In 1984 a group of Bardi and Jawi people walked out of the Lombadina Catholic Mission on Western Australia’s Dampier Peninsular to establish their own free community of Djarindjin. 

They left to end their subservience to the Catholic Church, exercise their right to self-determination and reclaim their cultural identity after years of being forbidden from speaking their language or practicing their culture. 

More than 40 years later, the tiny remote community of Djarindjin continues to thrive and has become a beacon for First Nations communities across the region and the country. 

However, as Djarindjin’s CEO, Nathan McIvor explains, it has been a gruelling journey, made even harder by the West Australian Government’s refusal to formally recognise the community until March 2024 – decades after its establishment. 

Yet, the community still does not have title over the land it is built on. 

‘Three hundred and fifty people live here but we don’t own the land or the houses. We don’t own the buildings but we’re having to maintain the community with our own money, by and large. 

‘We are living self-determination and financial independence, but we work for it,’ he said. 

The key to Djarindjin’s success has been a combination of good governance, a sheer unyielding community determination to do things the “Djarindjin way’’ and a strategic decision 15 years ago to invest in hot refuelling for helicopters servicing the oil and gas industry. 

A $4.5 million loan was negotiated with the Broome International Airport’s subsidiary company and when refuelling began, Djarindjin’s share of the profits started to roll in. 

‘Initially when we first started, we were getting 15%, then 30%, then 50% of the profits. Then, when I came on board in 2019, we were sitting at 70%,’ reports Nathan. 

‘Over the next nine years we paid off the loan, but we still didn’t run the airport or own all the profits, and in 2021 we asked Broome International Airport for a plan to transition into full Djarindjin ownership. 

‘They came to the board with a 10-year extension but no transition plan,’ he explains. ‘They offered to pay us an extra 15% taking our share to 85%.’ 

The board rejected the offer, and, in February 2022, the community took full ownership and operation of the airport. Revenue from the airport and other Djarindjin businesses ballooned from $2.9 million to nearly $20 million in 2024. 

The airport is a source of great community pride. 

‘We’re now running the only hot refuelling service in the Southern Hemisphere, there’s only one other in the Northern Hemisphere and we’re the only Indigenous owned and operated commercial airport in Australia,’ he said. 

Djarindjin also runs its own community store, owns the local roadhouse, campground, caravan park, and has a 50% share in the temporarily closed Kooljaman Resort at nearby Cape Leveque. 

With inadequate government funding, Djarindjin generates about 70% of its revenue from the airport with most of the rest coming from other businesses. Only 10% comes from government grants for community services. 

‘We get $300,000 from the state government, so we’re having to top that up by about $1 million each year to be able to maintain the community’s basic needs, and to cover the costs of maintaining land that belongs to the state,’ he reveals. 

The community now funds many of its activities, including the safe house, aged care and cultural programs from its own revenue. 

‘We are close to self-determining because we generate our own money. This gives us control over our community’s development creating more employment and more training options, and it distributes the wealth across the Dampier Peninsula’, said Nathan. ‘We went from 20 or 30 people being employed in 2019 to 140 currently and we’re running programs up and down the Dampier Peninsula.’ 

The community is currently negotiating the establishment of the Aalga Goorlil Sun Turtle Djarindjin Community Power Project and recently received a conditional offer of $5 million grant funding from the West Australian Government’s Lower Carbon Grants Program (LCG), allowing Djarindjin to build, own and operate a 100% community-owned renewable energy facility to supply most of the electricity needs of the Djarindjin and neighbouring Lombadina community. 

Djarindjin has described the project as a “transformative initiative that underscores our unwavering commitment to self-determination and self-empowerment”. 

Nathan said the community has turned the tables and is now in a position where it can dictate its own development agenda to governments and has even knocked back funding from the government for not meeting community priorities. 

‘The community is saying no to stuff that we’re not interested in, we don’t want to be beholden to the government, we want to be change makers for our own family, for our own selves.’ 

He argued that the community’s overwhelming hunger for self-determination and economic independence is not all about money but has a significant impact on health and culture. 

‘The “Djarindjin way” is as much about all of the socio-economic stuff that we talk about; the wellbeing, the mental health, the physical health, and kidney disease, those things are all important. We recognise that if we don’t do things about the health of our community today, in 20 years’ time there will be no young people to run the show.’ 

Economic independence is also leading to revival of language and cultural practices following long years of suppression by the church. 

‘Language and culture are coming back. Djarindjin now offers adult Bardi language lessons funded by their enterprises. We’re teaching local people in community to speak their own language which was lost over the mission years.’ 

Nathan says Djarindjin’s new 20-year strategic plan will ensure community priorities are addressed in a systematic way. 

‘We just don’t see any reason why we should have to do what the government wants us to do,’ said Nathan firmly. 

‘We will be a powerhouse in WA, providing funding to other community organisations,’ he predicted. ‘We’ll be different to other councils who receive their revenue from the government because it’s our money to spend as we decide.’