Day 15 Monday

 An easy drive back to Katherine could have included a guided tour of the Couta Couta caves, but we decided to give it a miss after reading the info boards and saving some $. Pity because the guide was Indigenous which we are starting to learn is a bit unusual. We have learned that one of the reasons we don’t see many aborigines working as guides, or as waiters, or any other straightforward jobs is that we have to provide jobs for thousands of youngsters, generally female, who are here on 454 working visas. Who do we blame for that?

We hadn’t realised that Katherine is not open on a Monday, so we just relaxed until it was time to go to Marksie’s Stockman’s Camp Tucker night. Host Marksie has a big property out in the bush and has set up a large open air camp kitchen, and while we eat his ‘specially’ prepared bush foods, he talks about the history of the area, his background in setting up the food nights, and tells a few bush tales. A highlight of the night was Rhon winning a certificate for swinging the Billy three times without spilling a drop. There were only eight people on this night, but he caters regularly for 39 to 40 with local groups an ffrom overseas. He runs other specially themed nights as well. It was a great night with fabulous food - see menu below.

Marksie also mentors young aboriginal folk and gave us an insight into the aboriginal employment issue. He employed 100 youngsters in a mentoring program to provide an opportunity for them to become employable. Of the 100 over a six month period only 8 went the distance. In onother story he employed a young girl who worked a week, then didn’t turn up the next week without contacting home. Then she did come back to work and didn’t see anything wrong with being absent, nor did she understand why he would be annoyed. Marksie suggested that many indigenous youngsters have plenty of things they can do instead of work, plus they didn’t spend much time at school. Over 80 percent of indigenous kids do not attend school.
It’s a problem we have heard about whilst talking to several people, and the results are very evident in the parks and spaces around Katherine where there are always groups of aboriginals hanging around with nothing to do.  Unfortunately alcohol is a huge issue, leading to lots of alcohol related crime.  There were 8 murders of aboriginal women in Katherine last year.  I was approached by an aboriginal woman in a wheelchair in the street and she sold me a lovely painting she had done that morning.