[A-List] Australia: restoring aboriginal esteem

["Michael Keaney" <michael.keaney@xxxxxx>]

Bushmen rally to the front line

With a unique ability to survive undetected in remote coastal terrain,
Aboriginal men have become the eyes and ears of an Australian defence force.
Nick Squires reports from Sydney
The Sunday Herald, 1 December 2002

They can survive for weeks on 'bush tucker' including snakes, kangaroos,
wild buffalo, dugong, freshwater barramundi fish and witchetty grubs --
large caterpillar-like insects that are high in fat.

As Australia nervously eyes its borders in the wake of last month's Bali
bombings, Aborigines are flocking to join an elite army reconnaissance unit
responsible for protecting the country's remote northern coastline.

Aboriginal men now comprise two-thirds of the 600-strong Norforce (the
Northwest Mobile Force), with 70 new recruits joining in the last year
alone.

Their task is to detect people-smugglers, drug-runners and poachers and, at
a time of increasing nervousness over national security, any potential
terrorist threat.

Recruits are drawn from almost every community in the 'top end'; from the
central deserts around Alice Springs, to the lush Tiwi islands in the north
and the rugged Kimberley wilderness area in the west.

The Aboriginal soldiers are valued for their extraordinary knowledge of
fieldcraft and are able to live off the land, leaving barely a trace behind
them.

Their role is to provide covert surveillance of Australia's north coast,
relaying information back to customs officers, police and the coastguard.
They are deployed in remote areas by helicopter, boat or four-wheel-drive
vehicle -- and left to fend for themselves.

While Norforce was formed in 1981, its origins go back to the second world
war, when a joint force of Aboriginal trackers and army signallers was
established to scout for signs of a Japanese invasion.

Called the North Australia Observer Unit, it was led by Lieutenant Colonel
Bill Stanner, who said he wanted 'men with a bush background and adventurous
spirit, who could live outdoors for months at a time.'

Sixty years later that spirit lives on, and Norforce's area of operations is
vast: 1.8 million square kilometres of savannah, bush and crocodile-infested
swamp, stretching across a third of Australia, from Broome in Western
Australia to the Gulf of Carpentaria. Two similar units -- the Far North
Queensland Regiment, and the Pilbara Regiment in Western Australia -- cover
the rest of northern Australia.

Together, the region they patrol is the largest area of operations of any
military unit in the world.

The reserve force, in which soldiers are required to serve between 50 and
100 days a year, is at the forefront of the Australian army's efforts to
increase the number of Aborigines in its ranks.

Of the 26,000 regular soldiers in the army, only about 2% are indigenous.
Sgt Patrick Thomas, 49, who is an Aborigine, said: 'Norforce helps to break
down stereotypical attitudes held by white Australians about Aborigines:
that they're lazy, they sit on their bums, they do nothing.

'Until recently the Australian Army has prided itself on being a white,
European force. It's all part of the Anzac tradition. The army sends
soldiers to East Timor and Bougainville for cross-cultural training, but
they don't employ the same attitudes towards their own Aboriginal people.'

Sgt Thomas believes the Australian military could learn a lot from the
British Army's use of Gurkhas who, like many Aborigines, often have low
literacy and numeracy skills but still make superb troops.

He said Norforce prided itself on being one of the few units that could take
on the Australian Special Air Service in military exercises. Sgt Elgan
Leedie, 40, encountered bigotry when he served in the regular army before
joining Norforce 10 years ago. 'I was called 'coon'. There were a lot of
ignorant guys who had never worked with Aborigines at all. I had to lash out
if there was any kind of racist remark.'

Norforce soldiers go out on patrol for up to two months at a time without
being resupplied.

In addition to targeting illegal fishing camps and poachers, the unit is on
the lookout for 'black flights' -- aircraft smuggling illegal immigrants or
drugs.

There are hundreds of landing strips in northern Australia, many left over
from the second world war when the area was a staging post for the Allies.

Young Aborigines have been keen to join Norforce because most come from
remote communities where there is little schooling or employment.

For many, English is a second or third language and some have difficulty
reading and writing. Within Norforce, about 100 Aboriginal languages and
dialects are spoken.

Norforce's commanding officer, Lieutenant Colonel Roger Bryett, who is
white, said: 'The unit is attractive to Aboriginal men because it gives them
back their original status as warriors. A lot of their traditional skills
were in danger of dying out as they came to rely more and more on welfare
handouts. Norforce gives them self-esteem, discipline and physical fitness.

'This is a great part of the world, one of the last wilderness frontiers,'
Lt Col Bryett said. 'We're the eyes and ears of northern Australia.'