The appearance of a MAF plane is a welcome sight for a teacher after a long week of work at a remote Arnhem Land bush school, but a successful pick-up is not always guaranteed once the wet season starts.
Casey Taylor has learned the lesson of flexibility in her role as a teacher in the primary schools of the Laynhapuy Homelands School, where weather and cultural obligations can change schedules and plans with little warning.
“We'd just had this huge storm, and I thought, ‘Oh well, I guess I'm staying another night,’” said Casey of a recent end-of-week return flight from Gangan homeland to Gove Airport.
“I'm like, ‘I could eat some rice and some onions,’ trying to figure out what I would eat tonight.”
A few minutes before MAF pilot Mel Higgins landed on the red gravel airstrip in Gangan, a larger aircraft had attempted to land but had to pull out because of the weather conditions.
I feel like MAF are angels of the sky.
“I feel like MAF are angels of the sky,” said Casey.
“MAF just seem to be able to land, and their priority is trying to get people to from A to B, and they do a really, really good job of that.”
Mel balanced the desire to serve with the need for safety.
“I watched the weather pretty closely as I was coming down and actually did a couple of circles, just to let the storm pass by and approach in a safe way,” she said.
“We say dry season is the time of ‘straight-line’ flying, and in the wet season we draw lovely scribbles all over the map.”
Casey works in the Gangan primary school with a team of four Yolŋu homeland teachers and a class of 10-14 students ranging in age from four to 13 years old.
“What's really unique about this job is you're working alongside Yolŋu, and you're working as a team, so that's a really nice feeling,” Casey said.
“It's my job to bring all the resources and do all the printing and all the internet stuff back in Yirrkala, and a lot of their job is to deliver all of that. It's quite empowering to watch and to see them doing that.”
Her students in Gangan live in one of the most remote regions of Australia, but they have clear career aspirations, even at a young at age.
“We did interviews with them last term about their dreams and aspirations for the future, and there were a lot of students wanting to be rangers, but there were teachers, youth workers, and nurses also.”
Regular and consistent access to education will keep career pathways open for students as they continue their education in the unique Laynhapuy Homelands schools, and MAF can help when the weather cuts off communities from the outside world.
“At the start of the year, around April, they couldn't get here by car,” said Casey, recounting conditions in the historically high rainfalls earlier in the year.
“The main river that goes into Gangan was flooded, and so they had a car on either side and a boat going to and from.”
But even when the weather is better, the MAF plane at the end of the week is a welcome sight.
“Every time you've had a big day, or at the end of the week, it's just really nice to be welcomed by a MAF pilot. It's a really good feeling.”
