25-06-2025
At the heart of Halls Creek's youth crime problem its children are hoping for solutions
As the setting sun turns the sky above Halls Creek red, Aldo Macale drives along the edge of town, waving at the young people and families he knows well.
A couple of children jump on the back seat, giggling and thanking the Jaru man as they buckle up.
As the Halls Creek Shire's sport and recreation manager he's offering lifts to the hall in town, 2,700km north of Perth, where the town's young people have gathered for a meeting.
The goal, in a community where youth crime has been a perennial problem, is to get a sense from the kids themselves of what they need and want from their town.
"I would like to have a big playground and a big shop we can shop at," says 10-year-old Charlotte, one of Aldo's five children.
With a pen in hand and sustained by damper and stew, local kids are dreaming of big things for their home town.
Marlee, 16, thinks even with the limited facilities available, Halls Creek is "pretty awesome".
"Being on your land is good. You feel like you're at home and 'this is my Country'," she said.
But the town has its problems, with overcrowding, poverty and crime affecting its young people.
"Walking around … the big kids stealing cars and stuff," says a child under the age of 10 when asked what there is to do in Halls Creek.
In recent months, the community was angered by a string of car thefts, while a break-in at the community's language centre prompted elders to call for change.
WA Police data obtained under Freedom of Information shows that between December 2022 and July last year, 172 arrests were made under Operation Regional Shield throughout the Halls Creek sub-district.
There were 232 burglaries recorded and 63 motor vehicle thefts over the same period in a town of around 3,600 people.
Overcrowded homes, unemployment and chronic illness have all been listed as causes for youth crime.
Youth crime is part of everyday life for many Halls Creek kids, but they don't want it to be normalised.
"They think it's really cool until someone's going to get hurt but, yeah, it's not cool," Marlee says.
It's sad and frustrating for the teenager.
But like many other young people in town, she wants to be part of the solution.
"They like to steal cars and steal from the shops," Charlotte explains.
"[So] maybe put a fake car machine so they can feel like they are actually driving a car, but they don't actually have to take it."
Shire chief executive Sue Leonard says youth voices are often overlooked in the Kimberley-wide efforts to assist at-risk children.
"If you don't ask them, how do you create the environment that allows them to grow and be their best selves?" she says.
Since he moved back to the East Kimberley with his family five years ago, Aldo has been not only listening but also supporting Halls Creek's kids.
"I guess their dreams are big, but there are people in the community who can help them," he says.
Aldo says even the young people facing complex challenges often have simple needs "of lighting the fire under a tree … telling stories around the campfire."
"They like to come and just be a kid … the majority of them don't get that in their normal lives," he says.
A new night place is set to open soon, giving local kids somewhere to gather after dark when most of the crime and other risky behaviour takes place.
It will be modelled on the Fitzroy Crossing Night Place, which has helped to significantly reduce youth offending since it opened in the town earlier this year.
Jungarni Jutiya Aboriginal Corporation will run the program in collaboration with other agencies, using funding from the Kimberley Juvenile Justice Strategy.
"As of March last year, there were 28 [stolen vehicles in Fitzroy Crossing], and March this year it was three — that in itself speaks volumes," chief executive Lucy Navoka says.
Jungarni Jutyia worker and mother Madrina Martin grew up in Halls Creek and remembers having more available to her as a teen.
"They are most probably really bored, that's why the crime rate is high," she says.
"We hope it's going to make a change in the crime, and hopefully we'll have kids happy to enjoy the night program."
The key is consistency: the night place is the latest in a series of attempts to bring change to the streets of Halls Creek, after many programs have collapsed or failed to make an impact.
Consistent funding, for both the programs themselves and the surrounding infrastructure, is the key for local leaders.
"We need more housing and jobs that have a future for our young people," Sue Leonard explains.
Sport looms large in the dreams of many local kids. Halls Creek has produced a string of AFL footballers, many of whom regularly return home to run clinics and inspire locals.
But their immediate future will involve a common step for many children in town: heading away to boarding school.
"I'll be schooling away," one 11-year-old says.
He's joined by his friend, who plans to go to Sydney or Melbourne to study.
Charlotte says she wants to stay in Halls Creek and her mum, Dilly Butters, who had left town, hopes more local capacity will mean her daughter won't have to leave.
"What's wrong with being successful in your own town?" she asks.
Chloe Mandijarra, 19, has just opened her own business through Job Pathways' Women's Hub and hopes it can turn things around for her family.
"There was nothing much to do at home and not much money coming in," she says.
"I wanted to do this because of my little brother and sister; they are the reasons why I started."
Marlee also hopes to inspire other young people, starting from the kids at the local pool where she works after school, and who look up to her.
"I really do hope Halls Creek gets better and the kids realise 'Oh, this is our home town'," she says.
