Kennedy Hill is an Aboriginal community in the remote town of Broome in NW- Australia.
The community exists in the shadows of Western Australian Premier Colin Barnett’s commitment to close down approximately 100-150 Aboriginal communities in Western Australia.
There are more than 270 remote Indigenous communities in Western Australia, home to 12,000 people. Aboriginal Elders and Leaders are shocked and feel closing down communities is a big threat to their people.
They believe the impact of such a move will be devastating.
Communities are based ‘on Country’. Closing down communities means losing connection to the land in which ancient stories are etched.
These stories inform about morals, values and relationships, and are reinforced in Language through song and story at times of ceremony or travel through that Country –there used to be 250 Aboriginal languages before White Invasion.
By closing down communities, ancient knowledge that has been passed down through generations will get lost and people will be lost because of this disconnection that nurtures them physically, emotionally and spiritually.
Consequently, poverty, disadvantage, alcoholism, unemployment, etc. –which are contained within communities because of ongoing cultural connection– will be relocated and intensified and brought to the bigger towns.
History is repeating itself!
Australian award-winning Photojournalist Ingetje Tadros has spent four years working with Aboriginal people and has been documenting their confronting daily lives within their communities. Her concerns for Aboriginal people and their communities stretch from the old uninformed line that demonises Aboriginal men by insinuating that Aboriginal women and children are under great threat by the men in the communities, to a lack of affordable accommodation; Over seven per cent of the Kimberley population is homeless and ninety per cent of this homelessness is comprised by its First Peoples.
Kennedy Hill, or as the locals refer to it, ‘The Hill’ is significant to Indigenous people in the region.The presence of a large shell midden immediately adjacent to the community is testament to this significance; It’s been a living area and a sacred place since before White Invasion... since time in memorial.
Aboriginal people all over the Kimberley are now in fear of losing not only their homes but losing the significant connection to their land and sacred sites.
©Ingetje Tadros/Diimex
Winner Walkley Award for Feature/Photographic Essay:
In Tadros’ body of work, every picture tells a story that is rich in detail.
It takes determination and patience to get stories from remote communities – you have to earn the trust of every single person there. It’s so rare that photojournalists can invest the time to do a story like this and we are rewarded with an insider’s view of this hardscrabble life.
https://vimeo.com/129536331
Viewers are warned that the following images may contain images of deceased persons.
The community exists in the shadows of Western Australian Premier Colin Barnett’s commitment to close down approximately 100-150 Aboriginal communities in Western Australia.
There are more than 270 remote Indigenous communities in Western Australia, home to 12,000 people. Aboriginal Elders and Leaders are shocked and feel closing down communities is a big threat to their people.
They believe the impact of such a move will be devastating.
Communities are based ‘on Country’. Closing down communities means losing connection to the land in which ancient stories are etched.
These stories inform about morals, values and relationships, and are reinforced in Language through song and story at times of ceremony or travel through that Country –there used to be 250 Aboriginal languages before White Invasion.
By closing down communities, ancient knowledge that has been passed down through generations will get lost and people will be lost because of this disconnection that nurtures them physically, emotionally and spiritually.
Consequently, poverty, disadvantage, alcoholism, unemployment, etc. –which are contained within communities because of ongoing cultural connection– will be relocated and intensified and brought to the bigger towns.
History is repeating itself!
Australian award-winning Photojournalist Ingetje Tadros has spent four years working with Aboriginal people and has been documenting their confronting daily lives within their communities. Her concerns for Aboriginal people and their communities stretch from the old uninformed line that demonises Aboriginal men by insinuating that Aboriginal women and children are under great threat by the men in the communities, to a lack of affordable accommodation; Over seven per cent of the Kimberley population is homeless and ninety per cent of this homelessness is comprised by its First Peoples.
