Bombers Crash - But Tiwi Island Football Alive and Well

It was the night that the Tiwi Bombers dived out of the Northern Territory Football League finals. It was the emotional end to their first year in the "big league" - as they described the NTFL - an end to their fairytale run which saw the team dominate early in the season, and win over fans who witnessed their "Island-style" of football with freakish skills, lightening pace and keep-the-ball-alive-at-all-costs play.

But in the end, the Tiwi Bombers succumbed to the far more experienced clubs with their big name players, structured football and hard-trained bodies. Frankly, the Bombers looked puny in their final game against the Warriors. It seems that by the "business end" of the footy season opposition coaches had worked out the Bombers magic formula.

But the Bombers have proven inspirational. They have fans in remote indigenous communities right across remote Northern Australia, and beyond in the suburbs and cities of main stream Australia (and around the globe!). They have proven what can be achieved with hard training and discipline and a will to tackle new challenges.

A documentary "In a League of Their Own" featuring the Tiwi Bombers in their first season will be out mid year (July 2008), and will delve into the lives of the players and the unique aboriginal community of the Tiwi Islands which they call home.

Find out more about "In a League of Their Own" by dropping me an email. And in the meantime, tell me: What do you think about the Tiwi Bombers? Leave a comment.

Nuclear Protest, Nuclear Dump in Northern Australia

APEC energy officials meeting in Northern Australia have stepped from the air-conditioned conference room inside Darwin's Parliament House to the elevated balcony to spy this unusual sight. It's a giant inflatable nuclear power stack erected by protesters who don't want a nuclear power industry in Northern Australia. Currently there is one uranium mine - the Ranger Uranium mine - which operates on a lease inside the World Heritage listed Kakadu National Park and there is pressure on traditional aboriginal owners - the Mirrar people - to agree to a second mine closeby at Jabiluka. The Mirrar's senior custodian, Yvonne Margarula, has for years strongly opposed Jabiluka's development, often explaining that uranium mining at Ranger had upturned aboriginal people's lives, brought access to alcohol and created arguments - mostly about money.


There's another nuclear issue brewing in Northern Australia. Aboriginal elders living on a remote Northern Territory community have agreed to accept $12 million for allowing Australia's first nuclear waste dump to be built on their land.
Under the deal, Canberra would take the land for up to 200 years to store nuclear waste. Up to 150 truckloads of radioactive material would be driven thousands of kilometres from Lucas Heights in Sydney and Woomera in South Australia to the site. Suspend your judgement about what this could all mean and click here for taste of what this same issue has produced elsewhere.


... And back to the APEC meeting in Darwin for one moment. Greenpeace is questioning why no renewable energy representatives were on a key panel at the meeting. Other protesters used the opportunity of visiting nations to voice their anger at human rights abuses in Indonesia's West Papua. The flag on display (right) is "The Morning Star" - the independence flag of the Free Papua Movement.

Portrait of an average Indigenous Australian

This week, Australians are celebrating the 40th anniversary of a national referendum that allowed Aborigines to be counted as members of the Australian population. It seems incredible now, but before that vote, Australia's indigenous people weren't counted as people, they came under the Flora and Fauna Act.
So what's it like 40 years on? Crikey has compiled a revealing snapshot of Aboriginal life today. It's a grim view of untimely death, marginalisation and stunted opportunity.