Image Credit: SMH
Hostel facing lawsuit after telling Aboriginal women to leave
The 16 women and children had travelled 300 kilometres from Yuendumu to Alice Springs to train as lifeguards for their community’s new swimming pool.
They checked into the Haven Backpackers resort, but a short time later the manager told them that guests already staying there had complained of being scared.
The group included several young mothers and a three-month-old baby. Most were young leaders, chosen specially for their standing in the Yuendumu community.
The resort manager told Bethany Langdon from the Yuendumu Young Leaders program the group would have to leave.
“The manager came out and told me that we weren’t suitable to stay there,” she told ABC1’s Lateline program.
“They said, because you’re Aboriginal, other tourists were making complaints that they were scared of us.
“I felt like I wanted to cry, because it made me feel like I wasn’t an Australian.”
The hostel’s excuse? They cater primarily for international tourists, which the Yuendumu women were not, therefore they were inappropriate guests. Somehow I very much doubt that if my white family turned up there we’d be turned away because we were Australian rather than foreign tourists.
Now this paragraph is mostly for the search engines (H.A.T. has a high authority ranking, so I’m using it): ethical tourists please avoid the Haven Backpacker Resort on Larapinta Drive, Alice Springs: it is a racist establishment, please don’t support it by staying there.
Reader: if you have a blog, why not post something similar to the above on your site? If enough other bloggers link to the ABC story, it will stay high in the search engine rankings even after the news cycle moves on, which is the least that the Haven Hostel deserves. I also hope that the Yuendumu women sue them hard.
I’m also really happy, in retrospect, that it took me absolutely ages to find their corporate website even though they have taken out spots in all the hostel directories: someone doesn’t know how to do SEO. I’m not posting a link to it, because that will make it easier for other people to find. If you find their corporate website, please don’t link to it either.
Update: according to the SMH the Haven Backpacker Resort is owned by one of the largest NT touring companies, Adventure Tours Australia, which purports to offer tourists “the unique scenery, wildlife and Aboriginal culture of each area”. They apparently can’t be bothered to train their employees to treat Aboriginal people who aren’t performing for tourists decently, though.
Congratulations, Adventure Tours Australia: you too are now added to the keywords.
Further Update (20/03/08) for the benefit of some people in the comments who are treating this as some unfounded claim by the Yuendumu party, and furthermore want to justify pre-judging this group based on stereotypes of aboriginal behaviour, here are the facts that even Haven Backpackers Resort does not dispute:
The Royal Lifesaving Society booked the accommodation and transport for the Yuendumu trainee party, and made sure that they got to the Haven Resort. Less than an hour later they had to come and get the trainee party and find them alternate accommodation. Not even Haven claims that the trainee party actually did or said anything offensive in that half hour or so.
Pre-judging people based on stereotypes is the essence of bigotry. If you want to try and justify pre-judging all aboriginal Australians based on the known bad behaviour of some aboriginal Australians, presenting some risk analysis rationale, go right ahead – but don’t pretend that your rationalisations are not attempting to justify bigoted racism.
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Here’s an article from the Sydney Morning Herald which has the motel listed as a three-star hotel in 2004. It must have changed very rapidly indeed to become aboriginal-only accommodation between then and the time that the site was redeveloped into the current Haven resort.
I’m sorry, I don’t understand the relevance of the listing from the smh article. Just because it is listed as a *** motel doesn’t mean that is wasn’t for ‘aboriginals only’. I don’t see why it can’t be both *** and for aboriginals…
The star rating systems are based on hotels/motels adhering to certain standards, including being open to all comers. If the ratings authority found that the motel was not accommodating the general public as guests, they would lose their rating (submitted by anonymous inspectors).
From a summary of the Australian star rating system:
Three stars also means around a hundred bucks a night.
Here’s some interesting testimony to a Senate Committee regarding the Larapinta Lodge a few years ago.[pdf] The Senate Committee was investigating the indigenous arts industry and particularly claims of exploitation within that industry.
Perhaps the manager didn’t want someone like Elaine at his motel because he couldn’t rip Elaine off the way that he could rip aborigines off.
Well done for shaming this dreadful place. I have been looking for somewhere…. some way…of letting people know what a racist establishment it is. Just appalling. Good idea re Thorn Tree…thats my next stop.
