Banana Boat People

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Banana boats are a regular site around the tropic waters and like
many other days a banana boat cut its way in and out of the passages
through the coral reef .
The captain navigated the boat with a great understanding of the
area

The captain explored the blue sky like a bird in light . Suddenly he
screamed out to the crew,

"Aye Yai Yai . Drill the holes . Come on hurry . "

In an instant the crew began to drill small holes into the bottom of
the boat . Slowly the boat began to sink under the water . High over
head the coastguard plane cut through the blue sky it made a line
towards the boat and then turned away in the other direction .
The banana boat was submerged with only the heads of the crew and its
cargo of runaways visible .

As the banana boat skipped over the reef it was undetected except for
an aboriginal girl called Pearl who was a native from Murray Island .
The boat would never have been spotted only for Pearl was on her way to
the Australian mainland . Sadly for her the journey was a one way trip
. Pearl had been abandoned by her tribe and sent to the mainland as a
punishment for stealing a watch from a tourist on the island . With
only enough supplies to get her to the mainland she slowly drove her
small motor boat to live out the life of an exile where ever she could
find a home .

Pearl felt something wasn't right and decided to follow the banana boat
.
To keep her spirits high she began to sing a song .

" Like a lizard on the water I am unwanted . Like a shark in cage I am
put . Like a boat in a storm, I am an eye of a shark, and like a bullet
from a gun I must shoot ".

Apart from the banana boat Pearl was all alone in a huge ocean in the
cosmos of life . Even thought she was unwanted by those who loved her
she had an inner strength to survive . She accepted tribal law and once
it had been spoken Pearl knew she had to pay the price for her crime
.
She stayed far enough away from the banana boat not to be seen . Under
the cover of night a small boat was sent from the mainland and she
watched as a number of people were taken from the banana boat to the
mainland . Now she had an idea of what was going on .

She murmured ,
"Mmm, boat people ."

She made for the mainland and reached the coast near Cairns . Unsure of
a welcome from mainland laws and white mans rules she kept herself from
the eyes of others for a while . Pearl returned to the bay where she
had seen the banana boat come and made her camp there .
She was amazed to find that banana boats full of people arrived almost
every week .
She discovered the boat people were all taken to a warehouse near
Cairns and from there they were sent out in trucks. Pearl decided to
get into one of the trucks and see what was going on .
So one night she waited at the warehouse until the truck arrived and
carefully she filtered in among the boat people who were getting into
the back of the truck . Once inside Pearl looked around at the faces of
the frightened people . Although they were of dark and white skin,
yellow and red skin they all had some things in common . They were
frightened and unsure and Pearl connected with them in so much as no
one cared for them .
As she could not communicate with any of them she used hand gestures .
Then she realised that their hands had been tied with rope .

Outside the truck a few of the men approached the back of the truck .
Sensing danger Pearl dived for cover behind a small group of boat
people peeping out from the shadows she saw an unshaven man pull up the
tarp at the back of the truck. He stood staring into the truck and
turning to some of the other men he said ,

"Have a look at this bloody lot . If I had my way they would be all be
shark bait mate . That's all they're good for. What do you reckon ?
"

A huge man holding a can of beer in his hand said ,

"How much are we getting for this load mate ?"

"Same as always mate . Half for us and the other half split up between
the boss and the courier . Ha Ha "

They all laughed aloud and a few more joined their group . They stood
around drinking beer for about half an hour . Throwing back can after
can . In through the main gate a four wheel drive made its way over to
the group . When it stopped and the drivers door was opened out stepped
a very well dressed man in a suit . Pearl couldn't believe her eyes
.

The man who stepped out was the tourist from Murray Island . It was the
man who had accused her of stealing his watch .

There he stood as large as life with the very same watch hanging from
his wrist . Pearl had to keep cool . She felt like jumping out of the
truck and laying her fists into him . But she knew that maybe if she
played here cards right she would have her revenge in time .

He must have been the boss because he handed out money and maps to the
driver and his offsider .
As soon as they had the money they got into the truck and off it rolled
along through the gate to the main road .

Fate had lent a hand after a mile or two when a huge red kangaroo
jumped out in front of the truck .
The driver tried to swerve to miss the roo and in the process it went
into a roll and overturned .

The boat people cushioned themselves together and were protected by a
mass of bodies that had entwined themselves in a human chain .
Although she was in shock Pearl began to untie the hands of the boat
people and one by one they all stepped out into the darkness of the
night . The driver and his offsider lay out on the highway like lepers
on the long road to Bowen .

A small child approached Pearl and smiled .
Pearl looked at the small girl and smiled back and said ,

" Hi "

Suddenly headlights blinded them .
In a flurry of flashing red and blue lights a cavakcade of cars came
rushing down the highway towards them . Soon the road was blocked by
police cars .

After taking a head count the police took the boat people to an airport
in Rockhampton were they were placed on a plane and taken to a
detention centre in Western Australia for questioning . This is just
what Pearl needed . She was able to tell the authorities who she was
and where she came from . Them after explaining the reason why she was
sent away from Murray Island the police sent an armed police unit to
Cairns to apprehend all the people involved with importing and
smuggling people into Australia .

With Pearl's help the police knew exactly the spot where the banana
boat came in .
Then disguised as local fishermen the police set up their headquarters
in tents near the bay . They waited and watched until the banana boat
arrived . During the time they were waiting Pearl was taught to play a
flute by one of the policemen . She was able to play scales on the
flute in just three days . She began to make up little tunes .

One night a call came on the police radio . The banana boat had been
spotted off a small island making its way towards the reef .
From that moment on it was action stations . Through high powered
binoculars the police were able to monitor the boat as it made its
journey through the reef . They saw a number of large packages being
thrown from the boat .
These were obviously left to be picked up by someone at a later stage .
The police were not concerned about those at the moment . Their main
objective was to round up the people smugglers and so they waited until
the boat people were handed over to their captors .
Then it was time to make their move . They had to be extremely fast and
deadly .
The element of surprise was in their favour when they struck . Heads
did roll that night as dozens were arrested and placed into police
trucks . After the media were informed it made front page news .
Television stations reported the story about how a young aboriginal
girl was chiefly responsible for the arrest of the people smuggling
ring .

The tourist who had accused Pearl of stealing his watch was brought to
court . He was the ringleader of the illegal operation and on the day
of his trial a large number of people from Murray Island had come over
to see for themselves what was going on .
Pearl was approached by some of the elders of her tribe who begged her
forgiveness .

It was so good to be made welcome again by her tribe .

They invited her back to live on Murray Island for the rest of her days
, Pearl accepted and on her return was presented with opals and jewels
from both the land and sea of Murray Island and given a title . She was
now to be known as Mother Of The Murray Waters . Each year they were to
hold a feast in honour of her .

By Paul McCann

THE END