Theodore Kormin-Kormin Dooling was pretty stoked about getting his commercial fishing license. He showed it to me with all the pride he could muster and somewhere underneath that long thick beard I sensed a smile.
There’s now hope in Wadeye, an Aboriginal settlement about an hours’ flight down the coast from Darwin. Thanks to support from the Thamarrurr Development Council (TDC) and Aboriginal Sea Company (ASC), Theo and his mates have been employed as Sea Rangers and are getting an opportunity to provide an income for their families by harvesting mud crabs.
It’s been a long struggle though. You need a commercial fishing license in Australia and those aren’t cheap. And they’re limited and out of reach for most Aboriginal communities. The ASC is trying to change that. They are helping manage and protect the Northern Territories shoreline as a community-based economic and cultural asset. They provide education, training, and mentoring to Aboriginal people who want to make a living from the sea. They’ve also been buying commercial fishing licenses when they become available and passing them on to communities.
The Sea Farmers of Wadeye were awarded one license to harvest mud crabs and they were given a new boat and a bunch of crab pots.
The Sea Farmers caught the eyes of a mob called Global Alliance for the Future of Food who thought they would fit in to the Beacons of Hope: Stories from the Land-Water Nexus series which reveals the powerful connections between fisher movements fighting for food sovereignty and livelihood. I got the call from my mates at Cultivate Communications to go out and meet the Sea Farmers.
The tides weren’t in my favour though in Wadeye. Unfortunately, the crab pots weren’t put out the day or two before my arrival as promised. So instead of seeing pots teaming with crabs I only saw empty pots being thrown out. But I felt fortunate I could spend the morning in a stunning mangrove estuary in the Timor Sea with the Sea Farmers.
Back on dry land we visited the Wadeye Men’s Shed. The TDC set that to offer the men of Wadeye some opportunities. I watched men working wood and Timothy painting another of his masterpieces. Francisco picked up his guitar and started singing about his ancestral home.
The men’s shop director, Joe, led us to a room showing the artisan work of the men. I saw a striking painting on the wall. ‘We just buried that painter – Robin Nilco – last Friday. His widow gets the proceeds of his sales’. I told Joe to roll it up. I’ll remember the beautiful folks of Wadeye everything I look at the wall in our living room.
We heard heavy banging on the tin roof as the heavens opened. Monsoon season was starting. It rained and thundered for a steady 30 minutes like I had rarely seen before. Our pilot was monitoring the radar and found a gap in the squall. We dashed to the Wadeye airfield and got up before the next wave hit.
As we ascended I likened the storm to the troubled history of the indigenous people of Australia. We were able to safely escape the torment and I could see clear skies ahead on my journey back to Darwin. I can only hope that the future is bright as well for Theo and the people of Wadeye.
