In August, a number of executive leaders from the Australian & New Zealand Police Leadership Strategy, an initiative of the Australian Institute of Police Management (AIPM), spent five days with over 50 Martu leaders deep in the Western Desert region east of Newman.

Imagine being in a foreign country where you cannot speak the language, then being arrested and tried in court for something you cannot understand, and being thrown into prison hundreds of kilometres away from your family.

On 25 April Martu invited Newman police to attend a one day workshop to consider how they might continue to work together towards better relationships and effective strategies for change.

This year Martu Elders, KJ Rangers from Punmu, Kunawarritji and Parnngurr, as well as family members from Bidyadanga participated in four mapping trips focusing on the northern parts of Martu Country.  

In August the Jigalong rangers worked together with Alicia and Jo from Parks and Wildlife Services WA to conduct monitoring of warru (Black-flanked Rock Wallaby) at Pinpi (Durba Springs) and Kaalpi (Calvert Ranges). The motion-sensor cameras at Pinpi captured a wiminyji (Northern Quoll). This is the first time this species has been recorded by Western Science in this area.

Forty-one participants came together from Jigalong, Punmu, Parnngurr, Kunawarritji, Wiluna, Hedland, Karratha, Nullagine and Newman to be a part of this year’s Kalyuku Ninti trip. This was an important pilgrimage for the Girgiba, Crusoe, Patch, Watson, Atkins and James families.

When Martu leaders from the West Australian desert town of Newman sat down with police to talk about the pervasive and complex problem of family violence, they agreed on one driving factor that was relatively easy to address.

“Our main hope was that we would find banded stilts, which was the main bird we did find in very large numbers, but it was a mainly a general survey which hadn’t been done before in any systematic way.”

Out here on the continent's western rim, as the campfire burns down in the evening chill and stars fleck a night sky so vast it takes your breath away, Martu woman Gladys Bidu​ is talking slowly and deliberately about a world few of us have the privilege of experiencing.