Joanne Taylor looks back on Christmas 2021 with fond memories.
Tradition dictated a family trip to Coral Bay, an exquisite slice of blinding beach and crystal waters on Baiyungu Country, 1200 kilometres north of Perth.
Joanne’s son, Wesley Lockyer, was there with her.
“That’s what we do as a family,” the Nyamal woman told NITV.
“We were together all the time.”
It’s the last Christmas she spent with her son.
In October 2022, Wesley vanished without a trace from Jinparinya, a small community of just a few houses outside of Port Hedland.
“My son never came back,” says Joanne.
“We had Christmas without him. It was heartbreaking.”
‘Derogatory and racist’
As another difficult holiday season approaches two years on, there’s no more information on Wesley’s whereabouts now than the day he disappeared.
“We’ve been on this journey to find out what has happened to him,” Joanne says.
“It’s been really a difficult journey, because we haven’t had the support we thought we might have.”
An initial search by police, state SES, Indigenous trackers and Nyamal rangers scoured a 5 kilometre radius with mobile units, an aeroplane and on foot for a week.
Forensic tests were conducted at Wesley’s home and locals interviewed, but nothing conclusive was discovered.
South Hedland Police concluded that Wesley had simply walked off.
“That’s not good enough for us as a family,” she says.
“It takes us back to the days when we were told [about missing persons], ‘They’ve gone walkabout’. It’s derogatory and it’s racist.
“Our whole family was quite shocked.”
It was the beginning of what Joanne describes as a frustrating process dealing with the authorities.
She says local and state police conducted flawed investigations, reflective of a lack of care.
“My son’s case went to the Missing Person’s Unit in Perth. And that’s where it sat.
“We had to instigate it. We had to call the detectives. We had to ring the police station. We had to go there and book the interviews.”
Audiences with state parliamentarians and even the premier himself, Roger Cook, did not advance their cause.
In the meantime the family engaged rangers, private investigators and human remains search teams at their own expense, paying for their services, travel and accommodation.
WA’s Missing Person’s Unit refused to answer questions for this article, but confirmed Wesley’s case is still active.
Aboriginal men missing across WA
Hundreds of people attended a peaceful rally outside Parliament House in Perth on Tuesday to draw attention to young Aboriginal people missing from northern Western Australia.
Wesley is one of a number of First Nations men who have gone missing from the region in recent years.
Across the Pilbara, Kimberly and Gascoyne, six Indigenous men have disappeared without explanation, says Joanne.
There’s a lot of emphasis on the females, but there’s not as much emphasis on the men
Clinton Lockyer went missing from the Pilbara in the same month as his cousin Wesley; a search for 21-year-old Zane Stevens ended after a week in April this year; Brenton Shar was last seen on May 1 in Geraldton and Wylie Oscar went missing from Junjuwa Aboriginal community near Fitzroy Crossing in November 2022.
Jeremiah “Jayo” Rivers disappeared in Queensland en route home to the Kimberly in 2021 and in an inquest in October the Coroner ruled he was likely deceased, probably as a result of foul play.
Frustrated by stalled state investigations, mothers, grandmothers and aunts of some of the men, including Joanne, travelled thousands of kilometres this week to Canberra to take their fight directly to the top.
The WA delegation of Monica Kelly, Joanne Taylor, Doris Eaton, Annalee Lockyer and Megan Krakour were joined by advocates Paula McGrady, Leah House, and Gwenda Stanley.
“These stories are happening right across the country, and there’s a lot of emphasis on the females, but there’s not as much emphasis on the men,” Megan Krakouer told NITV.
“These young men, they are loved by their families. There is no way in the world that they would just leave the home and not make any contact whatsoever.”
Joanne also reiterated a common refrain of First Nations justice advocates across decades: there’s a clear imbalance in the attention garnered by cases of missing Indigenous and non-Indigenous people.
“If this was six white kids, there’d be all sorts of resources, all sorts of efforts to find the them, because we’ve seen it with our own eyes,” she said.
“When that young girl [Cleo Smith] went missing in Carnarvon, the premier flew in on his jet plane … [and] a million dollar reward was put out for her.
“Where’s our $1 million reward for our boys? We were overjoyed that the little girl was found, but the point is they don’t put as much effort into [missing] Indigenous people.”
State jurisdictions must do more: McCarthy
The delegation met with Indigenous Australians Minister Malarndirri McCarthy and Greens senators Dorinda Cox and David Shoebridge on Tuesday.
The minister thanked the women for undertaking the long journey from WA.
“Their message was incredibly sad [and] deeply disturbing with the loss of their sons and nephews, and still no answer as to what has happened,” she told NITV.
Gwenda Stanley of the Aboriginal Tent Embassy, Indigenous Australians Minister Malarndirri McCarthy and Joanne Taylor met in Canberra to discuss actions for missing men.
“So I listened to their stories. I want to understand what has happened with the coronial inquest[s] … but I also want to know what the role is of the state police, the Australian Federal Police, I know it’s something that Senator Cox has been asking.”
However Senator McCarthy seemingly placed the onus on local authorities, saying they had a responsibility to do more.
“This is where jurisdictions must step up,” she said.
“These are very real stories, they’re human stories.
“Families that are torn apart by the loss of loved ones, and I certainly hope that we can find a roadway here that gives some sense of peace and action for these families.”
The group is calling for a royal commission, a police task force, changes to WA legislation around the classification of a missing person to a suspicious disappearance after a month; and for the WA Government to offer a reward of $1 million for each of the six missing Indigenous men.
“We feel alone and we’ve been abandoned,” Joanne said.
“We love our boys, all we want is them to be home with us.
“All we want is to bring them home to be with their families instead of living this bloody nightmare that we’re living in …
“Help us find our children, please.”
A fourth ‘Bring Them Home’ rally will be held in Roebourne on Friday, November 29.
