A 10-year-old indigenous girl from the West Kimberly is understood to have taken her life on Sunday.
The girl was found dead in a small bush community of Looma on Sunday night and is believed to be from the large Mangolamarra family of the coastal Kimberley community of Kalumburu, The Australian reports.
“She was a lovely young girl,” senior sergeant Neville Rip from Looma police said.
“This is totally unexpected. It’s just rocked the community.”
According to the ABC her death comes just before an inquest was planned into multiple Indigenous suicides in the Pilbara and Kimberley regions.
Authorities have organised for support making counsellors available for local families and schools.
Gerry Georgatos who has been tasked by the Federal Government to provide support to families affected by suicide and labelled the young girl’s death a “tragedy”.
“It is tragic that a young child would be so trapped in a sense of hopelessness … it’s a tragedy that needs to be heard across the nation if we are going to extract a dividend of change,” Mr Georgatos told the ABC on Tuesday.
Mr Georgatos said that there has been a sharp increase in suicide rates this year with 19 Indigenous deaths in WA since Christmas.
“Usually we have about 30, 40 suicides by Aboriginal people each year in WA, but we are already about halfway there by this point in the year,” he said.
“Hopefully it stops but it doesn’t look like that, so we’re looking at a higher than usual toll for 2016.”
Mr Georgatos said it was difficult to identify what has caused the WA suicide spike.
“It’s the usual contributing factors — I just think it’s becoming [a] more entrenched feeling of hopelessness,” he told the ABC.
“It’s not one particular factor … domestic violence is a factor which cannot be understated.
“In some cases child sexual abuse has contributed as a factor, but the majority of these suicides are intertwined with acute poverty, that translates completely as hopelessness.”
This news of the young girl’s death also coincides with findings from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), out yesterday, that indicate suicide rates are at a 13-year high.
Australia’s suicide rate grew to 12 per 100,000 people in 2014 – the highest level since 2001, when it reached 12.6 per 100,000.
The rate of suicide in women aged 15-24 increased by 50 per cent over the same period to 6.3 per 100,000, compared to a 2 per cent upsurge for men.
The bureau’s figures also painted a grim picture of the mental health of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, who were almost twice as likely to die by suicide than non-Indigenous people.
Dominic Greenwood, who works as Schools Coordinator at mental health organisation batyr, says the ABS’s findings are distressing and highlight the importance of organisations operating in the mental health space to focus on preventative education to instill a positive message of hope rather than hopelessness.
“As an organisation that shares stories of hope and resilience every day we are lucky to see first hand the power of these stories in reducing stigma and encouraging young people to reach out for support so they do not get to that crises point” Mr Greenwood told The Weekly.
“I think it’s important to get a positive message out there and have young people know that there are services available to them if they are struggling”
If you or somebody you know needs help contact:
Lifeline 13 11 14
beyondblue 1300 224 636
Kids Helpline 1800 55 1800
MensLine Australia 1300 789 978
Or call 000 if you feel there is immediate danger
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