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by Phil Venables
On a recent trip to Cairns, I had the privilege of meeting and speaking with several Aboriginal people who have initiated community-based programs. Apart from the value of these programs in terms of improving the quality of life for individuals, families and communities, they also offer the judiciary an important sentencing option.
Jean fans works at theAlcohol and Drug Dependence Services, Cairns. She is involved in establishing an alcohol awareness and Family Support Program based in Cairns which will extend into the outlying Aboriginal communities. In 1987, the Human Rights Medal was awarded to Rose Colless, partly as recognition for her efforts in establishing Douglas House, a residential treatment program for alcohol dependant people. The pioneering work of lean fans, Rose Colless and other Aboriginal people in the field of community-based programs will be examined in future editions of AboriginalLB.
The following report is on the work of Jeff Guest who devised the Petf ord Training Farm. It is written by PHIL VENABLES, Supervisor of the Regional Resource Unit (Far North), Department of Family Services, Queensland, who has been involved with Petford for over four years.
The Pelford Training Farm began perhaps when Jeff Guest, a 61 year old part-time tin scratcher and horse-breaker was asked to teach a few miscreant youths how to ride one week-end. That was in 1973 on his small lease on the marginal rocky country to the west of the Atherton Tablelands in North Queensland.
Jeff and his wife, Ms Norma Perrot, have now acted as foster parents for the state Department of Family Services since 1982. They have continuously cared for 6-12 Aboriginal adolescents at any one time since then.
Their homestead and an additional 30 acres is now held under a special lease by the Petford Training Farm-Aboriginal Corporation. Jeff still holds the surrounding 80 square miles which is used by the Corporation. It has also been licensed by the Department of Family Services as a residential institution.
The farm's primary focus is station based training for Aboriginal and Islander adolescents. Their Commonwealth funded stockman's courses run from 3-6 months. This involves tuition in animal husbandry, fencing, farm mechanics and basic literacy and numeracy. A big emphasis is placed on horse riding and eventually horse-breaking skills.
Students are usually drawn from Cape York and Gulf Communities and towns close to Petford, such as Mareeba and Kuranda. Last year more than 80 adolescents were placed there with an average attendance of 26-mostly Aboriginal boys. Referrals are usually made through the Department of Family Services or Commonwealth Education. Some have been placed there on the recommendation of the Supreme Court and the Children's Court. Many lads just arrive on their front door step.
There is little written on the juvenile offending problems of most Cape York and Gulf communities. The pattern appears to be similar to that reported in many Central and Western Australian communities. Petrol sniffing and its related offences is not the same problem, however.
Typically, gangs of youths engage in intensive episodes of property offences, more frequently during school holidays. Many are placed in secure custody on the grounds that they are likely to re-offend whilst on remand. This involves costly travel on police aircraft, usually from a remote section of the state to institutions in the south. Lengthy stopovers in watch-houses are sometimes an unavoidable problem.
(Jeff Guest and several other people with whom I spoke, expressed grave concern about the regular and frequently lengthy detention of children as young as twelve in local community watch-houses and the Cairns watch-house. while they are awaiting transportation to secure youth holding centres in Townsville or Brisbane. This is clearly an issue which requires urgent attention by the Queensland Departments of Family and Corrective Services - Editor's note)
Local responses to the youth offending problem have included banishment to outstations, or nearby communities, placement in the community with significant relatives and informal community service orders. Although these have been used in an ad hoc way with little outside support they are sometimes successful.
As is the case in the Jigalong community of the Western Desert, the young offending issue is seen by some people as a "white problem" requiring a white solution.[1] Anthropologists such as Tonkinson, have also suggested that there are no "traditional precedents" for dealing with this relatively new problem.[2] Certainly police, magistrates and some solicitors who visit this region express concern, even annoyance at their perception of so called parental unwillingness to discipline their children. Family Services Court Officers have also been surprised at the willingness of some community leaders to have the Department remove [heir offenders to institutions or intervene in some other heavy handed way.
The Petford Training Farm now represents a new response albeit one still outside the offenders' community. The Farm has always accepted the most serious and/or chronic young offenders when secure custody is imminent or already been tried with no positive effect. The institutions themselves readily recognise the special problems in making their programs culturally relevant to remote communities Aboriginal and Islander youths.
