Banatjarl Family Resource Centre

A family healing place that makes culture strong
Banatjarl is approximately 12,000 hectares of land less than an hour's drive away from Katherine. The homestead area contains 3 old cottage houses and a large workshop shed with a kitchen in a single room demountable with power, water and satellite telephone.

Banatjarl aims to provide the following:

  • Safe place for women and children survivors of violence to recuperate
  • Place for training and programs and support to break the cycles of violence & dependency (applies to Family Violence and alcohol)
  • Place to pass on and strengthen culture
  • Place for old people to have a break
  • 'Mother' Women's Resource Centre
  • Offender programs
  • Youth programs
  • Conferences and meetings

Women and children escaping family violence have sought refuge at Banatjarl and, although there are no structured programs there, found it a place of safety and healing. Old people find the place good to escape the 'humbug' and alcohol abuse that they are often surrounded by in town and on some communities. People who want to 'get off the grog' come to Banatjarl. At Banatjarl many people find that they can reconnect to cultural life, spend time fishing and gathering food and regain their strength and dignity in a safe and healing environment. There are recurrent requests from various organizations that wish to use the area for youth - both for school holiday camps and as part of more formal programs such as Juvenile Diversionary Programs. Several meetings and conferences have been successfully held at Banatjarl.

Recent History
Banatjarl is traditional Jawoyn land. In common with many other Australian Indigenous peoples, the Jawoyn were dispossessed of Banatjarl when it was arbitrarily ceded to the Commonwealth and put under pastoral title. It then became known as King Valley Station. In 1997 the Jawoyn Association went through the process of Registration of Land Need with the Indigenous Land Corporation (ILC). In late 1998 the ILC returned the freehold land title for the area covered by the King Valley Station to the Jawoyn Association. Banatjarl Aboriginal Corporation had been formed and incorporated that same year under the Aboriginal Councils and Associations Act to manage Banatjarl on behalf of the Jawoyn people.

In response to ongoing requests from Jawoyn women, the Jawoyn Association formed a Women's Council in 2003 to address issues of concern to Aboriginal women. One of the first recommendations of this Council was the establishment of a Women's Advisory Resource Centre at Banatjarl. The concept has evolved since then to a more inclusive Family Resource Centre.