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Aputula, Northern Territory
Melody Tan
A new Seventh-day Adventist Church will be built in the alcohol-free Aboriginal community of Aputula (Finke). The local council recently approved the request for a church building by the local Aboriginal people who appreciate the Adventist Church’s ministry.
Aputula is a community that decided to ban alcohol in 1992. Since then, anyone in contravention of the ban has their car appropriated. This was long before the Federal Government’s intervention program. The rules voted by Aputula also states that “cash will not be sent to people in Alice Springs or other communities where there is grog trouble”.“There is a vast difference between Aputula and other drinking communities,” says Pastor Don Fehlberg, associate director for the Adventist Church's Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Ministries (ATSIM). “The lack of alcohol means it is a more peaceful and cleaner place.”
There are only 35 homes in the remote town of Aputula, located 30 kilometres from the geographical centre of Australia. They have also imposed rules against vandalism and unlicensed driving. Residents have recently started growing a variety of vegetables as well as quality table grapes. There are also plans for a citrus orchard.
Residents getting the land ready to grow grapes
“It is a constant challenge for them to keep alcohol out, but they have done so admirably and they are sticking to it,” says Pastor Fehlberg. “No alcohol is sold in the community shop, there are no drinking days allowed like in some other ‘dry’ communities and the pub that used to operate in Apatula when it was a railway town has been turned into a community office. It is serving the community rather than destroying the community.”
The Adventist Church building will also include a lifestyle centre and accommodation for volunteers. Half of the homes in Aputula have satellite dishes to receive programs from the Adventist Church’s official television channel, Hope TV.
“As Adventists, we agree with and strongly support the initiatives the community has taken and we want to encourage them to maintain the right ways they’ve been going,” says Pastor Fehlberg.
Pastor Fehlberg has been visiting the community for the last five years and says a large majority of the town residents turn up for meetings he holds. He also knows everybody in the community by name.
Some of the residents at a meeting taken Pr Fehlberg
Church leaders in South Australia and Northern Australia have visited the community and are currently raising funds for the construction and operation of an Adventist Church in Aputula.
