Life in Melbourne doesn’t often include personal contact with our indigenous people. 

This all changed for me in 2008, when our family life took an unexpected direction as we hosted a number of young aboriginal fellas from the Northern Territory at our home. 

I had been involved with St Kilda City Junior Football Club for four or so years as a coach, team manager, sponsor and supporter. 

In 2007, our under 15 team had a pretty poor season. The coach of the team was studying to be a teacher and had a few friends teaching in the Northern Territory. A sketchy plan was made to recruit some young indigenous players from the Northern Territory to come to Melbourne to bolster the clubs playing group for the under 16 season in 2008. 

My thinking was that the plan was never going to go anywhere until I received a telephone call on the Tuesday or Wednesday before Easter in 2008 advising me that two young fellas from Tennant Creek were going to arrive the next day. I headed out to the airport to pick them up. 

Shane and Nathan had both just turned 16 and this was their first trip out of the Northern Territory. We learned that Shane was Walpiri from the Tennant Creek area and Nathan was Garrawa from Borroloola on the Gulf of Carpentaria. Nathan boarded in Tennant Creek. Both attended the Tennant Creek High School. Their eyes were as wide as saucers as we drove down the Tullamarine Freeway during peak hour. Their first impressions of Melbourne were “have a look at all the taxis!”.  My impression was that would be easier to visit Melbourne from Shanghai than Tennant Creek. 

On arriving home, the footy came out for a kick in the street with my eldest son Oscar who was a part of the junior football team. The language of AFL was common to all parties and the ice was broken. 

The first dinner together was the beginning of a joyous learning experience for everyone – but in particular our family. 

We thought a barbecue would be a safe option for the newcomers and a couple of different salads were prepared. We are a bit unsure as to what our guests would like. So there was one simple salad and another with lashings of sun-dried tomatoes, goat’s cheese and other Mediterranean delights. The young fellas weren’t so keen on salad at all but, on prompting, got seriously stuck into the one with all the trimmings. The tsatsiki and taramousalata dips were also a huge hit. Shane developed a serious attraction to the taramosalata and it became mandatory to have Shane’s “pink cream” in the fridge thereafter. 

During the Easter break, fellas joined us for some time on the Mornington Peninsula and attended their first training sessions with the team. They received their team kit and, after a couple of weeks, they confirmed that they wanted to stay for the remainder of the year. 

But what about parental permission, school and all the other practicalities? 

Stand by for further instalments.