Town Stories

So at the mess yesterday afternoon the blokes were all telling various town tales about aboriginal violence. I learned that one of my meals on wheels clients, the famous retired spitfire pilot Guy Bell, limps because one night three aboriginals broke into his house while he was there. He tried to defend himself with a tyre iron, but they took it off him and smashed his knees, then bashed his wife, Lorna, who later died in the hospital from her injuries. Guy takes a little esky with four beers to the cemetery each Sunday to "have a drink with Lorna".

Another attack on the elderly was against Vincent, who was beaten by six aboriginal attackers who also killed all his chooks and wrecked his house - for fun. Vincent was only saved because a neighbour, big Dan, charged in and fought them off.

In both these attacks, the average age of the attackers was 8 years old. Yep, you read that right.
Eight year olds.

Their government-sponsored lawyers got them off with a "warning"; there was no punishment, no consequences for them. They still wander loose in town, laughing at the police and their victims. The arresting police officer, who is no longer in town, nearly quit the police force over the failure of any prosecution. The magistrates operate on a rotation basis and don't live in the area; they come from the city, and have little or no experience of what goes on day to day out here. The police are forced to monitor the victims and their relatives to prevent retribution attacks.

It's not restricted to Meeka. This is the common tale of most small outback towns with aboriginal communities. The kids are damaged and out of control from drugs, abuse and fume-sniffing. My end of town is heavily patrolled by the cops and the presence of the dogs is the best deterrent, as well as my big fences; as I've said before, I use common sense & precautions, but I am not going to let fear dominate my lifestyle. Their targets tend to be the elderly, which is just shameful, or places without fencing or dogs. Can you imagine if this was going on in Melbourne, what the public outcry would be? Instead, the city media in WA focuses on the "inequality" and "third world conditions" in aboriginal communities. Trust me: it's of their own making, among hard working people who exercise enormous self-restraint. But how long can people bottle up their anger?