NEW edition out on Wednesday

By Allan Clarke

This is the second report in a series examining Indigenous cold cases by award-winning journalist Allan Clarke.

The Mitchell Highway stretches from Bourke, in far western NSW, like a shimmering black snake slithering north through the unfurling outback. This is the outback romanticised in Henry Lawson and Dorothea McKellar poems, but for two Aboriginal families it’s a place of darkness. A place where two young girls had their lives cut short in an instant. A place where a 39-year battle for justice was born out of carnage.

A man has been charged with murdering a five year old girl after she disappeared from an outback town as police condemn violent unrest that erupted following her death. Jefferson Lewis, 47, has been accused of killing Kumanjayi Little Baby, the name used for the child after her death at her family’s request in line with cultural tradition. The girl went missing from a home on an Indigenous town camp near Alice Springs, sparking a massive five day search for both her and Lewis. The 47 year old had been out of prison for six days when she disappeared.

For many Australians, reaching the age of 100 is a remarkable milestone — a moment to reflect on a long life and celebrate the years lived. 

For Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities, however, such milestones are far rarer. Lower life expectancy rates, shaped by generations of dispossession, systemic inequality and limited access to healthcare, mean that few Aboriginal people are afforded the chance to celebrate a 100th birthday. 

When it does happen, it carries deep significance — not only for the individual and their family, but for the entire community. This weekend, the Walgett Aboriginal community in western New South Wales will come together to celebrate one such rare and powerful milestone, honouring 100 years of life for proud Gamilaroi woman Nita Gladys “Aunty Glady” Kennedy. Born in Walgett in 1926, Aunty Glady is the eldest of seven children — five girls and two boys — and grew up at the nearby Gingie Mission, a place that shaped much of her early life. 

By Laine Clark and Robyn With

A leading Indigenous activist is calling for a larger police presence at future dawn services after ANZAC Day acknowledgements were heckled and booed. Indigenous speakers at Sydney, Melbourne and Perth services were booed and heckled, sparking condemnation. Marcia Langton accused the ‘forces of the right’ of perverting Welcome to Country’s meaning, calling for more police as dawn services.

Tiwi author Mavis Kerinaiua is bringing attention to the largely untold role of the Tiwi people in World War 2 in her powerful new book. Published by the Indigenous Literacy Foundation, ’Tiwi war kwampini: Mwarlapwara kangi tingati (Tiwi War Hero: Footprints in the Sand) written, translated and illustrated by Mavis Kerinaiua, with support from Laura Rademaker, tells the story of Louie Purraputimali Munkara, Mavis’ grandfather, who played a pivotal role in protecting Northern Australia during the war. The book sheds light on a hidden wartime contribution and explores the role of Tiwi people, including those known as the ‘Black Diggers’ in patrolling and protecting Australia’s northern coastline during World War 2.

By Christian Morrow