Warburton Ranges Mirlirrtjarra Community is a very remote Aboriginal community in Western Australia located 1,050kms southwest of Alice Springs and 920kms northeast of Kalgoorlie. The Ngaanyatjarra Native Title Lands covers 187,000 square kilometers and has been occupied by the traditional owners for over 10,000 years. The aboriginal people in Warburton have maintained traditional hunting and gatherer ‘bush tucker’ skills but have adopted many aspects of modern life such as mobile phones and satellite TV. The primary spoken languages are Ngaanyatjarra, English, Pitjantjara, and Yankuntjatjara. Until the 1960’s there had been little contact with the outside world. Some ‘first contact’ elders still live in the community and share stories about the mission days.

Currently the community is experiencing high levels of family violence, mental health issues, and alcohol and substance misuse, which are impacting on child safety, development, and wellbeing. My roles and responsibilities include:

o   Undertake a scoping exercise to understand the safety and development needs of the Ngaanyatjarra community of Warburton, particularly in relation to child sexual abuse and family violence, with a view to identifying risks and recommending future development opportunities,

o   Engage elders, community members and local professionals in a sustained dialogue about child protection with a view to developing a Community Safety Plan and a Regional Child Safeguarding Action Plan,

o   Support the establishment of the Joint Response Team – a joint initiative between Department of Communities and Western Australian Police to respond to child sexual abuse,

o   Build the capacity of community members and professionals to recognize and respond to child abuse and neglect, through multimedia, training and workshops.