As the Pelford program grew it was shaped by Aboriginal foster parents responding to the needs of Aboriginal youths. The content of the program is at least socially acceptable as most communities have their own stock camps. Most lads who are accepted into Petford have an affinity for such work through having been on stations themselves or through the influence of relatives who may be stockmen. This is not a strong pre-requisite, however.
The delivery of the program is also culturally relevant to aboriginal learning styles. It relies primarily on the relationships that Jeff, Norma and other tutors develop with the students rather than professional competence or adequate teaching resources. One of the striking features of the farm is indeed the lack of physical and "professional" resources. Nonetheless the standard of learning skills acquired is quite high when one considers the lack of commitment to learning most students had before coming. There is strong evidence to suggest that Aboriginal learning is more person than content orientated: programs can only succeed after a relationship between teacher and students has developed.[3]
From a Departmental perspective, the probationary type supervision of young offenders across culture and distance has little chance of ever being effective. On brief visits to communities the Family Services Officer finds him or herself trying to elicit responses from shy and unresponsive youths. Similarly when remote area adolescents are sent to southern institutions, they are often described as quiet, compliant and well behaved. Their institutional behaviour completely belies their offending behaviour within their community. In addition those spending longer periods in custody often become depressed at being cut off from family supports.
Almost without exception such adolescents take on behaviour that is neither 'well-behaved" nor illegal when at Petford. Upon arrival every boy or girl is quickly placed in a position of contributing to the program. Jeff says "whenever a lad comes out here I watch him very closely. I try to find his good points and build on them". (Social Workers with a liking for abstract language will recognise this technique as -making an assessment and mobilising client strengths"!)
The student who is talented at art work (and there are many of these) does the drawing for horse anatomy classes. Those who can read and write become tutors for those who cannot. (Although, the sheer effort of the pupils in this area, indicates that the literacy and numeracy sub-program deserves better resourcing.)Those not too interested or gifted with horses are given more time to work in other areas depending on their skills and inclination.
Learning begins by modelling peers who may have already acquired some skills. The stockman's course is not unlike the Outward Bound Programme. White water canoeing or absailing are simply replaced by learning to ride and then break-in horses. Jeff claims that young people learn to break themselves in as they learn to break in the horse. The behavioural principles in teaching the horse along with the self-confidence and discipline involved is transferable to life in general.
Observed changes in most students have been quite remarkable. Gaining self-confidence and self-esteem is evidenced by the lads going through their daily routine with a sense of purpose. Leading in conversations and giving eye contact to whilt authority figures like Family Services Officers comes as a pleasant surprise.
One lad had been sent to the Farm from a nearby rural town having committed a number of offences. He had also been put down by a local Policeman who was quite derogatory in his remarks. That officer, who wanted to join the stock squad, later came to the farm to learn to ride. He became quite embarrassed and had to retract his remarks after receiving patient and competent riding lessons from the lad he had put down.
Personal growth is also evidenced by the way some students begin to resolve their personal conflicts. Jeff says he is amazed by the fears many hold of what alcohol will do to them as they get closer to the legal drinking age and to having money. Some also begin to work through personal grievances, especially in relation to wrongs they may have done to friends or relatives. The willingness to relate such experiences sets the scene and pace for appropriate counselling of Aboriginal and Islander youth. The evidence of their desire to work on themselves with a trusted adult such as Jeff, runs contrary to popular views about Aboriginal and Islander young offenders.
Many personal conflicts and grievances often go unresolved, however. A lot end in fist fights. Jeff claims to have refereed more of these than Jimmy Sharman! The other option readily available is to abscond and this happens from time to time. Reasons for absconding range from having to get up too early to missing one's family. The records show that most absconders return willingly or apply to come back at some later date. Probably as many youths have run to the Petford Training Farm as have run away from it!
Although the farm has guidelines as to who it takes, these are very flexible. Several girls have been accepted as have boys from the wider white community. Physically and mentally handicapped children and adults suffering from alcohol and drug abuse have also done well there. This taking of all comers is accepted without question by the majority of students. They see nothing unusual about living with a variety of people with different social problems. Labelling of people according to any problem they may be having exists, but mostly in a matter-of-fact sort of way. There is no evidence that those placed there as an alternative to secure custody "contaminate" those who are there only for the stockman's course. Such divisions drawn by the students themselves don't seem to exist.
The few white boys placed there quickly lose any inherent racism they may have brought with them. Placement at Petford has usually been because they are too disturbed or difficult to cope with the closeness of a traditional foster home and instit utionalisalion is not in their best interests. Such placements have worked out oxtrenlely well without any apparent common reason.
