Impasse at Wadeye

Nicholas Rothwell’s essay on education in Wadeye titled ‘Where Classrooms are a no-go zone’ in The Australian (March 13/14), unfortunately does not go far enough. I am a great admirer of Nicholas Rothwell’s writing, particularly on aboriginal art. I have an article he wrote on the APY desert painters still pinned above my desk. I was mesmerized by Rothwell’s description of a painting by Ginger Wilkilyiri, ‘The sound of moonlight striking ground by night’ Only a desert aboriginal mind could possibly paint that, or indeed, think that – and only a writer with such a strong sense of poetry as Rothwell, could describe the importance of such art (such seeing) in the Australian landscape. So I was disappointed that Rothwell did not describe more fully the reasons behind the unwillingness of young parents in Wadeye to send their children to school. 

The parents of which he speaks in this essay are described by Chris Pollard, education consultant for the indigenous Catholic community…