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That's good of the ABC to follow protocol. Had anyone else noted that the article a little while back in the Age where Nathan was at scotch that they followed protocol carefully. But then when Nathan was selected The Age splashed the old fella's name around?
YAY!
A magical voyage to the top - Nathan Djerkurra
Michael Auciello
21Mar07
Nathan Djerkurra and his mum, Jenny at home in Yirrkala.
Star Geelong recruit Nathan Djerrkura has come a long way, both geographically and personally, before arriving at Skilled Stadium. Reporter MICHAEL AUCIELLO discovered on a trip to the Top End, the 18-year-old's life experiences will stand him in good stead for the rigors of the AFL.
IT'S late November, and Nathan Djerrkura is sitting in the inner sanctum of the Geelong Football Club with his new teammates.
He has recently been recruited by the Cats with pick 25 in the draft and the wonder of an AFL career is all before him.
His fellow recruits sit with him, excited, nervous and anxious about the start of their new lives as league footballers.
One by one they introduce themselves to their teammates _ who they are, where they're from.
When it comes time to divulge their nicknames, there is a certain lack of originality.
Joel Selwood says people call him Joel. Jason Davenport's mates call him Jase. It's hardly ground-breaking stuff.
Then comes Djerrkura's turn.
``My nickname's Djidi,'' he tells them. ``It means black magic.''
Skilled Stadium is a long way from Yirrkala _ the small Aboriginal community on the east coast of Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory's Top End that Djerrkura calls home.
But talent doesn't discriminate on the basis of geography. When you've got it, you've got it, no matter where you're from.
Djerrkura's mum Jenny, along with the rest of the community, knew her son had it from a very young age.
``I'll never forget the time when they were playing senior football out here and Nathan was only probably 11 or 12 and the team wanted him to play senior football,'' she said.
``I just put my foot down and said, `I'm not having my little boy out there with all the big boys' and Nathan was just very, very angry with me over that, but I could just see that he just wasn't built. Nothing was prepared for him to be playing senior football.''
But, boys being boys, they found a way.
``I think they did sneak him on for a quarter,'' she said.
She need not worry about him being pushed around anymore.
Djerrkura came to Geelong a ready-made footballer. Built, fast and skilful.
``His father was a footballer, his brother was a footballer to some extent and he (Nathan) always loved watching football,'' Jenny said.
``He excels at any sport, like a lot of the Yolngu people do. But Aussie rules has always been his passion.''
To understand Nathan Djerrkura, you have to understand his past, his land and his people.
Yirrkala has belonged to Djerrkura's people, the Yolngu, for more than 40,000 years.
Before British settlement of Australia, they happily traded with the Dutch for many years, despite the obvious communication problems.
They have a long, proud and traditional history.
When the aluminium ore bauxite was discovered in the area 50 years ago, they fought long and hard to stop the development of a mine.
Ultimately they failed, and the Alcan mine that has been in operation since 1971 is currently undergoing a $2 billion expansion.
But their fight paved the way for future land rights claims around the country.
It is a fight that lives on a generation or two later in Djerrkura.
The 18-year-old is not a great fan of the mine, or the changes it makes to the landscape of the striking terrain of his homeland.
Sure, the trees that are knocked down are replaced when the mine moves to another area, but every time a tree is taken, so too is a piece of the Yirrkala people's history.
It is a history, a community and a people Djerrkura is extremely proud of. He lives for his people, and it is the good and bad in life in Yirrkala that drives him in his quest to be a top-rate senior footballer.
But Nathan Djerrkura won't be defined by things he can't control.
They will shape him, and his AFL career, but they won't make or break him.
His father died a little more than two years ago. It is a defining moment in any teenager's life, let alone when he was a community elder and influential spokesman for his people.
``Dad always took me out bush with him, out to the rural Aboriginal communities. He was teaching me all the stuff I needed to know,'' Djerrkura said.
``He taught me all about culture and he spoke to me in our language, and he just taught me all about what I need to know to survive out bush, and all the fishing, spear fishing.''
Dreaming stories were part of that traditional upbringing as well. But he says it's impossible to name one that means the most to him.
``There's so many. Usually we'd just sit around the campfire and he'd tell stories and play traditional songs,'' he said.
A heart attack struck the former ATSIC chairman at the age of just 54 _ unfortunately a common occurrence among Aboriginal men _ and sent a family, community and race into mourning.
``It was a shock and it really did impact on the kids in a big way, he was a great father figure, he loved his kids and he was just a great man,'' Jenny Djerrkura said.
``He was a great leader, he was very passionate about the development of his own people, especially in community development, so he had a lot of respect and we were all very proud of him.
``We were all very protective of Nathan after his dad died. We all felt it, but life had to go on, and we talked about that and we just realised we had to do the best that we could, especially Nathan, who was still at school, and he was comfortable with getting on with life.''
Djerrkura followed his older siblings Damien and Fiona in going to Kormilda College in Darwin for two years, before jumping at the chance to take a footy scholarship at Scotch College in Melbourne.
The first year away at Scotch was tough for Djerrkura, but once he embraced the new lifestyle, the school community embraced him and his culture.
Jenny Djerrkura was concerned about the level of media attention Nathan attracted when he was first drafted, having come from a prominent indigenous family.