There has been no statistical or other objective measures used to gauge the effectiveness of the Petford Program in reducing recidivism. (There is probably a masters thesis in it for anyone with such an interest).
The assertions made in this paper do represent the consensus of opinion of those involved in the program over the past 3-4 years. It is clear that the Petford Program brings positive changes for most individuals whilst they are completing the Stockman's course. However, personal gains must be placed in the context of the individual's life back in his/her community.
Despite the personal gains made, many return to their former troubled environment and with their former offending behaviour. One approach suggested as the most effective way of reducing offending is to change the young offender's environment rather than trying to change the individual.[4] Whilst the conclusions drawn were in relation to juvenile offending in the U.K., many would support this view as highly applicable to Aboriginal and Islander communities.
In a few cases lads who have done well at Petford return to their communities and increase their offending considerably. This suggests dissatisfaction with life at home and/or a desire to return to Petford. There is some evidence to support both these possibilities. The vast majority of adolescents return home and continue to reoffend at a reduced rate. In these cases the Petford Program may have helped the participants mature or settle down somewhat. It would appear that with maturity most lads grow out of their pattern of property offending. The pattern of offending in early adulthood appears to be more alcohol related and perhaps more violent. The encouraging and telling trend has been with a significant group of youth from Petford who have found and held work on stations. Not surprisingly, these young men have been able to grow out of offending and avoid many other social setbacks they have identified themselves. Many other lads may have the confidence and skills to do likewise, but are not motivated at present. Hopefully motivation will come with maturity when teenage pursuits in town no longer hold that strong attraction.
The Petford Training Farm can claim to make a valuable contribution in addressing the offending, unemployment and other social problems of young people in North Queensland, but the program needs to be seen as one response among many. This was recently reinforced when Jeff and Norma visited six remote communities. They were beseiged by 30-40 adolescents on each community all wanting to go to Petford. The purpose of their visit was to initiate follow-up employment and family supports for lads returning home from Petford. Jeff is now considering an invitation to conduct a horse-breaking program in Aurukun this year. Other communities are also expressing a desire to have such programs locally based and controlled.
The Petford Training Farm grew out of Aboriginals responding to their own problems. This program is in direct contrast to those failed programs that have been imposed by outsiders to the culture and, in most cases, outsiders to the community as well. There is good reason, therefore, to support other groups or communities who want to implement such a program at the local level.
Support for such local initiatives is also justified for their sound community development principles. They are also likely to be far more effective in addressing the youth problems of remote communities than the traditional Departmental/ statutory response. For the financial decision-makers the choice of this type of program is not too difficult. It costs about $7,000 to support one child at the Petford Training Farm for 12 months. The same cost for keeping a child in the Southern custodial institutions is in the vicinity of $50,000 per child per year.[5]
The potential of what can be achieved with young people in an environment like Petford and on other remote communities, is limited by the energy and resources of the people involved in these types of programs. Jeff Guest has an abundance of the former but little of the latter, in particular, financial resources.
He is funded by the Department of Family Services to care for eight youths, but excessive demand frequently results in twelve departmental referrals at any given time. In addition, Petford usually accommodates up to thirteen other children referred by themselves, their family or local community.
With a view to extending the range of employment opportunities available for young people, Jeff would like to develop a machinery course. Ideally, he would like to expand the thirteen week stockman's course into a full twelve month course in horsemanship.
If any of our readers have ideas (or funds) to contribute with regard to enhancing the effective operation of the Petford program, please write to Jeff Guest, c/Editor, AboriginalLB.
[1]Tonkinson R.. "Outside the Power of the Dreaming:Paternalism and Permissiveness in an Aboriginal Settlement". In Howard Michael C. fed) Aboriginal Power in Australian Society St. Lucia: University of Queensland Press. 1982. p. 121-2.
[2] Ibid.
[3] Harris. S. Traditional Aboriginal Education Strategies and their possible place in a Modern Bicultural School Department of Education. Darwin, N.T., August 1978.
[4] Clarke R.V.G., "Jack Tizyard Memorial Lecture: Delinquency Environment and Intervention". In Journal of Psychology and Psychiatry Vol. 26 No. 4 pp 505-523 1985
[5] 1985/6 Annual Report, Department of Children's Services, Queensland. p. 46. Table 1.
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URL: http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/journals/AboriginalLawB/1988/9.html