The standard of backpacker accomodation in Alice is not high, and sarah jones is right in as far as basic hygiene can be an issue (the recently closed Melankas, which was the best known in town, had nasty issues with bed bugs, for example – not a trivial issue, bed bug bites can permanently scar), as can security (assaults in place that cater to the backpacker party crowd are common) — but these issues are in no way restricted to places that cater to Aboriginals. She could well be right that racist policies are followed at many routinely – it wouldn’t surprise me in the least, race is always a big issue in the town.
lauredhel – I think ‘classy and stylish’ is a way of saying they don’t aim for that hard party crowd.
I know I’d probably think twice about budget accomodation here, I’d avoid places that didn’t have a personal recommendaton.
I agree that everyone is listening to one side of the story and is being quite unfair to the staff at Haven hostel, try putting yourself in their shoes! For one who takes a 3 MONTH OLD BABY into a BACKPACKER hostel!!!!!! 2 I have worked in the Tourism Industry for 6 years and generally most hostels in Australia dont allow Australians to stay there due to being a International Backpackers and I think they should have the right to move a big group of people no matter what colour or race if people feel threatened, ecspecially because they took a baby in a hostel that wouldve been sourounded by drunk travellers, that wouldve been another issue the hostel had to deal with. Most people that a writing these comments I think are a little to small minded, try living in Alice Springs for a while & your attitudes might change. Im not being rasist because even if a football team had checked in they wouldve been treated exactly the same………GET OVER IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
@55. That is utterly sickening. That stuff makes me livid and apparently it is a common practice to either rob artists in that way or violate copyright by reproducing people’s work for the tourist market without permission.
Something I don’t think has been noted yet in this thread is the fact that a journalist from Crikey rang up the hostel asking to make a booking, and making it clear that he was from Australia. He was welcomed, and also told that the Haven Hostel even offers low cost travel insurance to Australian travellers.
Via: ABC “PM” Show
If you are in Alice Springs, it is really easy to buy wonderful Aboriginal art direct from the artist, or from one of the Aboriginal community groups that deal directly with the artist. Never buy Aboriginal art not authenticated by the artist (they will be happy to do so on the back), or you may be getting copies. And be prepared to pay a fair price, and you will still get much better value than you would for the same piece in a major city.
Dee at #58
Someone who’s planning on sharing a room with people she’s known all her life?
Dee:
Women travel with babies because women birth babies and women care for babies. This isn’t a very complicated concept. Mothers aren’t confined to quarters for the first five (ten, eighteen) years of their children’s lives. You’re in a feminist blog, you might care to take a look around.
Which was not the case, as you can see.
*scratches head*
So … the drunks felt threatened by the three month old baby, so the baby was evicted?
When was the last time a white football team was kicked out of a hotel for looking “scary”, without actually playing up first? Please show your work.
Me too on the blog campaign for the boycott front.
Keep up the good work, and let’s keep up the pressure on the racists.
Mark Lawrence’s last blog post..Racism is alive and well in Australia
goodonyer, Mark! You make some good points in your analysis there.
Of The Above None has started up a blogspot just for the Haven Backpackers Resort, too. He’s put up lots of links to other accommodation in Alice. Lets hope that any other establishments which might have had similar racist practices learn a lesson from this storm of negative publicity for the Haven hostel.
sarah jonesNo Gravatar
Mar 11th, 2008 at 3:18 pm
Those of us who are white get our way so often we don’t know what it is like to not get our way, therefore we can make the deduction that if the hostel had a good arguement it would have clouded over the issue an no one would have ever heard about it.If those are the issues the hostel used to explain why they turned people away, why should that not be belived? White people huff gasoline too. Are white people going to be turned away?
Now back to the issue at hand: Racism is never ok. I think we all have a bit of it but we need to learn how to use rational thought instead of fear. I am writing from Canada, and it is here like the plauge.
I just spotted this story on the ABC:
Lauredhel’s last blog post..?Through heredity great things might be accomplished for the human race – as great things as have been achieved in the improvement of horses and cattle, fruits and flowers.?
What has happened with this one hostel actually happens everyday in Alice Springs with every hotel and hostel!
It is very hard to work in Alice Springs (which i have for 4 years) and deal with this as an everyday occurance. What would you do in this situation.
[anecdotes of certain aboriginal guests behaving very badly deleted as irrelevant and prejudicial - moderator]
There are a lot of beautiful aboriginal people in central australia whom i have the pleasure of knowing, they are disgusted at the way there race lives.
So before saying the manager is racist ask you self what you would do in that siutaion.
