Lynette's Story.
Lynette, 55, grew up hunting bush tucker in Cape York and moved to Tennant Creek at 18. She describes a town that transformed from safe and sport-focused to fractured by land disputes, crime, and mining money, and mourns the loss of traditional community circles that once resolved conflict.
Chapters
So, Lynette, you are bunji to me.
Yeah.
What does bunji mean?
Brother-in-law.
Brother-in-law, sister-in-law.
Sister-in-law, yes.
So how did you— so you were saying you're from a— was it from a big family?
No, not really.
Yeah.
My grandparents from Cape York.
Oh yeah?
A place called Mapoon, about 75 k's away from up north from Weipa.
Oh yeah?
And when I was a child, I used to grow up there with all our elderly.
Yeah?
You know, hunt for bush tucker and that.
Yeah?
Well, we used to live on the beach, but not right on the beach. Right down near the water because of the crocodiles, too many crocodiles.
Really?
We used to live in tin shacks.
Oh yeah?
Yeah, and it was up in the bushes area, and, uh, um, in the front yard there was a beach that we'd just go fishing for breakfast. Or if not, we'd go and look for bush tucker in the bush at the backyard.
Yeah.
It was like that growing up. We didn't have any roads, it was like sandy, so you had to have a four-wheel drive to go, to get where we was living. Yeah. And then we moved to— oh well, I was born in Innisfail.
Yeah.
About an hour's drive from Cairns.
Yeah.
And when I was 3 months old, we moved to— my grandfather moved his family to Townsville, and I grew up from there then, went to school there, and till I was about 18, and then I moved to Tennant Creek because my mum was here then and she was working as a health worker here.
Oh yeah?
Yeah, so I've been here since I was 18.
Really?
Yeah, and I'm 55 now.
Uh-oh, giving away all the secrets.
Yeah.
Has it changed a lot since you came?
Yeah, a whole lot. It was really good before. Everybody used to—
Really?
The whole town used to get involved in sports and that, but not now.
It's changed. Yeah.
Yeah, I don't know, maybe too many mixed relationships here and things have been going wrong and then new laws and stuff on it. It's just not safe to walk around now at night before, whereas when I first come here you could walk around the streets by yourself. Yeah. It was safe. Everybody knew everybody and it was really good. Everybody was friendly. Yeah, yeah. And now there's people, too many fighting going on and stuff like that. Yeah, I've been through a few relationships. Yeah, while I was here, it didn't turn out really good. They weren't good for you? And then, uh, I ended up with my husband and I found him and yeah, he proposed to me, so I said yeah.
Really?
We've been together since 1999.
1999, so that's 23 years, 25 years. Wow, that's a long time.
Yeah, well, we've had ups and downs, but Yeah. Every relationship does.
Yeah.
He showed me around around his country and that, tell me stories. Yeah, because he found it. He found it that I was a good listener. He could tell me anything.
Really?
Yeah. We used to just sit and talk.
Yeah.
When he had nobody else to talk to, he'd just sit and talk to me. Yeah, we'd get on each other's nerves. But he was, he was really good.
Yeah.
Yeah. He loved it when his grandchildren come around.
Yeah?
Yeah. I did it for you. It is full. Yeah, he loved going out bush though.
Do you really?
Yeah, loved it. It healed, it healed when he got bush. Yeah, yeah, he enjoyed himself going out bush. Yeah. He taught me a lot.
Yeah, what sort of things?
Um, names of things.
Yeah.
And names of places where, um, Where he's, um, his area, like, he's at where his bush country is, where his mother's, where he grew up.
Yeah.
Out at Rocky Downs.
Yeah.
Yeah. Do you want me to read? No, don't touch. And, um, He just tell me a lot of stories.
Yeah, about a lot of things.
I met a lot of his families all over the place, all over the place, from Darwin right down to Alice Springs.
Yeah, with Tennant Creek, why do you think it's been such a decline in the community?
Why?
Yeah.
Oh, too many chief, not enough Indian.
Really?
Yeah, people want to be the boss of this thing and that thing, and they say they, they own this and they own that. It's just, yeah, too much, too much arguing over land and stuff.
Yeah, it's sad. Yeah, because everyone seems to be suffering from it.
Yes.
