When You're at Bush, You Can Be Yourself

We're out in Mount Isa, Kalkadoon country. Out at the place we call the Junction. A lot of us mob grew up out here. Today we were out with a few young people. It's during Youth Week, and we wanted to align our on-country program. It works in line with the school terms. We got a few young people out here having a fish, having a swim, connecting with one another. A few of the young fellas are meeting each other for the first time. That's what these programs are all about. Connection.

When you're at bush, we can all relate. You're listening to the trees, the wind. You smell the fire. You hear the kids laughing in the background. When you're at bush, it makes you feel grounded. It gives you peace. Sometimes you don't have to listen to music. You can forget about all the chaos we go through in our personal lives or in our work. When you work in a space with grassroots people, working with services or working for ourselves, we're creating a space where, when you have bush, you can be yourself. There's no judgement.

I feel when you're working with young people, you need to work in a way that they enjoy, that they connect with, that they want to do. Yesterday we asked the young people. If we were to do a program, what would that look like? Where would you want to go? What food would you want? And this is the outcome. We listened to the young people and we got the opportunity to take them out bush today.

I've always seen the gym as a place for exercise, health and wellbeing. But for us, it's an entry point. Our gym is a great way to get young people in the doors, into a social environment, a place where they can exercise, meet friends, build relationships with one another, and then build that relationship with us. The importance of these on-country programs is that we're always delivering programs in the gym, but when you go out bush, it's a time for us as workers, as individuals. The young people can be themselves. They can relax, let off a bit of steam.

When I reflect on my life as a young fella, I always had my dad around, my mum, my uncles, aunties, nana and pop. As time went on, some of them passed away. And as I've got older, it's made it a bit hard to connect with people and find people that really care for yourself and for others. So for these young people, I think it's important to have a good role model, a mentor in their lives.

Through BG Fit, the work we do and the partnerships we have. We are those role models. We have that lived experience. We've got the experience to take young people fishing, camping, hunting. But the most important thing is showing them that we love them, we care for them, we respect them. We're just here to help them make the right choices in their lives.

I don't agree with people saying they're "disengaged" or "disadvantaged" kids. Our kids are kids. Some young people go through challenges and we're here to support them. But in times like these, we just want kids to have fun. I think we forget about the main things. Let kids go out bush, have fun, be kids.

We floated around to hear from a few of the young fellas. One said it was nice to come out bush and get away from town, connect with friends. Another said it feels nice to meet new people at the same time as having so much fun. Asked if they'd come again. Yeah, every one of them.