DAY 1: Monday 2nd of April
Lockie and I boarded a plane which begun our journey towards
the Dampier Peninsula.
We arrived to Broome at Midday and went to Mick
Alberts place to pick up the 4 wheel drive which is an ideal vehicle to bear
the unpredictable and ever-changing terrain of Cape Leveque road. Mick lives
with his wife Ray and two sons, Brody and Aidan in Broome. He has been integral
into the development of the ICEA program as Lockie met him on the Garnduwa
Leadership camp in 2006 and since then he has assisted Lockie with all of his endeavours.
We went to Toll Mermaid freight and packed the Car
full of the incentives gear which was waiting for us at the Shell Warehouse.
Will Clapin had kindly organised for all the gear to be sent a few days in
advance and luckily our swag had arrived as well. There is an esky at the
warehouse that has a few of the essentials for the trip (wok, cutlery, bowls,
plates, aerogaurd) which we managed to squeeze in the car as well.
We headed into town to grab some rewards to give to
the younger kids who prefer toys. We did a shop at the supermarket to stock up
on food for the next couple of days.
At this stage of the day, it was too late for us to
head up the Dampier Peninsula so we found accommodation close to Cable Beach
and watched the Sunset before getting an early night to rest up before the big
day ahead!
DAY 2
The next morning we rose early and drove up to the
turn off onto Cape Leveque rd. Lockie and I were both stoked that the road was
open and we were ready to begin our journey to the remote communities. The red
dirt road is treturous at the best of times and I had a go at driving
but Lockie took the wheel for the majority of the way because it takes
experience and can be fairly dangerous. We discussed the benefits of a 4
wheeldrive competency course for all mentors who come up the Kimberly. We also
spoke about what we were looking forward to on our adventure ahead. I just
wanted to immerse myself in the culture and learn from the people, particularly
the females.
We arrived at Beagle Bay, Sacred hearts school and spent some time with Mr Ben, The Principle. We were introduced to Tony Tracey, a catholic man running in the upcoming election to represent the Kimberly as a State MP. At that stage it was time for Easter Mass at 9am tcelebrate holy week with the kids. After mass, was recess and Lockie and I got all the prizes ready then played with the kids before the assembly. It was then time to congratulate the students who had received over 85% attendance over the course of the school Term and then help with the Easter raffle. Each prize winner got a choice from a range of balls and toys and were all very eager toplay with their prizes.
 |
| Easter Mass |
 |
| Lockie and Mr Ben |
 |
| Beagle Bay Sacred Hearts School |
We then raced further up the Kimberly Penisula to
Djarjardin Lombidina Catholic School which is about an hours drive from Beagle
Bay. We said hi to the new school Principle Steve who had the school running
really well and we were impressed with the responsiveness of the kids towards
him. We gave out the prizes and noted that basketballs seemed to be the most
popular item so in future we need to bring up more.
 |
| Lockie and Steve |
 |
| Djarjardin Lombidina Catholic School |
After assembly we spoke to a group of boys on a school
camp from Melbourne who were running the after school centre for a week. Lockie
gave a very inspirational talk to them about how he first began ICEA through
coming to the communities and having an awesome experience like them and
wanting to give something back and how he has facilitated his program and
enhanced the lives of kids up in the Kimberly since.
We drove back to Beagle Bay to meet Tracey Birch, a
Aboriginal Teacher’s Assistant at her house with her son’s Vaughn and Dale and
Dales daughter Isobella. We followed them out to norman creek community
loongabid where we hoped to find some mudcrabs. Lockie went hunting with the
boys and caught 5 of the 7 with a metal crab hook which lured the mud crabs out
from under the rocks living up to his bush name Binjalli. I spent time with
Tracey and Isobella collecting seashells and learning what the females did
while the males where out hunting.
