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COPYRIGHT 2006 Federal Legal Publications, Inc.
The prevalence of petrol sniffing in Aboriginal communities, the health consequences of this practice and the policies which have been developed in attempt to stop petrol sniffing have been extensively described (d'Abbs & MacLean, 2000). Less well known is how petrol sniffing is understood and experienced by the community, and by the petrol sniffers themselves. This reflects a general paucity of research that examines the experiences of drug takers (for an exception see MacLean 2005). This article describes the social context of sniffing in a remote Aboriginal community in Arnhem Land, based on research that was carried out between 1999-2005.
Context
Ngukurr is a remote Aboriginal community in Arnhem Land, approximately 300 kilometers from Katherine in Australia's Northern Territory. The history of Ngukurr has been documented in detail by Bern (1974, 1976, 1989) and Senior (2003). The settlement of Ngukurr began as the Roper River Mission, which was established by the Christian Missionary Society in 1908. The Mission brought together the descendents of people from seven main language groups (Nunggubuyu, Ritharrngu, Marra, Ngandi, Alawa, Ngalakan, and Wanderang) and these people comprise the long term residents of the Ngukurr population today. In 1968, the Mission withdrew from the area and the administration of Ngukurr became the responsibility of the Northern Territory Welfare Branch and the Department of the Interior in Canberra. At this time the population of Ngukurr became divided into two distinct groups; the Aboriginal residents and the staff who were largely non-Aboriginal and who held most of the positions of authority (Taylor, Bern & Senior, 2000). Since 1988, Ngukurr has had local government through the Yugal Mangi Community Government Council. The settlement has a population of about 1000 Aboriginal people and a service population of about 60 non-Aboriginal people.
Ngukurr is a dry community, and the nearest outlet selling alcohol is 300 kilometers away. Until 2005, it was possible to apply for a permit to consume alcohol at home, but this system was generally only utilized by the non-Aboriginal population. Since this time, as a result of a decision of the local Government Council, the permit system has been removed and it is illegal for anyone to have alcohol in the community. Despite these restrictions, alcohol use remains an important part of many people's lives, however it is restricted to those people who have the resources and connections to organize transport for themselves out of the community. For these reasons, drinking alcohol is largely a pursuit of the older men in the community.
Methods
This research was conducted between 1999 and 2006 and is based on extended periods of participant observation during this time. Dr. Senior spent a period of two years in the community, and this has been followed up with numerous short-term field visits. Petrol sniffing is an illicit behavior which is purposely practiced out of sight of the general community. It was therefore not possible to talk to sniffers while they were engaged in sniffing. It was possible however to talk to petrol sniffing youth when they were not sniffing, older ex-sniffers, nonpetrol sniffing youth and adults from the community to obtain an understanding of the effects of sniffing on community life. The length of engagement that the authors had with the community made it possible to understand these explanations within the context of everyday life and to distinguish between statements that could be classed as rhetoric and those that reflected how people felt and behaved about this particular issue.
History of sniffing
Earliest reports of petrol sniffing in the Northern Territory among Aboriginal groups stem back to the Second World War, from the influences of American servicemen who were stationed throughout north Australia and were claimed to inhale petrol when alcohol was unavailable (Brady, 1992, p. 140). More verifiable accounts stem from the 1950s when the Patrol Officer Gordon Sweeney reported petrol sniffing at the Lee Brothers sawmill on the Coburg Peninsula. Aboriginal people who came to work in the mill from communities from north-east Arnhem Land and surrounding islands were documented as inhaling petrol. Knowledge of the practice dispersed through Arnhem Land when individuals returned to their communities (ibid.). It was not until the late 1960s and early 1970s that accounts of petrol sniffing became more prolific (ibid. p. 142). The majority of accounts describe individuals acquiring knowledge about the practice of sniffing elsewhere and importing the practice into the community. Brady (ibid. pp. 142-5) suggests a number of factors for the rise in petrol sniffing cases, including increased availability of petrol and population growth due to a decline in infant mortality rates. Combined with the formation of settlements, which centralized what were dispersed groups of Aboriginal people into larger communities, these factors resulted in high numbers of young people. This growth in the youth population and their proximity to each other facilitated the popularity of age-set groups who shared social pursuits.
Sniffing began in Ngukuur in the mid-1970s, introduced by a young man who had learned the practice while visiting another remote Indigenous community on the North-east coast of Arnhem Land (ibid. p. 101). Brady documents the communities' intervention at this time which involved separation and physical punishment, resulting in the cessation of petrol sniffing. Since then there have been various outbreaks and interventions by the community and different government agencies associated with petrol sniffing which are documented in Senior (2003). Importantly, for this article the substitution of Aviation Fuel (Avgas), aviation fuel that did not have the same intoxicating effects when sniffed, was trialed in 1992. Nonsniffable fuel was introduced in communities across the Northern territory (NT) from 1992 as a deterrent to petrol sniffing, resulting in the 1998 COMGAS Australian Government harm minimization strategy that subsides the purchase of Avgas scheme (see Shaw et al., 2004). The COMGAS scheme is an Australian Government harm minimization strategy that subsidizes the purchase of Avgas. Avgas is an aviation fuel which contains substantially less of the hydrocarbons used in petrol (leaded, lead replacement, and unleaded) that affect the central nervous system and cause intoxication. Sniffing Avgas does not result in any noticeable level of...
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