Aboriginal initiation ceremony divides opinion in remote town


Australian Broadcasting Corporation

Broadcast: 22/01/2014

Reporter: Norman Hermant

A recent Indigenous initiation ceremony in a small town in the Northern Territory left three boys in hospital raising questions about what is an acceptable rite of passage.


LEIGH SALES, PRESENTER: Two days before Christmas, a group of boys in the Northern Territory were subjected to an Indigenous initiation ceremony involving circumcision. But the ceremony went horribly wrong for three of the teenagers. Their injuries were so severe, they had to be medically evacuated to a hospital in Darwin 700 kilometres away. The incident was reported to the authorities, but the investigation decided the injuries didn't constitute child abuse. Norman Hermant reports.

NORMAN HERMANT, REPORTER: Borroloola is like many other remote towns in the Northern Territory. Two communities, Indigenous and non-Indigenous, live side by side and very much apart.

And the gulf between them has been highlighted by an Aboriginal initiation ceremony that went badly wrong, a ritual circumcision in which at least three boys were seriously injured.

The ceremony is a sensitive subject here. Few will talk openly about it. William Miller, the town's ambulance driver, is one of those who's willing to tell the story. Last month, he responded to an emergency call just outside of town. The ritual circumcision had ended with his own grandson whom he'd raised from birth, cut and bleeding heavily.

You were angry?

WILLIAM MILLER: I was. I just seen red when I seen my kid sitting in a pool of blood. How would anybody else act? I mean, I wasn't happy at all with the whole people who done the job.

NORMAN HERMANT: Most boys go through the ritual circumcision at around the age of 10. Bryce Miller, William's grandson, is 17. For years he battled his family to take part in the ceremony. When it finally took place last month, the experience wasn't what he'd imagined.

BRYCE MILLER: I seen the blood squirting out of the wrong side. Yeah, it was bad, squirting out bad. Heaps and heaps. Yeah, I was losing a lot of blood, yeah.


BRYCE MILLER: Yeah, it is scary.

NORMAN HERMANT: Bryce and two other boys were cut so badly they were flown to Darwin for medical treatment. That outcome is not a surprise to Peter Fitzpatrick. He's Borroloola's former doctor and has practised medicine in the Northern Territory for nearly 15 years. He's seen incidents like this before.

PETER FITZPATRICK, FORMER BORROLOOLA DOCTOR: It's not unexpected that when you're doing a lot of procedures and there might be groups of 10, 15, 20 boys, that there will be some complications. So the complications that you would see through those surgical procedures are mainly bleeding and infection.

NORMAN HERMANT: None of the current staff from the local clinic will speak publicly about what happened, but several staff members spoke with the ABC anonymously and someone with knowledge of clinic activities contacted the Northern Territory's Department of Children and Families. The Territory's Attorney-General says the cases were investigated, and so far, no evidence of abuse has been found.

JOHN ELFERINK, NT ATTORNEY-GENERAL: I've lived in the Northern Territory my whole life and I am aware of a number of cultural practices that would probably offend the sensibilities of people living in southern states. I don't approve personally of some of these cultural practices. And if those cultural practices amounted to a criminal offence or if those cultural practices amounted to some form of child abuse, we'll step in.

NORMAN HERMANT: Clearly, some in the clinic have real concerns about the initiation ceremony. In the Aboriginal community here though, it's a very different story.

To the traditional elders in Borroloola, this ceremony is a crucial rite of passage when boys become men, something that's lost on the white community here.

GADRIAN HOOSEN, GARRAWA MAN: I don't think so they have any understanding at all 'cause this ceremony is important. and a lot of people in this community, mainly all the four different clan - tribe that lives here, they all happy about this ceremony.

NORMAN HERMANT: The children of Borroloola grow up under the pull* of a strong culture. In these homes, the ceremony isn't questioned. When mistakes are made, like in this case, which elders say was likely caused by an inexperienced relative, no-one believes the initiations will stop.

KEITH RORY, TRADITIONAL GARRAWA ELDER: The ceremony will go on forever, maybe till the day I vanish and the young generation come up, it's still going to go on, because you don't break that cultural lore. If you break that cultural lore, you'll have no culture in this country or anywhere else.

NORMAN HERMANT: Not everyone here accepts that.

WILLIAM MILLER: But I'm sure if had another son, he won't be going through that again.

NORMAN HERMANT: So even you as an Aboriginal man would say he can't go through with the ceremony?

WILLIAM MILLER: Yes. I could have - I'll stop that. What he's been through is hell.

NORMAN HERMANT: But for most of the boys here, ritual circumcision is simply part of their culture. There really is no choice.

LEIGH SALES: Norman Hermant reporting.

*EDITOR'S NOTE (Thurs 27 Feb): A correction has been made to this transcript, the phrase 'pull of a strong culture' was incorrectly transcribed as 'pall of a strong culture'. This correction has been confirmed by checking the item's original script.