Homeless in Australia. Stories from an itinerant camp in Rockingham

These people are the canaries in our coal mine. We all know our country should be the rich superpower of the Southern Hemisphere, and yet here a growing number of our unwanted, our poor, are struggling to stay warm in their tents as the mice attempt to access their food.There are junkies here. They live in a collection of joined tents, surrounded by scores of bicycles. The other homeless told us that these people party all night and sleep all day.Why should they? This is the end of the line. If you don’t party now, then when will you party?But there were other people there in expensive caravans, with pedigree dogs who bark at everyone, and this is good too, for not everyone is here to say hello. Two people told us of a man with a machete who was banging on the sides of their vehicles as he searched for some druggie.The other thing that was funny was that they are all wondering when they will be moved on. But they won’t be next week, because next week is Homeless Week.Anyhow, we had been meaning to go there for a while to capture their stories. Many, because of the shame of being homeless, refused to do a recorded interview, so these four stories, and one audio recording, are from those ones who did want to talk.Michael Gray GriffithRockingham WA 30/07/26 This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit cafelockeddown.substack.com/subscribe