Curtin Detention Centre
Pictures taken by detainees in 2002

In far north Western Australia, this detention centre was the most remote.

There were never any direct flights from Sydney or Melbourne to Port Hedland or Curtin, and in 2008 there are even less flights available now. Therefore, by jumbo jet, the majority of the Australian population were approximately seven hours flight away, making social visits very, very difficult. This was of course John Howard's government's purpose.

When Refugee Action Collective got started in Victoria in December 2000, some of these guys had already been held in detention for over two years. Therefore, quite rightly, they believed no-one other than the brutal immigration regime knew they were there.

It's a testimony to human resistance that these pictures exist at all.

At this stage Peter still had another three whole years to go before he got out. Go to another page about an action we took two years after this photo was taken.

In far north Western Australia this kind of dwelling is horrible, uninsulated and with a tin roof.

The placard says "no dining room." But outside under a tree would be more comfortable anyway up there.

But they wouldn't go far before they were prevented from going any further.

You wouldn't want to be inside unless it was pissing rain.

The manager of Curtin, Greg Wallis, was a psychopathic bully. Unfortunately, when this place was closed in about 2004, Greg Wallis then went to manage the high-tech Baxter detention centre in Port Augusta, South Australia.

All detainess under the control of Greg Wallis remained psychologically damaged many years after their release. And Greg Wallis was rewarded with a diplomatic post in Lebanon.

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