You’ll be pleased to know that this post is currently #5 in the google.co.uk search for “Haven Backpacker Resort” (not counting the paid link at the top). A BBC article comes in at #9. google.com.au has you at #3, with three other articles/blog entries about this story on the first page. Keep up the good work, everyone!
Just something about “reverse racism” (mostly @Elaine). So-called “reverse racism” has to be put in the whole social context of the event. Race relations are rarely symmetrical, and they are certainly not symmetrical in Australia, especially when you consider the relationship between “whites” and Aboriginal people.
In other words: “white” Australians are in a pretty powerful position, socially and otherwise, when compared to Aboriginal Australians.
So. Even if it’s the case that you were “not allowed” to stay at a hotel because it catered only for Aboriginal Australians, that would not necessarily be racism – and it certainly wouldn’t be racism in the same way as not permitting Aboriginal Australians to occupy public space which is supposed to be available to “all normal people”.
In a situation where Aboriginal Australians are blocked from “normal” public space, having a place where only Aboriginal Australians are allowed provides them a place where they can be safe from harassment – or worse.
Even if they are no longer technically blocked from “normal” public spaces, attitudes like the one we see from Haven Backpacker Resort shows why such safe spaces may be necessary.
Exactly the same principle applies to women-only spaces (which can also be controversial) – ie such spaces are not sexist, at least, not in the same way as a space which is supposedly for “normal people” but where women are not allowed.
Amanda (#68)
Has anybody argued that guests who behave badly should not be chucked out?
The problem here is that this particular group were not behaving badly, and were chucked out anyway. The manager prejudged this well-behaved group according to her stereotypes of how aboriginal people behave, and that pre-judgement is what was racist.
So the moderator is clearly one sided when the moderator is clearly not printing both sides of the story – this website is a joke! You are only listening to one side – proving it by not printing what i wrote!
Amanda, your anecdotes were irrelevant. None of us are ignorant about the horror stories about aboriginal violence and vandalism – we hear them all the time.
But those are things that only some aborigines have done. Judging a different group of aborigines according to what some other aborigines have done is actually the essence of racism, despite your protestations otherwise.
Football teams have a history of drunken vandalism and sexual assaults in hotels and hostels all over the nations. As Lauredhel said upthread, show me an example of a football team kicked out of a hotel BEFORE they mucked up, just because “that’s what footie teams do”. Go on. Just one.
I suggest you also actually read our Commenting Guidelines before commenting again. Hate speech is not welcome here. There are plenty of free blog platforms out there if you want to get your opinion out on your own merits instead of piggybacking on ours.
Way to go with your TV and internet based education on the matter, y dlts. Y nvr-ndng vts f stpdt hvn’t cl. sggst y ll g nd st n n brgnl cmmnt fr wk nd spctt, tht s ftr y p fr yr prmt t wlk n strln sl bng n strln nd ll, y knw, th sm sl th NZCS fght fr. Th brgnls r NT grt r rspctbl ppl – th r prmtv, ttll rrspnsbl wth *nythng* th tch nd th wll nvr ntgrt – nd t kp spndng (txpyrs) mn n thm s cmplt, ttl ∓ ttr wst. Th crrnt brgnl gnrtn hs bn bght p t ht wht sct nd wll nvr b hpp n mttr wht w d. Hv w sn sgnfcnt pstv rslt frm ll w’v trd t d, t dt? Np – ll hv t d s wlk t n th strt t s thm drnkng, bshng nd rpng ch thr. Th gvrnmnt s stll rlsng stds tht shw pdphl, lchl, ptrl snffng nd sxl bs fgrs hv hrdl hd dnt pt n thm. ll w hv t shw fr ll th mn s cpl f dt pntngs nd sm dncng, nd whl lt f smshd p hss t n th mddl f n-whr wth wlls knckd t nd frd flcns prkd n ktchns. Th d nthng ll d nd hv n ncm, s th wt fr smthng lk ths t hppn s th cn cr rcsm nd sqz vr lttl nc f ttntn nd cmpnstn s th cn frm t t kp th sppl f crs, br nd lstrn flwng fr lttl lngr. Stp pndrng t thm, stp gvng thm mn, stp hlpng thm t, stp blvng ll y s n TV nd thn tryng t psh glt n strl s whl nd stp drggng bsnss nms thrgh th md nd bycttng thm whn y hv nl hrd N sd f th str – th n tht blngs t th vr s hvl bsd md. I’m informing Haven of this article, and hope Haven sues your asses for slander.
