QR Postcard Field Pack

Kristy is a Central Arrernte, Eastern Arrernte and Alyawarra Traditional Owner. Her grandfather was Stolen Generations, taken to the Bungalow in Alice Springs. He married her grandmother in a church to stop police taking his own children.

Tanya is an Eastern Arrernte woman who graduated from UWA law school, worked as an associate at the Supreme Court of Victoria, and came home. Together they built Oonchiumpa from cultural authority first, legal knowledge second.

Both boys live in Alice Springs. Neither has been asked what they need. When asked, Jackquann told politicians one word: “Programs.” Nigel said he wants to be a footy player and knows he needs to go to school every day to get there.

Both have been to detention. Both named family as the thing detention takes away. Oonchiumpa picks them up, takes them to school, and gives them someone to walk with.

Scan to open the judges field guide and keep both boys’ voices close when the conversation turns to what actually helps.

Jackquann lives at Upper Camp with his grandfather. He is 14. He has been in the Alice Springs Detention Centre. He described it plainly: “At six o’clock you get locked down. You wait till tomorrow.”

Asked what would stop him getting in trouble, he said “Looking after my family.” Asked what he would tell politicians, he said “Programs.” He wants a job. He wants to start his own family.

Open the Atnarpa site page to keep place and practice in the frame.

Nigel lives at a station in Double Camp. He is 14. He likes school and wants to be a footy player. He has been to Don Dale in Darwin. He described it as kids fighting every day.

Asked what it feels like being away, he said “Bad. Like, going away from my family and stuff.” In court, talking to the judge, he says he panics. Oonchiumpa picks him up, takes him to school, and gives him consistency. That consistency is the intervention.

Use this card when the conversation needs to come back to family, schooling, and what support actually looks like in practice.

Laquisha lives with her auntie. She is 16, goes to St Joseph’s. She has been to Darwin youth detention, 1,500km from home. Twelve-minute phone calls. Two-hour waits between calls. No family there. Lockdown at 6:30 every night.

When asked why young people get in trouble, she answered in one word: “Oppression.” She wants her driver’s licence. She wants to travel. Court is scary because you don’t know whether you are getting out or not, and your family is sitting there watching.

Open the Alice Springs context page to hold story, place, and system reality in the same frame.

Xavier was one of Oonchiumpa’s first clients. Other service providers did not share his disabilities and distanced from him when the relationship got hard. Oonchiumpa did not.

Fred Campbell says “He trusts us. We earned that trust.” Xavier was released from youth detention at the start of the year and has not been back in trouble. He helped build Stretch Beds from recycled plastic, bought his first pair of shoes with his pay, and ran home to show his family. Fred says he is quite capable of building on his own and sharing that with other kids.