Indigenous leaders cry for help
Sarah Smiles; 18/4/08
Before school broke for holidays in the Kimberley this month, an Aboriginal student in Halls Creek tried to hang herself with a hose pipe. In the distant town of Derby, a funeral was held for a boy who killed himself at the start of the term. The suicides of young Aborigines in the outback Kimberley towns of Western Australia are sadly common. A recent WA coronial report into 22 deaths of Kimberley Aborigines — including the suicide of an 11-year-old boy — described the plight of young people as “bleak”. Some leave high school unable to write a sentence in English. Substance abuse is rife in towns and welfare dependency entrenched. One Kimberley resident told The Age how a group of students asked for advice on what they should do when they find an “uncle hanging in a tree”.
See: http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/indigenous-leaders-cry-for-help/2008/04/17/1208025382117.html
Tags: Aboriginal, Australia, Education, Suicide