I think this was my first hard news story to be published. I was running the radio station at Halls Creek and studying journalism online at Griffith University. Style is a little clunky but this is the kind of story I still love to do today. Thank you Gerard Willett for giving me a break!
TEXT BY GEOFF VIVIAN
From Truckin’ Life February 2014
The most direct route from the Kimberley to central Australia is the Tanami Track.
About 800 kilometres of this important arterial road is gravel and dirt.
A Kimberley shire has a radical proposal to make it a toll way, charging road trains up to $2,000 to use it, so funds would be available to seal the road.
I explained how this would then open up a major trade route to south-eastern Australia.
The Koori Mail
Text by GEOFF VIVIAN
Police, the WA government and Aboriginal community organisations agree that night patrols are an essential service.
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Teams of trained Aboriginal workers drive through the streets of Perth and regional towns at night, stopping to speak to stranded countrymen who are often intoxicated or otherwise distressed.
They then offer them a lift home, or to emergency accommodation
In July 2013 the WA Aboriginal affairs minister ordered a review of the service, with a view to extending it.
Meanwhile the Commonwealth Attorney General, who part-funded the service in Broome and Perth, decided to cut funding for the patrols by 37 and 20 per cent respectively.
The Kimberley Echo
Text and picture by GEOFF VIVIAN
Halls Creek has not had enough houses for a long time.
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Many people live in caravans at workplaces and parked in other people’s driveways.
Halls Creek Shire had fallen into the practice of renting houses out to services it wanted to attract to the town.
Unfortunately this meant it was unable to fill important vacancies of its own when there was nowhere for outside applicants to live.
The shire evicted Russell Tremlett when it needed the house he was in for a new staff member.
From The Kimberley Echo