Musical Dispatch from the Front – Extinguishment – September 2025

[Frank Baarda]

Amici,

If the response to the previous Dispatch is anything to go by, there are many of you out there who harbor fond memories of Yuendumu, not least its Arch.

The most repeated question is why did it have to be removed?

What I failed to describe in the Dispatch was the triumphant demeanor of the witnesses to the removal. There was something akin to the crowds at a medieval decapitation or witch burning.

Wendy recalls someone describing the Arch as ‘unsafe’ which is probably the excuse used by the removers. Admittedly the Arch had over the years developed a slight lean of say 4°. About the same as the Tower of Pisa, which has stood for over 650 years. No one has contemplated demolishing the Tower of Pisa, and neither should they have removed the Yuendumu Arch which had stood for 67 years.

I feel the ‘unsafe’ bogey is overused. Using the same rationale as was used to remove our iconic Arch, all residents within cooee of the San Andreas Fault should be evacuated without delay.

From a Dispatchee:

The steel sections comprising the original arch are almost certainly components of Nissen or Quonset huts probably left behind somewhere in Alice Springs or along the Stuart Highway by allied armies during or after WWll. I suppose they made their way to Yuendumu in DAA times.

Another Dispatchee provided the following link:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JHPkOQEFv18

Building a Nissen Hut | Imperial War Museum

 

Our Arch was installed without fanfare and without the use of external safety officers, designers, consultants, architects, contractors, inspectors, job providers, anthropologists, administrators, HR experts, insurers, charities, brokers or do-gooders.

Our Arch was a symbol of Self Determination.

Much maligned Self Determination is that little flame of hope that the Assimilationists and deluded adherents to the Closing the Gap cult try to extinguish.

Ciao

Francesco

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yx6tIz8YuP0

Yuendumu (Ngurra-ngajuku – My home)

Black Storm Band (singer Gordon Robertson)