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Parks, bike paths and tiny treasures: Alice Springs' services call for a focus on funding families
As Alice Springs prepares to exit a three-week youth curfew, this local children's centre is reminding all governments there is more than one way to fund safe communities.
Published 15 April 2024 4:20pm
Updated 16 April 2024 9:42am
By Laetitia Lemke
Source: NITV
Image: Young leader Kazariah Driffen holds a multi-coloured thorny dragon that she and her friends have found and named 'coffee' (NITV / Laetitia Lemke)
In the western suburbs of Alice Springs, outside the youth curfew zone, Lyndavale Park is a buzz of activity.
Children are clambering over modest playground equipment, whizzing past on bikes they built, and fawning over their new park pet; a spiky, serious-faced lizard that appears unmoved by the attention.
Children in this park aren’t in trouble with the law, but with the eye of the nation on youth crime in Alice Springs, hyper-vigilance in the surrounding community is spilling over into racism.
Families arrive at Lyndavale Park in Larapinta to celebrate the first anniversary of its opening. Source: NITV / Laetitia Lemke
The boy, who NITV has chosen not to name, was riding his bike when he was photographed by a stranger. That stranger assumed the bike was stolen and posted the boy's image to social media without further inquiry.
Educators from the Larapinta Child and Family Centre Coordinator remained visibly horrified by the stereotyping of one of their youth leaders.
“He has been such a champion of [Larapinta Family and Children’s Bike’s Mwerre] program and he really supported the other kids coming up in that same time,” Cassie Boyle said.
Walmarnpa and Warumungu woman Cassie Boyle is the coordinator of the Larapinta Child and Family Centre.
“Our young kids are growing up to think they are kind of all being put in the same light as the kids that might not be doing the right thing and that’s not the case.”
“They need a space where they are being built up and they have strong mentors around them to guide them through growing up.”
Creating those safe spaces is something the Larapinta Child and Family Centre has had significant recent success with.
A toddler rushes to embrace a much loved sculpture at Lyndavale Park. Source: NITV / Laetitia Lemke
The NT government-funded centre integrating services for the area, used one-off special community fund money to revamp a local park and fund a pilot program teaching children to ride and build bush bikes.
With donated equipment, more than 200 bikes have now been rebuilt and gifted to children in the Larapinta neighbourhood and attracted partnerships that have allowed it to expand to employ four Aboriginal staff members.
“I think it’s very important… all kids should be able to ride bikes,” Program coordinator Nathan Walker says.
He says the benefits go well beyond the bike track, with a focus on building leadership, social skills, community and self-esteem.
“Even sharing and fixing things [is important] you can be able to work on a car if you can work on a bike.”
Cassie Boyle from the Larapinta Child and Family Centre is a Walmarnpa and Warumungu woman who grew up on Arrernte Country. Source: NITV / Laetitia Lemke
“People are frustrated… a lot of people in this town have had enough, that’s a big narrative at the moment – but it’s not the narrative we want here.”
“There’s a lot of people that are doing good stuff in this town we just need to get behind it and highlight it,” Louis Jakamarra Egger says.
High crime rates in Alice Springs continue to draw national headlines. A riot in late March saw a strong response from the government with 58 police officers sent to the red centre to enforce a youth curfew on the city from 6pm to 6am. That riot didn’t just include children but they have remained the focus.
As the community prepares for a lifting of the youth curfew this week, services are reminding all levels of government that it will take more than police funding to solve the problems in Alice Springs.
Nathan Walker works on the bike of one of his youth leaders at the Bikes Mwerre program at Lyndavale Park. Source: NITV / Laetitia Lemke
He is the founder of the Central Australian Youth Link Up Services and has been celebrated for his success in addressing volatile substance abuse amongst children in the red centre.
“So many of the interventions people talk about are after the crime, more jails, getting tough on kids.
"Well if you get tough on kids, kids just get tougher,” Mr McFarland said.
“Having programs that build community, lift children, and create jobs is an important part of solving the problems gripping Alice Springs.
“I’ve been in the mix for 40 years and I’ve seen things work brilliantly for a while and then government policy changes and it goes away.
“If you collected up all those things that worked really well and implemented them, you could change the dynamic completely in Alice Springs.”
Children learn basic bike mechanics and road safety as part of the Bikes Mwerre program that creates a community of active children in Larapinta. Source: NITV / Laetitia Lemke
“The way to address the problems in Alice Springs is not to focus on Alice Springs, but to look at Alice in the reality of its situation, which is embedded in 250 remote communities.” He says living in those communities has become unaffordable.
“People have to come into [Alice Springs] to feed their kids, it’s $10 for 2 litres of milk in some communities out bush because the market dictates that communities pay more because it’s got to go further.”
To affect change he says government will have to address the hunger and homelessness affecting too many young people in Alice Springs
“There are so many parents that love their kids and we just need to provide all the support we can to support the parents to be the best parents they can be,” Cassie Boyle said.
She’s hoping to see programs like this rolled out for other families and communities across Alice Springs.
