*Ø* Blogmanac | Lotsa heart
I can't help but love this bloke.
Veteran magistrate, Belgium-born Antoine Bloemen tours the Kimberley and Pilbara regions of Western Australia administering justice to those unfortunates who have fallen foul of the law. Bloemen has the biggest jurisdiction in the world. I can't say exactly how big but something like 1,000 km (600 miles) in any direction, so he does it all by plane. When he went back to his home country and told people his beat is bigger than Belgium, his friends fell silent, thinking he was deluded. One man called him a liar to his face. Fact is, it's about as big as Belgium and France combined. Yet Bloemen takes it all in his stride.
It's a fascinating part of the world that I have yet to visit. Historically, it's a land with many tales to tell: tens of thousands of years of Aboriginal settlement, then, later, Afghan and Turkish camel drivers, Japanese pearl divers, South-East Asian fishermen and traders (before Captain Cook "discovered" Oz), Anglo cattle drovers, brave but lonely drovers' wives, and beef millionaires. And lots of people who you don't ask about their past. ("The only thing we knew for sure about Henry Porter was that his name wasn't Henry Porter" – Bob Dylan, Brownsville Girl)
I've gotta get up there. The closest I've been to the Kimberley is the Nullarbor ('no trees') Plain, a few days' drive to the south, which I drove across when it had the dirt road and even with two drivers you didn't turn the steering wheel for three days. I came back by train on the longest straight stretch of rail in the world. But that's another story.
Miner, paratrooper, stockbroker
The flying magistrate has an inspiring and remarkable personal story, from a boyhood of privation, working in a coalmine under the Nazis, to service as a US paratrooper (he found himself in the USA and, with little English language, thought he was signing up to be a pilot when they put a parachute on his back). A successful career as a stockbroker in Australia didn't satisfy, so he studied law at night, ended up a magistrate, and answered an ad for a job in the Kimberley and Pilbara regions, which constitute a vast, wild and remote bit about the size of Texas, in the north-west of the Australian continent. A big office.
Child thief sentenced to a vacation
He does things differently. He is prepared to enact the law's punishments if necessary, but is just as ready to try a little lateral thinking. He offered to buy one Aboriginal kid a bike if he stopped offending, and this month offered an 11-year-old car thief a holiday to Europe with him and his wife if she behaved herself (unfortunately she was busted again the next day). "I promise you that if you stick to your deal and I stick to mine you will get a good surprise," he had said to the girl. "My wife and I will take you on a long vacation somewhere new." If only she had taken this honest man at his word. On another occasion, Bloemen sentenced an artist to paint 12 pictures. The artist did it, and stayed out of trouble as well as the boob (prison). The Kimberley beak even shelled out for the art supplies.
The conservative West Australian newspaper editorial says he doesn't know what he's doing. I think Antoine Bloemen knows exactly what he's doing. Good luck to him.
Law Report radio program on Bloemen (might take a few days for transcript to be published)
Magistrate gives young offender hope (Audio, RealPlayer)
I can't help but love this bloke.
Veteran magistrate, Belgium-born Antoine Bloemen tours the Kimberley and Pilbara regions of Western Australia administering justice to those unfortunates who have fallen foul of the law. Bloemen has the biggest jurisdiction in the world. I can't say exactly how big but something like 1,000 km (600 miles) in any direction, so he does it all by plane. When he went back to his home country and told people his beat is bigger than Belgium, his friends fell silent, thinking he was deluded. One man called him a liar to his face. Fact is, it's about as big as Belgium and France combined. Yet Bloemen takes it all in his stride.
It's a fascinating part of the world that I have yet to visit. Historically, it's a land with many tales to tell: tens of thousands of years of Aboriginal settlement, then, later, Afghan and Turkish camel drivers, Japanese pearl divers, South-East Asian fishermen and traders (before Captain Cook "discovered" Oz), Anglo cattle drovers, brave but lonely drovers' wives, and beef millionaires. And lots of people who you don't ask about their past. ("The only thing we knew for sure about Henry Porter was that his name wasn't Henry Porter" – Bob Dylan, Brownsville Girl)
I've gotta get up there. The closest I've been to the Kimberley is the Nullarbor ('no trees') Plain, a few days' drive to the south, which I drove across when it had the dirt road and even with two drivers you didn't turn the steering wheel for three days. I came back by train on the longest straight stretch of rail in the world. But that's another story.
Miner, paratrooper, stockbroker
The flying magistrate has an inspiring and remarkable personal story, from a boyhood of privation, working in a coalmine under the Nazis, to service as a US paratrooper (he found himself in the USA and, with little English language, thought he was signing up to be a pilot when they put a parachute on his back). A successful career as a stockbroker in Australia didn't satisfy, so he studied law at night, ended up a magistrate, and answered an ad for a job in the Kimberley and Pilbara regions, which constitute a vast, wild and remote bit about the size of Texas, in the north-west of the Australian continent. A big office.
Child thief sentenced to a vacation
He does things differently. He is prepared to enact the law's punishments if necessary, but is just as ready to try a little lateral thinking. He offered to buy one Aboriginal kid a bike if he stopped offending, and this month offered an 11-year-old car thief a holiday to Europe with him and his wife if she behaved herself (unfortunately she was busted again the next day). "I promise you that if you stick to your deal and I stick to mine you will get a good surprise," he had said to the girl. "My wife and I will take you on a long vacation somewhere new." If only she had taken this honest man at his word. On another occasion, Bloemen sentenced an artist to paint 12 pictures. The artist did it, and stayed out of trouble as well as the boob (prison). The Kimberley beak even shelled out for the art supplies.
The conservative West Australian newspaper editorial says he doesn't know what he's doing. I think Antoine Bloemen knows exactly what he's doing. Good luck to him.
Law Report radio program on Bloemen (might take a few days for transcript to be published)
Magistrate gives young offender hope (Audio, RealPlayer)
Pip Wilson posted item above at 10:26 AM | Permalink
2 Comments:
I am writing Bloemen into my law assignment right now. He deserves an OAM.
I agree 100%.
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