Yetta Dhinnakkal Centre, also known as the Brewarrina (Yetta Dhinnakkal) Centre, Brewarrina Correctional Centre and Brewarrina Prison, and referred to informally as Brewarrina jail, was an Australian

minimum security prison A prison, also known as a jail, gaol (dated, standard English, Australian, and historically in Canada), penitentiary (American English and Canadian English), detention center (or detention centre outside the US), correction center, correc ...

for young Indigenous Australian men. It was located in

Gongolgon Gongolgon is a rural locality in Brewarrina Shire, in northern New South Wales, Australia, from Sydney. At the , it had a population of 40 in 11 families. The median weekly household income was $537. Gongolgon is located on the Brewarrina–C ...

, approximately south of

Brewarrina Brewarrina (pronounced 'bree-warren-ah'; locally known as "Bre") is a town in north-west New South Wales, Australia on the banks of the Barwon River in Brewarrina Shire. The name Brewarrina is derived from 'burru waranha', a Weilwan name for a s ...

, New South Wales. The centre was operated by Corrective Services NSW, an

agency Agency may refer to: Organizations * Institution, governmental or others ** Advertising agency or marketing agency, a service business dedicated to creating, planning and handling advertising for its clients ** Employment agency, a business that ...

of the Department of Attorney General and Justice, of the

Government of New South Wales The Government of New South Wales, also known as the NSW Government, is the Australian state democratic administrative authority of New South Wales. It is currently held by a coalition of the Liberal Party and the National Party. The Governmen ...

, until its closure in mid-2020. Many of its inmates were first offenders, and the centre offered various types of educational opportunities, in particular farming skills. ''Yetta dhinnakkal'' is a phrase in the

Ngemba language The Ngemba languages are a group of Eastern Grassfields languages of the Western High Plateau of Cameroon. The languages are Awing (Mbwe'wi), Bafut– Beba, Bambili Mbeligi, Mbui Bambui, Mendankwe-Nkwen–Mankon– Mundum (Ngemba), Pinyin. I ...

meaning "the right pathway".

Facilities

In response to the rising number of Indigenous men being incarcerated in New South Wales prisons, Corrective Services NSW purchased a remote cattle station around 2000 and transformed it into an outdoor prison, without walls, bars, armed guards, or electric fences. (Note: updated url since the original one was dead, to a republished version; however, (as of 1 July 2021) the incorrect date (Thu 4 Apr 2019) is displayed. Following up.) Located on and opened in 2000, the centre was a working farming property, maintained by inmates under officer supervision and guided by elders. The centre's behavioural change programs targeted first-time young

Aboriginal Aborigine, aborigine or aboriginal may refer to: *Aborigines (mythology), in Roman mythology * Indigenous peoples, general term for ethnic groups who are the earliest known inhabitants of an area *One of several groups of indigenous peoples, see ...

offenders aged from 18 to 25, through culturally relevant intensive case management. Vocational training courses werr offered in information technology, horticulture, construction, visual arts and contemporary craft. Other practical skills, including small motor maintenance, welding, road sealing, building skills, literacy and numeracy and first aid are also provided. The reoffending rate in 2004 was assessed at 20 per cent, compared with 40 per cent across NSW. In 2005/2006, the centre was awarded the Gold Award at the NSW Premier's Public Sector Awards in the Social Justice Category. In January 2011, the centre was isolated by flooding waters affecting northern NSW and Queensland. During April 2011, there were five separate escapes from the minimum security centre. The closure of the centre was announced in mid-2019, planned for 2020. Ownership of the site was split between the local

Aboriginal land council Land councils, also known as Aboriginal land councils, or land and sea councils, are Australian community organisations, generally organised by region, that are commonly formed to represent the Indigenous Australians (both Aboriginal Australians ...

and the

Brewarrina Shire Council Brewarrina Shire is a local government area in the Orana region of New South Wales, Australia. The Shire is located adjacent to the Darling River, which is known as the Barwon River upstream from Bourke; and located adjacent to the Kamilaro ...

. Orana Haven was planning to lease the Shire's land and facilities for use as a drug and alcohol rehabilitation centre from sometime during 2021.

References

External links

Brewarrina (Yetta Dhinnakkal) website
(Archived version, 2010) {{NewSouthWalesPrisons Prisons in New South Wales 2000 establishments in Australia Buildings and structures completed in 2000