She worried there might be too much expectation and pressure put on a boy of just 18 from the Top End.
But everything Djerrkura has done since arriving at Skilled Stadium has shown nothing but maturity and an understanding that while he has come this far, all the work is still ahead of him.
``He is a very focused person, but he's also got a real passion for his community and I think he's been able to balance that between what he wants to achieve himself, but also what he wants to be in regards to his own peers,'' Jenny Djerrkura said.
``Seeing the drugs and the alcohol abuse in the community is something that he would really love to change.
``He is a good role model, he always has been a good role model in the community and, OK, we've helped him along, but he's always certainly had that maturity about him that he's not going to get stuck into the substance abuse issues that's just so prevalent out here.''
Around him, Djerrkura saw childhood friends slip down the path of drugs and alcohol that is all too common in an Aboriginal community.
He has made no secret of his desire to use his status as an AFL footballer to rid his town of a problem that ruins so many lives in the outback.
Stuart Kellaway is a music teacher at the Yirrkala Community School, and is a member of Australia's most recognised indigenous band, Yothu Yindi.
Djerrkura's recent visit to his hometown with teammates Jimmy Bartel and Joel Corey will do wonders for kids that might be headed down a dangerous path, he says.
``Things like this visit are perfect. It's like gold. It shows the kids that this is where you can get, and the kids are seeing that they're not just on TV, the players are real,'' he said.
``That's something you can't buy mate _ those role models _ it's just gold. This will be talked about for the next few months.''
Djerrkura's rise through footy ranks to the AFL level won't just help youngsters face drug and alcohol problems. It teaches them fundamental principles to help get them through life, such as hard work and dedication.
``It's a complicated society, some out here still live the full traditional life. When you talk about an indigenous person getting into the professional side (of sport), you have to make a commitment, and it's not easy, they get homesick,'' Kellaway said.
``You could be about to play the most important game of your life and you get called back for a ceremony.''
The choice between tradition and a future outside the community is something Djerrkura's uncle Banambi Wunungmurra knows all about.
He did a pre-season with Geelong before the 1976 season, training alongside arguably the greatest Aboriginal player ever, Polly Farmer.
Wunungmurra's father died while he was playing footy in Brisbane and with the club unable to send him there and back for the funeral, he missed it and kept following his dream.
When he got to Geelong that dream was closer than ever, but he was struck a cruel blow when his mother died, and he was then faced with a gut-wrenching decision _ stay and try and fulfil his dreams and become an icon for his people back home, or return to attend the funeral ceremony.
``When I went to Melbourne to play at Geelong I thought `here we are, I'm going to be a star', but my mum passed away and I had to go back home because I missed my dad's funeral, I couldn't miss my mum's funeral as well,'' he said.
The pressure to be with family took away his last chance at making it in the big time.
Jenny Djerrkura says her son won't have that pressure, and, if necessary, Nathan will be brought home for a funeral at the last minute. His career will come first.
For Wunungmurra, Djerrkura's drafting will give him a chance to live out the senior career he never got to enjoy.
``I was hoping to become a role model for my people from this area, but it was tough, it was challenging for me. But looking now at my young boy Nathan, he has taken over. I'm proud of him,'' he said.
Wunungmurra was with Djerrkura in Melbourne when the youngster's name was called out during the national draft.
It was a moment no one associated with the family will ever forget.
``Oh, my tears just came out,'' he said. ``I couldn't even believe it. I cried with pride, tears of pride came out.''
Djerrkura's mum sat in the stands at TIO Stadium in Darwin a couple of weeks ago when the number 18 ran onto the ground for the first time as a Cat.
Not for the first time in the young man's journey, though, tears were involved.
It was one of those moments in life that are too good to describe. It's surreal when you live out the moment you have been imagining for years.
``I was very nervous, and when he came off the bench for his first run out it was too much, I cried, I just cried,'' she said.
``I just thought `here we are, we've achieved this first step of his dream' and it was just heart-wrenching really.''
She knows Djerrkura has a lot on his shoulders, bearing his family name and the natural expectations that come to a draftee at any AFL club around the country.
But he doesn't just have one family behind him. The whole of Yirrkala will be Djerrkura's personal coach, giving him a pep talk when he's down and a standing ovation when he's up, even all those thousands of kilometres away.
``Everyone is just extremely proud. I guess the community more than the main town, he's just, how can I describe it, it's because of his father, and the standing he had in the community, that's progressed down the line to Damien, Fiona and Nathan _ Damien and Nathan in particular because they are the males,'' she said.
``So Nathan's just like a son to all of them and he's actually got that hero factor now.
``Not to the extent their father had, but they do take it seriously, both Damien and Nathan, and they are both very aware of the issues in the community and they want to make a difference.''
Wunungmurra says Djerrkura will never be short of inspiration if times get tough during his career.
``(His father's) not around, he would have been more proud than ever, but I think Nathan has given something for his dad,'' he said.
``Nathan is a really bright person and the way that he reacted (to his father's death), he steadies his mind and his body, and that's how he is, he's a bright young fella and I think he's really determined in his ambition.
``Nathan has the determination to do it. And he will. He will do it. We've got confidence he can make it.''
Liked the look of him, drifted down the ground a few times and also kicked a couple of goals.
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Yep. I also see a lot of johncock. Dashing defender who can go up forward and bag a few!
