a dog. We are human beings.
Q: AND WHAT DID THEY SAY TO YOU?
DAISY: Nothing.
Q: SO YOU WENT BACK TO YOUR CAMP - WHAT HAPPENED?
DAISY: There was not even one bag left for us.
Q: HOW DID YOU KNOW IT WAS THE CITY COUNCIL?
DAISY: We know it City Council and [Parks and Wildlife] conservation workers. This was at Mindil Beach and then at Darwin Museum, where the big trees on the beach. And from there to Alexander Lake, from there, Spot On Marine, from Spot On Marine to Seabreeze. From Seabreeze to Lims, from Lims to Dripstone to Casuarina Beach. From there some people staying Casuarina carpark, from there all the way to Coolmarlie Creek and Water garden.
EVON: And they still go around there.
Q: SO THAT’S ALL THE CAMPS YOU’VE BEEN PUSHED TO? IF YOU HAD A CHANCE TO SAY SOMETHING TO THE CITY COUNCIL, WHAT WOULD YOU SAY?
EVON: We try our best.
DAISY: When say something to them, they always say, “might as well go back home.”
Q: WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT THAT?
DAISY: I won’t tell people; your life is yours, our life is ours, how we feel. You stay in a decent place, don’t come and humbug us.
EVON: You’ve got a roof over your head. Leave us alone.
DAISY: They won’t listen to us.
EVON: They won’t listen; they just keep on going over and over everyday.
Q: AND THIS IS HAPPENING TO A WHOLE LOT OF OTHER PEOPLE TOO?
DAISY: Yeahhh. All the people who are camping in the longgrass.
MICK: People drive around at night and throw things at ya. People that are related to Darwin City Council and the coppers turn up in their private cars with their group of friends and try to screw our lives up. They throw things at us, spit at us and shit like that.
Q: HOW OFTEN DOES THAT HAPPEN?
MICK: Quite a few times.
DAISY: Couple of times when we were staying at Mindil Beach they threw bottles and water, chucking water to us when we were sleeping, rocks.
Q: AND THAT WAS FROM THE MOVING CAR?
DAISY: Yes, private car.
My name is Roger Taylor from WA.
I’m talking about the night patrol here in Darwin.
Everytime our people here, this longgrass people, all that mob they lock us up, and they get you to stand on one leg.
I'll tell you straight, I’m not telling you no liar, and the policeman they get jealous all the time, and the night patrol, when we play guitar all the time in the mall.
All the time they tell people, all the black people, you stand up with one leg, if nothing you go to the watchhouse. And I tell you now, straight out, no liar.
Thank you.
My name is Miriam Ashley. I'm from Lake Evella and we live at Lee Point.
We need to stay there. They keep on moving us from Daisy Y at the back way at Tiwi, all the way from there, right up to Lee Point. That’s why we stay at Lee Point. We need to stay there. It’s a quiet place for us.
We live in dust, we come from dust. We live in longgrass. We’re Aboriginal people, we’re Yulgnu people, and all you people here you don’t encourage us to give us the shelter to stay.
We are here to fight for ourselves, to live here, because this place is a Aboriginal people places. Especially I have to say , for myself, why rangers and the night patrol keep picking all the old people. We got some of the people here, sick people, and they don’t respect them, and we got too many worrying about them, worrying us. Also, why they picking our stuff and take it away from us, and keep telling us to move away from there, and burning everythings out for us.
Thank you to say that to you mob.
My name is Tammy from Maningrida.
I'm not staying in Maningrida but I'm in Darwin now. We’re staying at Lee Point and the rangers come and tell us to out from that place and tell us to get off and packing us bag and all the gear to out from there and we want to stop there.
You know we have to fishing , cos we like that place very much. Fishing is very important, and huting, that’s our culture.
We like to sleep and stop there and all the rangers are keeping us awake and keep telling us off from that place, and we always listen to those people they keep on telling us off, especially those city council.
Thank you very much.
They said, the cops n that, they empty their drinks, they empty their pockets. Everything else they got, which is nothing, just sittin down looking around for 24 hours, behind their backs and they got nothing.
Half of us we have our babies around too.
You know, just try to give a little bit of freedom to us. That’s all we ask. Not for yous to empty their pockets, or ours. Freedom is what we need. We’re two kilometer laws away from the pub, and then they come and chase us up and further down the road.
Gillie. We been a longgrasser long time.
We been treated like a fuckin, like a mongrel dog, hey. And we a human being like everybody else, and we should be treated like one. Not against one another you know. I been living in the longgrass for too long. I don’t like the way they been treating our families, you know. It’s just because the night patrol and the coppers come around with motorbikes, come and chase us down the beach or in the longgrass. You know they should leave us where we are.
They just come when we drinking or when we buy moselle. Sit down in the BBQ area , it’s all right they woin’t touch us. But when we sitting in the public area they come hassle us, tell us to tip out our beer, or sometime they take out the pocket knife and just stab em [the moselle]. It’s not fair for all of us.
Q. Why are the people hiding in the longgrass?
Cos the coppers and the night patrol. Cos they keep hassling us everytime and they still going to find us, doesn’t matter where we are, they still going to find us. So I'm happy as I am. I love being in the longgrass. It’s my home. This is my starlight motel, first class and no water bill to pay, and I love my home just the way it is, cos I born in the bush. This my home – longgrass.
Q. How many people staying in the longgrass?
Oh, there’s plenty more to come. There’s big mob there. There’s only few of us here, but there’s some of them round Nightcliff, some of them round Parap. There’s more of us and we proud to have our home in the longgrass.
Bob Bunba.
Q. How has your camp been lately? You all right?
Yeah. I'm staying at Leanyer, Leanyer Lake.
Q. Any city council going there?
No, just only police. They come and check it out, where we living.
Q. What was happening before that camp?
We were camping at top Palmerston area. All the boys, you know, they made trouble, that’s why I moved out from there, get a minibus, get all the gear, and I came and stopped at Leanyer Lake, me and my wife. I might shift it out another place now.
Q. So you’ve been living in Darwin a long time?
All different camp we used to stay but I moved out. Like other people they come you know. Family they help me, all my family.
Q. How many?
Nine I think.
Q. What about other longgrass mob? – are they camping with family?
Yeh, some people like old man Balaiya, him got his own family, even me too, like we look after one another, you know, all same language we talk.
City council he just come and see us, tell us move out other place, you can’t stay here, no. That’s what they saying.
Q. And you’ve had fines?
Yes.
Q. And you think that’s fair, or right?
Yeah, probably right. We can’t pay.
Q. What about your law?
Right where we’re staying in the longgrass you know, we can’t pay like that. No. We can’t pay fine. No.
Q.What do you think about Balanda law?
Oh, that Balanda law, he got different law. Long as we stay in the longgrass, we can’t pay.
Q. If you want to give a message to Darwin City Council, what would you say?
Oh, they sign and they give me paper to pay fifty dollar in the longgrass, but I can’t. That’s my money.
Q. Are city council helping you in any way?
No. they don’t help me. Humbug all the time.
Q. How long have you been living in the longgrass?
Oh, probably 12 years, more than 12 years. I used to stay Buffalo Creek and Lee Point. I don’t feel good moving around, that’s what we don’t like. We can stay one place but all the city council come and they tell us to get going. That’s wrong. Hey, that not right.