Kennedy Hill, or as the locals refer to it, ‘The Hill’ is significant to Indigenous people in the region.The presence of a large shell midden immediately adjacent to the community is testament to this significance; It’s been a living area and a sacred place since before White Invasion... since time in memorial.
Aboriginal people all over the Kimberley are now in fear of losing not only their homes but losing the significant connection to their land and sacred sites.
©Ingetje Tadros/Diimex
Winner Walkley Award for Feature/Photographic Essay:
In Tadros’ body of work, every picture tells a story that is rich in detail.
It takes determination and patience to get stories from remote communities – you have to earn the trust of every single person there. It’s so rare that photojournalists can invest the time to do a story like this and we are rewarded with an insider’s view of this hardscrabble life.
https://vimeo.com/129536331
Viewers are warned that the following images may contain images of deceased persons.
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68 imagesKennedy Hill is an Indigenous community in the remote town of Broome, in the far North West of Australia. It along with approximately 100-150 Aboriginal communities in Western Australia is part of a sweeping government policy of settlement closure and dissolution of Indigenous Australian communities. Closing down communities similar to Kennedy Hill is devastating for the people who live in them. It represents a physical, emotional, spiritual and painful disconnect for Aboriginal people from sacred land. I documented the Kennedy Hill community because it is representative of the widespread decimation of Indigenous peoples communities in remote Australia. The photographs here are evidential of a poverty-stricken people who have long endured systemic social and historical human rights abuses. The statics are alarming. Over seven percent of the Kimberley population is homeless, and a staggering ninety percent of this homelessness is comprised of Indigenous people. Indigenous people in the Kimberley and all of Australia’s remote communities are confronted with the physical loss of their communities. They are also confronted with cultural and spiritual appropriation. As confronting as some of my photographs are here, I hope that they will communicate the plight of the people in them. And act as a catalyst for debate and- and as an agent for social change – no matter how small. Awards: --------------- Winner Walkley Awards for Excellence in Photojournalism -Feature/Photo Essay- 2015. Winner of Amnesty International Media Awards 2015, Photography Category Winner of the 2015 West Australian Media Awards - Best Feature Photographic Essay. Highly Commended at the 2015 West Australian Media Awards. Finalist in the United Nations Association of Australia Media Peace Awards 2015 Photojournalism Award category. Finalist at 'The Last Picture Show' in the Cat. Photo Book- New York Photo Festival 2015 Exhibitions - Screenings - Kennedy Hill: ------------------ Dysturb, Paris 2015 New York Photo Festival - The Last Picture Show - 2015 Seoul International Photo Festival 2015 Visa Pour l'Image - The best of photojournalism worldwide-Perpignan, France 2015. Screening of Kennedy Hill Digital display at The Louvre in Paris, part of celebrating The Exposure Award 2015 Ballarat International Foto Biennale Melbourne- Kennedy Hill in projections program - 2015 HeadOn Photo Festival Sydney 2015 - Kennedy Hill screening Publications: ----------------- Fairfax Media http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/photojournalist-ingetje-tadros-documents-indigenous-life-in-remote-kennedy-hill-20150123-12wvxw.html Pentaprism: http://issuu.com/pentaprismphcommunity/docs/pentaprism_magazine__8 Life Force Magazine, March 2015 http://www.lifeforcemagazine.com/ Photojournale http://www.photojournale.com/ Digital display Louvre Museum in Paris 2015 ©Ingetje Tadros
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200 images“Canberra has forgotten us, everyone has forgotten us. I worry everyday about this community. I walk into town and speak to the lawyers, to the Government, to the Land Council, but no-one does anything.” “...I will not leave the community. I will die here, and I will do this for the sake of this community.” “...what they should do is rebuild the community, build good quality houses and provide the services that we too have a right to. This is our land, our community,” said Elder Roy Hunter Wiggan 88-year-old, Kennedy Hill. Broome, Western Australia. (Uncle Roy passed away 2016, RIP ) A loose edit on Kennedy Hill. ©Ingetje Tadros