Yet another commentor who thinks that what other Aborigines allegedly do or have done has any relevance to what happened to this particular group of aboriginal lifesaving trainees.
The Royal Lifesaving Society booked the accommodation and transport for the Yuendumu trainee party, and made sure that they got to the Haven Resort. Less than an hour later they had to come and get the trainee party and find them alternate accommodation. Not even Haven claims that the trainee party actually did or said anything offensive in that half hour or so.
This is not some unsupported allegation that you can wish away by pointing at stereotypes of Aborigines. These were youth leaders from a dry community who were judged based on what they looked like rather than on anything they did.
For management to have them removed, the aboriginals would have to have been doing something to draw negative attention to themselves in the first place. If you watch the news clip with interviews with the ‘victims’ – they would have to be the most un-convincing people ever to go before a camera and the fact they only show the one side of the story, it reeks of bullshit to me.
They then would have been all annoyed with white man for inconveniencing them once again, so they use their oldest trick in the book – cry racism and try to draw as much attention and compensation from it as they can.
Any business owner in this town who keeps up with current affairs wouldn’t dare try and evict someone from their business based purely on their skin colour. Th brgnls mst be cmpltly rtrdd t sggst ths s th cs.
You all jump to the conclusion that “ooh, it’s from ABC, it must be true and correct!” – you’re all wrong, the media is wrong and to be dragging Haven’s name through the mud like this is slander.
[Ableist abuse disemvowelled. I'll leave tigtog to decide what to do with the rest of your racist, ignorant spew, as it is her post. ~lauredhel]
lauredhil & tigtog – O.K, I admit that was an indirect insult to retarded people. Sorry. But what if I were to say their average intelligence is akin to that of a bag of hammers? Then I’d be desciminating against construction tools, even more so that I specified hammers. But then that would be an insult to hammers, having worked with them before. Kywrd thr bng: ‘wrkd’, s n, hmmrs wrk, brgnls dn’t, gt t? Har Har..
gnrnt spw? ‘ll brk t dwn fr y, brght sprks. t’s rght n m drstp. gt t wtnss t ll frst hnd. I don’t get my information from a Jewish media news report to be brainwashed into believing the half-ass, left-biased view of these matters frm th thr nd f th cntr. t’s nt spcltn r ssmptn n mr. ftr thrt dd yrs f lvng lng sd thm, hv qt n ndrstndng n hw brgnls fnctn. t’s nt fckng rckt scnc. Th r *tdsl* prdctbl. ‘v sn ths hppn cntlss tms. S wht r yr srcs gn? ctll dn’t nswr tht. ‘ll d t fr y. Th mst nrlbl src n th plnt. Mnstrm md. t’s fll f hls nd lvs .% nsd wth t’s cvrg f n sd f th th str, spcll n css lk ths nvlvng rcsm. Thr sds t vr str, rght? Yrs, mn nd th trth. S fr w’v nl hrd th “yrs” sd, whch s lwys th frst t srfc nd s sll fll f sht. t sprks nvstgtn nt th “mn” sd t hpfll nd vntll gt t th trth. Snc w hvn’t sn th thr tw (bcs bsd md dsn’t llw fr th thr tw, s th r bsd, rght?) y shld qt bycttng bsnsss whn y hv n cncrt vdnc.
And what is the deal with ‘disemvowelling’ my posts?
Y rll cm crss s pr f brn-cll-cnt-dfcnt lbrl dchs n th rg.
Grw p. You’ve sparked an argument by attempting to boycott a business without any reliable evidence and I’m posting to give it some contrast s m pssd ff t yr mmns stpdt n dng s
[disemvowelling and text emphasis added by moderator without further comment]
Racism, ableism, anti-Semitism, AND misogyny! These threads sure do attract the very best sort of commenters.
does anyone knows if there is any other information about this subject in other languages?
Sick and pathetic. Consider it blogged. How ironic that a company that touts “aboriginal culture” would turn away those on whom it exploits for its marketing.
Yaz Okulu:
I don’t, but which language are you looking for? Google’s Translate This Page feature may be of some use (I’m not sure which languages it has available; I’ve only used Google in English.)
If you’re Googling in one of the available languages, you can take the url from the top of this page, plug it into a Google search box, then hit Translate This Page where it appears next to the URL.
A lot of the idiom might not come through, though.
hvn dd th rght thng s fr s m cncrnd. fnd mtl nxt tm.
