Скачать или смотреть Backpacker found! But search must continue for missing Indigenous men

Did you know, right now, there are many Aboriginal people missing in the remote regions of northern Western Australia?

In this week’s episode of Paint it Blak, Emma talks about how incredible it was to find missing German backpacker Carolina Wilga but says more attention should also be given to missing Aboriginal peoples.

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Carolina went missing on the 29th of June after her car broke down in the Karroun Hill Nature Reserve near the WA town of Beacon.

The search made nationwide news, and thankfully 12 days after reported missing, Carolina was found safe by a member of the public

While this level of concern for any missing person should be commended, it brings me to become aware of the many Aboriginal men missing in our state.

Many First Nations people live in remote and rural areas of Western Australia and as we have recently seen, remote roads, isolation and harsh weather conditions can make becoming lost or stranded a serious concern.

Since 2021, seven Aboriginal men have notably gone missing, particularly in the remote regions of northern WA.

It is an unfortunate truth that many people might treat these cases as inevitable in their own opinion, putting such disappearances down to the mental health crisis plaguing Aboriginal men or the nature of living outside of cities.

It is then ultimately left to the families of these missing men and quickly forgotten police bulletins to try and find their missing loved ones.

Why is it that we treat some disappearances with such concern, like those of Carolina Wilga or Cleo Smith for example, while others are treated as background noise.

There are some efforts being made recently to help find out what happened to these men.

Notably, WA Premier Roger Cook announced a $500,000 reward to help solve the current 361 long-term missing persons cases in the state.

Additionally, the Greens Party has called for a federal probe into the disappearances of these seven men.

But what we are seeing here are little rewards to compensate for the insufficient efforts made to find missing persons.

We are a massive state with many remote places, so maybe it's time for us to ask why our government isn’t putting more funding into finding a solution to these missing persons cases.

Do we need regional and remote search and rescue services? Do we need more preventative measures to stop people from going missing, or do we need better infrastructure to support emergency services in our regions?

Before I leave you with this message, I’d like to bring attention to these seven missing Aboriginal men:

Zane Stevens, last seen near Broome in 2024.
Jeremiah Rivers, last seen on a hunting trip in outback Queensland in 2021.
Wylie Oscar, last seen near Fitzroy Crossing in 2022.
Clinton Lockyer, last seen near Roebourne in 2022.
Wesley Lockyer, last seen near Port Hedland in 2022.
Brenton Shar, last seen near Geraldton in 2024.
Jimmy Taylor, last seen near Derby in 1974, now missing for 51 years.

If you have any knowledge of the whereabouts of these men, please call Australian Crimestoppers on 1800 000 333 or contact your nearest police station.

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