Kristy Bloomfield is a traditional owner from two pioneering families, the Bloomfield and Liddle lines. Tanya Turner is an Eastern Arrernte woman who battled her way through a law degree at UWA, became the first Indigenous associate at the Supreme Court of Victoria, and came home to Alice Springs because she could not stay away.

Together they built Oonchiumpa, an Aboriginal community-controlled organisation that works with the most high-risk young people in Central Australia.

"Our young people, unfortunately, are just collateral in a bigger issue. The issue doesn't sit with them. It sits on a much broader level and with adults, not with children."

Tanya Turner

Their work sits at the intersection of two worlds. As Kristy describes it:

"Our young people are literally trying to live in these two different worlds. We're lucky because we've got language, we've got ceremony, we've got those cultural aspects. But then they're also trying to navigate this white world of going to school, earning money, doing all those type of things."

For a young person in Central Australia, the choice is stark. There are only one or two schools that go past Year 6. By eleven or twelve, children must decide whether to stay on country with family or leave for boarding school.

"For a young person in Central Australia you basically have to choose whether you're going to be strong in culture and your aboriginality or if you're going to be strong in the Western world."

Kristy Bloomfield

Oonchiumpa exists to bridge that divide. They come from cultural authority, respected traditional owners who know these young people, know their families, know their kinship connections.

"Our relationship with these young people, having that relationship but also having that family connection because a lot of these kids know who we are as traditional owners but also know our families. So leading with those relationships and being in a position to pull them up when they are doing naughty things and to not reward bad behaviour as many of our services do."

The challenges are not small. Most young people speak English as a third or fourth language. Many live in overcrowded housing where food is scarce and sleep is broken. When attendance at school for a whole week happens, that is a win.

"Rewarding good behaviour. When our kids do go to school for a week, a whole week, that's a little win for us. May not seem like a lot, but when you're talking about the kids that have these barriers, it is a good win for us."

Tanya is direct about what drives the founding vision:

"It's about letting Aboriginal people lead, but being an ally on the side. Whereas I think in Australia we've got that upside down completely."

On a recent country trip with eight young people, three went back to school, two got jobs, and all came off the police radar. Oonchiumpa runs at a fraction of the cost of detention.

"That's what happens when you lead with culture instead of compliance."

Kristy Bloomfield

For judges visiting Alice Springs, this is the starting point: two women with cultural authority and legal training, building an organisation that does what the system cannot. Meet young people where they are, in both worlds.