Fourteen years ago I was living in Darwin. We were at living at Rapid Creek. I was working for the Northern Territory Police, Fire, Ambulance and Emergency Services Training School. Part of my job was to keep the Registered Training Organisation’s status sorted. I was hoping I’d get to inspire and teach the trainers how to teach as they were stuck in death by PowerPoint Presentations.

I did get to teach one class once. Leadership, one of my specialties from my twenties. Unfortunately the feedback was so good I didn’t get another opportunity to shine. It wasn’t really done to upset the current status quo.

Instead I was sent to roll out the self determination of volatile substances in indigenous communities across the territory. We only had funding to set up an educational package rather than actually go and do it. I never understood why they just didn’t roll out opal fuel across the whole territory. Opal fuel can’t be sniffed.

The politics behind these changes was fierce. Some departments we worked with didn’t want the government to succeed so they didn’t really help us.

It was the second time in my life I had come across the terrible way politics works. What graft and corruption really meant. Why ‘Yes Minister’ was suddenly too true to watch again.

I do wonder what happened to that project?

After work and on weekends I’d wander rapid creek with Ebony 45SU and some sheet film. This is one of my photographs at that time.

Cyan was almost ready to be born.

Pandanas. Rapid Creek, Northern Territory, 2005. Photograph and text copyright © Len Metcalf 2019