Shining a light on the horror of detention: Woomera and Baxter
Trigger warning as we remember the pain and suffering caused by Australia’s policies of mandatory detention from 1992.
As the #bigwalk4refugees passes through South Australia, we remember two of the most horrific examples of the ongoing suffering caused by mandatory detention: Woomera and Baxter. In addition, Inverbrackie and the Adelaide Immigration Centre, both in the hills of Adelaide.
WOOMERA Immigration Reception and Processing Centre (IRPC)
Australia’s policies of detention have tended to isolate refugees from communities, including from supporters. This isolation is part of the heartbreaking cruelty that they impose. Isolation is part of how these centres maintain secrecy about the human rights issues and suffering that people experience behind the razor wire. This isolation allows the unfair ‘othering’ of people - children on their own, women, families - who came to Australia seeking safety and shelter..
Woomera’s (1999-2003) remote location epitomised isolation. Surrounded by razor wire and nothing but the heat and dust of the outback, this was Australia’s largest on-shore detention centre - located 450kms north of Adelaide, near the village of Woomera.
The atrocities experienced by people held in this “hellhole” have been well documented: riots, hunger strikes, fires, self-harm and suicide attempts and allegations of abuse. In 2001, a mass hunger strike of over 300 people continued for up to 30 days; some participants sewed their lips shut.
In 2003, refugee advocate Betty Dixon received this heartbreaking appeal from people held in Woomera:
“We came here looking for freedom, safety, and justice. Instead, we found nothing but traps, built of steel bars, bad laws, and dishonest politics. Inside these cages, children have grown into adults. Young men's hair has turned white. Babies have been born, taken their first steps, spoken their first words. Most of us, separated from our families, have become like ghosts to our mothers, our wives, our children.”
10 years after Woomera’s 2003 closure, former detainee, Ramesh Fernandez - CEO and founder of RISE Refugee Survivors and Ex-detainees - reflects on his experience in this Sydney Morning Herald piece, ‘Others need not suffer my living hell’.
“Some nights we'd get together and speak about our families and I would notice our group getting smaller. My memories are full of riots, people being beaten and tear-gassed, and friends being taken into isolation for weeks where they get locked up in a tiny room. Have we moved on from these distraught experiences?”
Ramesh highlights the enduring legacy of suffering that this environment caused, ten years after the Centre’s closure:
“Some of my friends are experiencing major physiological medical conditions; some are battling mental health problems including depression and alcohol abuse. Many still do not have Australian citizenship, leading to trouble with employment and housing. They have tried to bury their scars. The cruel experiences of the Woomera detention centre have affected us all, and will continue to do so.”
To take a deeper look at the issue, these sources are starting points:
Australian Human Rights Commission, A Last Resort? National Inquiry Into Children In Immigration Detention
Julian Burnside and Daniel Reynolds, The Conversation, In Australia, animals have better rights than asylum seekers
Specific to the Woomera Breakout on 30 March 2002
I was Actually there! ABC documentary on the Woomera Detention Centre Breakout available on ABC iView here
Jess White, We Are Human Beings
Woomera was originally intended to hold 400 people. At its peak in 2000 nearly 1,500 people were held there, including about 500 children. Some remained in Woomera for the entire time it existed. In the beginning, visitors including media representatives and monitoring agencies such as the United Nations and Amnesty International were not allowed in.