[disemvoweled and given The Mark of the Troll by moderator]
I am a US citizen who visited Australia once alone and three times with my mother and sister. We have been harrassed by only white panhandlers, and mostly in Melbourne and Sydney.
Im actually really appalled at the backlash that Haven have received from this!! Not because i condone racist behaviour but because I have stayed at Haven and I know full well they are not racist people! Things have been taken out of context and people sometimes need to listen to both sides of the story!!
I myself come from a multi-cultural background and do not condone any sort of racist behaviour, but we are all more than aware of the way that the media can completley blow a story up to be something that it isnt, or make it seem so much worse than what it is!!
Im all for people voicing their opinion but to get personal with the staff is just down right pathetic.
Shame on the people who dont know where to draw the line! and the people that dont listen to both sides of the tale!
No, all you know is that they did not behave towards you in a racist way.
Who has got personal with the staff? Nobody has mentioned the name of the manager who actually asked the group to leave.
How much “both sides” can there be? The group was there for well under an hour before they were asked to leave, and even Haven doesn’t claim that they actually did anything wrong. Even the initial defence that other tourists staying there complained has been retracted.
All they are left with is standing on their right to refuse service to anyone at their sole discretion. They certainly have this right, but that doesn’t mean that they are immune from criticism when they exercise that right in a racist way.
Maybe noone here has got personal…i havent bothered to read all of the comments, but there are people out there thaty have! and i find that downright disgraceful
Both sides – didnt haven release a statement that said they didnt ASK the people to leave? Did anyone perhaps take notice of this and think for a second..hmm mayne things were blown out of proportion..taken out of context etc?
k s hv styd t th hvnth wr wndrfl stff wh hlpd m fnd jb nd hm n lc sprngsfr tht m vr grtfl mt mzng trvllrs thr s wllfrm ll vr th wrldrpsfrcmlbrndldsydnth prt bt th ntrntnl trst stff s lm xcs cs n ts nt trhwvr wll s tht wht hppnd sms t b nthng mr thn bsnss dcsn blwn t f prprtnbng nrth mrcn s th rcsm crd gt plyd vr d nd ts gttng trd hv dlt wth mn brgnl ppl n strl nd mst f thm r wndrfl nd mzng ppl ls knw tht hvng bn mggd b fr f thm n dld nd thr n lc sprngs tht thr r sm t thr wh hv srs dslk f trstss hvng nl hrd n sd f th str m lft t spclt f nythng ctll hppnd btwn th grp f trsts wh md th cmplnt nd th grp f wmn wh wr skd t lv th hstlfrm bsnss stndpnt ts n brnr s th hstl mks ll ts mn frm th trsts wh cm t lcs f ths grp f trsts mks cmplnt bt th hvn t wll ffct th rpt ntrntnl bsnss mch mr thn grp cmng fr n stprhps ths wmn wr ld nd ggrssv s hv sn mn f th brgnl wmn hr bt th pnt whr tr t vd cntct wth thmsd t sth pnt s tht smn md bsnss dcsn nd t ws blwn w t f prprtnth hvn nd dvntr trs mk s mn ppls lflng drms cm tr b shwng thm th rl strl nd fr thm t b rcst r nt brgnl wld mk bsltl n snst sms rll shtt tht ppls rpttns nd lvlyhds r trnshd bcs smn m hv bn ctng lk n dt nd clld n t, thn dcdd t pl th rc crdth pnt s w nl gt n sd f th str nd thr s lwys mr thn n sd s bfr w dstr th rpttn f smn w shld knw wh th dd wht th dd bfr pssng jdgmntbt ls s clrl sn hr hmn ntr s t ts fnst whn w xpld t th frst sgn f smthng tht sms pltcll ncrrcty r ll mr thn wlcm bck n th rl wrld whnvr y chs t cm bck t t
[Disemvoweled by mod. ~lauredhel]
y r pssy and jst s clsd mndd s th ppl y r ccsng f y cnt vn prtn ppls pnns… fl srry fr y…disemvowel this y bgtd rcst lsr…
[comment disemvowelled by moderator ~ tigtog]
Hey, you know you’re keeping this post in front of readers by repeatedly commenting on it, don’t you?!
Thanks for that, I have a terrible memory and might have forgotten the name of the place to boycott when I eventually make it into Central Oz.
funny how neutrality comes off so much like ugly bigotry sometimes…
I’m way behind here — still trying to work out by what logic anti-racism is ‘closed minded’, ‘narrow-minded’ and ’small-minded’.
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