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Dianne Wilson from Mornington Island, Queensland, listens attentively during a healthy eating presentation. Oxfam Australia works with the Mornington Island community on a range of health and wellbeing programs. Photo: Wayne Quilliam/OxfamAUS
Unique health and wellbeing programs that incorporate local culture and views are transforming the lives of young Aboriginal people on Mornington Island.
Oxfam Australia Health Promotion Officer Jenny Sewter believes the key to the success of the agency’s health programs for Aboriginal people on remote and beautiful Mornington Island in the Gulf of Carpentaria is trust.
“It is all about building trust and making sure that they feel confident in being able to trust me with a lot of their issues,” Jenny said. “I think you have to take small steps.”
We started working on Mornington, a 700-square-kilometre island with a population of 1,300, in 2004 with a program that helped dozens of young locals kick the habit of petrol sniffing.
Today we run programs promoting healthy eating for the island’s kids, a post-natal health and education program for young mothers, and are gearing up to take on the biggest challenge of all — the diabetes that is rife on Mornington Island.
The programs are set up in consultation with a “Grannies Group” of female Elders and run in partnership with local groups including the police, ambulance service, hospitals, school, women’s shelter and other volunteers.
It is this whole-of-community approach that community member Neville Reading believes makes the programs so effective.
“Finding our culture is one thing but getting it back is another,” he said. “Because Oxfam thinks about integrating our culture and Elders in their programs it makes it safer for people and they want be involved.”
A group of young girls who gave up petrol sniffing after taking part in some of the early programs on the island are now taking part in the young mothers’ program as they move into the next phase of their lives.
The young mothers’ group provides the girls with the skills they need to keep their babies healthy, with professionals giving practical advice on nutrition, sleep patterns and language development as well as providing immunisation and regular check-ups.
The program aims to link the girls up with local health services and has also become a support group where they share all the joys and challenges of being a young mother on Mornington Island.
Jenny and other key community members have seen great change in the girls’ lives, from the despair of substance abuse to their new-found joy as confident, young mothers.
“I can see where the girls have come from and where they are today and they are completely different kids,” she said.
The girls agree. “The [program] for sniffers [was] good because it stopped us all from sniffing petrol … I don’t sniff petrol now and my friends don’t either,” one young girl said. “Now I have a baby I want to be a better mum so Oxfam is helping us with that.”
Our work on Mornington Island is part of the wider Gulf Region Health Service, which we run under contract from the Department of Health and Ageing. The service also takes in the remote communities of Normanton and Doomadgee.
Another initiative making a real difference is a breakfast program where local children are picked up before school for a healthy breakfast as part of a drive to improve nutrition and educate youngsters about healthy eating; about 54 children attended each session last year.
Two local organisations, the Police Community Youth Club and Primary After School Sports, now run the program — a move towards sustainability and community control.