I spoke to someone at the language center and she talked about how the communities were beautiful and how people had great pride in it and in their houses. And now it's so hard because you can't discipline children that aren't yours. You can't keep land clean that's not yours. You can't live. And it's like everyone keeps on perpetuating these things.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Well, I don't know. I don't know. It's just the law too. They change because other people coming into this place and then they do something wrong and then everybody else has to suffer from it, you know?
Yeah.
And that's wrong. Yeah. Yeah.
Is she going to learn to crochet one day?
She's speedy.
She's done most of that just since we've been sitting here. Really?
Yeah.
Hey, well, thank you for your story.
Yeah. Oh, that's it.
Anything else you want to say?
Anything else you want to know?
Anything you want to share?
Like what?
I don't know, things that are important to you, things that are— that you've learned in life, um, things you've overcome.
Um, I've had a rough life because I've I've had three aortic valve replacements. Oh no! Mm-hmm. And I can't stop smoking. Yeah. Oh my God! Yeah. Yeah, I had a rough life. I had a very strict upbringing. Like my grandparents were very strict. Yeah. Yeah.
I know.
I don't see that happening here with these children these days. You can't touch them now unless they run to the police and say, oh, I'm going to tell the police you hit me. And they get away with stuff. Yeah, that's the smoke. This is another son, Jordan.
Hey, Jordan.
Yeah. From the youngest brother.
So discipline's an issue in the community?
Yes, very much. So kids used to run around, now they start running around and stealing cars. Now police can't do nothing about it.
And back in the day, how would, how would the community have dealt with that?
Well, it never happened then. Yeah, because everybody was good. I gave you a big phone. Everybody was good. It was good.
Ah, but don't paint that phone.
Yeah, you already broke my other phone. If it's broken, it's broken. Then you got no phone then.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Go inside now. Go wake mummy and daddy up. Hey, what are you gonna do?
Move. So would— so in the old— back in the day, would the community have disciplined the kids, or would the police have disciplined the kids, or how would it have gone?
Um, yeah, I don't know about kids. They'd probably— hey, hey! They'd probably have, um, meetings, you know, put them in a circle meeting, and then everybody ground them. I think that's how it was before.
So everyone was sort of supporting each other?
Yeah, like if somebody did something wrong, they had a meeting. Oh, doesn't happen now? Sort it out there in the meeting, that's it then.
Really?
Yeah, no more trouble.
Really? It doesn't happen now?
Nope, right now everybody just keep on fighting. Keep on fighting, keep on fighting till they're sick of it, I suppose. Some people are good, some hold grudges.
What do you think is the way forward?
Everybody go back to their own country, I suppose.
So talk about that, talk about everyone going to their own country. Yeah. So, so that isn't the case in Tennant Creek. There's people from lots of different countries. Do you think that's an accidental thing or a deliberate thing?
You think it's just how it happened? I don't know. What happened? Some people, they used to, um, some people used to make trouble in their own communities and then they come here to hide. They bring their trouble here, then the people who are after them, people who run away, they come here and they want to fight here, and they can't do that because this is somebody else's country, you know. They can't go and do that, you know. We don't go and do that to their country.
In their country.
That's right. I know a lot of people fighting over this land here.
Over Warramungu? Over this land?
Yeah, people trying to boss over my husband's country.
Yeah, yeah, it's, it's strange, isn't it?
It's terrible. Yeah, it is.
Lane said the same thing. Very, very corrupt approach.
Yes. Not honest. Yep. They're just, they're looking at the money, that's all. Yeah. With these mines. Yeah. That's all they're just eyeing off.
Yeah. That saying in the Bible that the money is the root of all evil.
My grandmother used to tell me that all the time. Yeah. Yeah. And I could see now, I saw a long time ago what she meant. Yes, money changes people. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Breed, and then they turn around and fight now, you know, because they want money. That's what she always told me. Money is the root of all evil. Yeah, yeah. It makes people change.
Yeah. Yep.
Jordan, come in the hot bath. Who?
Jordan. Jordan?
I thought he said John. Yeah. Um, what else? Anything else?
Oh no, this is wonderful.
Thank you so much.
Yeah, thank you very much. I'll put it up and um, it'll be great. Thanks for sharing. Thanks for letting us use this.