While Lockie collected firewood, I climbed up a water
tower and could see across the whole bay- it was a beautiful sight. We watched
the sunset and knew it was time to get back to cook up our catch. Other
community members were happy with our success and we were welcomed with warm
arms. We cleaned the mud crabs and separated the claws and bodys as they cook
at different rates on the hot coals. I had never tasted mudcrab before and
I can safely say that it is my new favourite. This is the traditional and best
way of cooking mudcrabs. Everyone was happy that we shared it all and we then
lay down full of mud crabs and gazed up at the stars with Isobella and Milly.
 |
| Traditional Cooking Method |
 |
| The Catch |
It was time for bed after a big day, Lockie and I were lucky enough to stay in the spare Teachers accommodation in Beagle Bay that Ben had provided us with.
Day 3
We said goodbye to lots of the kids at the Beagle Bay
breakfast club which is a daily initiative by Foodways where the kids come to
each breakfast every morning between 630 and 830am. Lock and I were happy
to see the kids playing with their prizes before school and they all
chanted "Lockie” as we left because Lockie showed them all his big biceps
We drove up to One Arm Point and went to the community
centre to meet Roweena, The One Arm Point community chair person and CEO for a
meeting. We spent an hour discussing the Football oval opening and future
cultural camps. Roweena was very supportive and contributed lots of insight and
ideas. We then met the School Princple Carol Thorsby at One Arm Point school
who was also very supportive who suggested integrating the ICEA cultural
camp with One Arm Point's cultural camp which is on June 20-21 and will be held
at Sunday Island. She said that one of the big issues when the kids move
away from the community is that they struggle to integrate themselves into the
white fella world and have difficulty with time management and she proposed the
idea that ICEA mentors could give a presentation on what it is like to live in
Perth. This is beneficial for both the kids in the community and the kids from
Perth because it is cross-cultural learning.
It was then time for school assembly and to hand out
the last lot of prizes. They also gave the Principles Honour Awards and
Bessie Ejai, Bardi Elder shook the kids hands and whispered words of wisdom
into their ears.
|
| One Arm Point School |
We then picked up Kevin and Donna Ejai and went to
Cygnet Bay Pearl farm for a late lunch. Keving told stories of how he grew up
on the farm with the owner James Brown. That afternoon we were pretty
buggered so we went to Kooljamin camping ground for the night andwatched the
sunset over the red dirt.
 |
| Kevin and Donna Ejai |
We woke up early to meet the Ejai family to at the
boat ramp near the turtle hatchery where we saw barramundi, a big mangrove jack
and lots of turtles. We launched the boat and went around the islands. Bessie
told us stories of each of the islands. She has such a strong connection to her
country and it was a really special experience being out there with her and
listening to her sharing her stories.
 |
| Bessie Ejai, Bardi Elder |
Lockie, Jesse Bradshaw (Roweena’s son), went for a
dive and saw an abundance of coral trout, white lip, and blue bone groper.
Every time a fish was shot, it had to be lifted out of the water immediately to
prevent the surrounding reef sharks from getting into a feeding frenzy.
Keima and Bessie stayed on the boat fishing and caught a couple of fish by line. It
was a very successful fishing trip with smiles all round.
That afternoon we went to Round Rock with Donna and Sunjay In the evening we were invited around to Bessies house to cook up the fish for dinner. Lockie and Keima did a great job at scaling the fish before we covered them in spices and wrapped them in a-fpil and put them on the fire. Once cooked the fish was juicy and delicious and shared by the extended family. We spent the night talking to everyone around the fire and reading books about the bardi culture.
 |
| The Sunday Islands |
That afternoon we went to Round Rock with Donna and Sunjay In the evening we were invited around to Bessies house to cook up the fish for dinner. Lockie and Keima did a great job at scaling the fish before we covered them in spices and wrapped them in a-fpil and put them on the fire. Once cooked the fish was juicy and delicious and shared by the extended family. We spent the night talking to everyone around the fire and reading books about the bardi culture.
 |
| Round Rock |
Lockie and I went back to Hunters Creek to sleep in
the swag at Peter Hunter and Almas place. In the morning, we woke up and went
down to the creek and took a swim in the creek at low tide. This marked the end
of our trip as we packed up camp and headed for Broome. We cleaned the car and
dropped it off before heading to the airport. It had been such an adventure and
we went home with everlasting memories and a connection with the bardi people
and their culture.
Monica Pleydell-Bouverie
