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The Anglican Church in Tasmania Search |
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a healthy church...transformingLIFE |
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If you love Jesus, you will give me that pawpaw! |
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Milingimbi is an Aboriginal community on an island off the northeast coast of Arnhem Land... It is part of the Crocodile Island group and has been the site of a Methodist Mission from the early 1920s to the mid 1970s. The influence of the mission on the lives of the Yolgnu people who live here is huge, to the point where some children will try a little spiritual manipulation to gain any ripe fruit from your backyard. The community is made up of tribal groups that have come from other areas. They tend to live in clan groups in one of the five camps: top, bottom, garden, army and bush camps. There is a school with a community library, general store with everything from a can of sugar to new refrigerators, a credit union, and a post office that does not have many envelopes and was not open for the first four weeks that we were here. A church building that dates back to the mission days is now used mainly for storage of a sound system and practising dances. Church is held outside in the different camps on a sporadic nature. Small hoursThere is also a Health Clinic, which is where my wife Pauline works. There are two RNs and five Aboriginal Health workers. After hours there is an 'on call' system where people contact the ABHW with any emergency that may arise. If the health worker needs the expertise of the RN they will call her in. They then treat the patient together and if need be, contact a doctor at Gove District Hospital and consult with them. Sometimes the patient is evacuated on the Northern Territory Air Medical Service plane, usually in the small hours of the morning. We are here from the end of July to the end of November, whilst Pauline fills in for a RN who is on study leave. Our children Jacob and Florence are at the school whilst I am working on jobs such as the Tasmanian Anglican and sending them back to Tasmania via email to be printed. Articles and photos are edited and formatted by the editor in Hobart, in the far south of Australia, and are then sent by email to the northern-most part of our big continent where the layout is done. Technology is wonderful - we can work anywhere! As it turned out Vanessa did get to eat some of the pawpaw. It was shared amongst a group of the local camp kids after they had finished playing a game of soccer in our small backyard.
John Robinson does the layout and design for the
Tasmanian Anglican and Anglicare Action. He can be contacted
on jthumb@austarnet.com.au
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