Long Way Home

The Tiwi Islands are between Darwin and Timor, about an English Channel distance off-shore.

Bathurst is the smaller island and Melville Island is the second biggest island off the Australian coast after Tasmania.

For 2010, all our kids come from Melville island, from Pularumpi and Milikapiti. Milikapiti is slightly bigger and would have perhaps 250 people. It is Remote Area where English is a second language

At end of Term II, the kids got on a midday flight in Brisbane and flew to Cairns where they stayed, waited for four hours.

The Darwin flight arrived at midnight and they waited at the airport for the 8.00 small plane to Nguiu, on Bathurst Island.

Next, there was a 20 min boat trip across the Apsley Straits to Melville Island and then a 90 minutes car ride to get home.

It took 24 hours to get home! Most Downlands kids are picked up and driven home, and are with the cat and dog within four hours.

This trip home cost us $520 per kid, the most expensive trip in the five years - unfortunately there was a Car Race in Darwin, so there were no cheap fares. We have paid $70,000 on this program so far. Money well spent!

It takes a lot of courage for an Aboriginal Kid to travel so far, to have such a difficult trip, to be away from home and culture, to be frozen blue, to speak another language and not quite understand what all the white fellas' say - and they all look the same anyway!

If you could help us with a dollar or two, go to: https://vinnies.org.au/appeals-processor-national indicate Qld, and pull down the Tiwi Education Project appeal category.