Lindsay Murdoch; 7/11/09
The deaths were inexplicable in the ancient Yolngu culture, where there is no word to describe suicide. Families in small Arnhem Land communities were being destroyed at a rate never seen before. Police started counting how many times they had to investigate the deaths of mostly young Aboriginal men and women. Between January 2007 and December 2008 there were 143 attempted, threatened or completed suicides among 9500 people.Ski Beach, a community on the Gove Peninsula’s Melville Bay in the Northern Territory, became known for having one of the world’s highest suicide rates. Six Yolngu took their lives in a population of only 400. Police responded to more than 30 attempted or threatened suicides there as well.
See: http://www.theage.com.au/national/saving-the-yolngu-people-20091106-i28q.html
Tags: Aboriginal, Australia, Human Rights, Suicide