Natasha Matsumoto’s family is steeped in northern Australian history.
Her grandfather was a Japanese pearl diver and her grandmother was a Yawuru woman from Broome in Western Australia.
Broome’s red dirt and still ocean used to be a strip of rickety asbestos-ridden shacks that formed the main street and had a primarily Indigenous population.
Now the whole area has been transformed.
Historical festivals that once celebrated the fabric of Broome and its Asian cultural ties have shifted towards attracting cashed-up tourists.
Shinju Matsuri Festival is held once a year to celebrate the history of Broome, and was once a low-key affair at the town’s oval. Now, it is a months-long celebration involving long table dinners, lantern floats and concerts. (Pearl Hamaguchi/Shinju Matsuri Festival)
Long tables line Cable Beach, as tourists dine on meals catered by Masterchef alumni.
Ms Matsumoto said it was becoming harder and harder for her family to afford living in Broome.
Fuel, rent, insurance and electricity in Broome are some of the most expensive in the country. (ABC News: Hannah Murphy)
The average rent is $878 a week and petrol is about $2.05 a litre most weeks.
A coffee costs $6.50 on average, electricity bills can run upwards of $500 and home insurance sees some families out upwards of $10,000 a year.
Even accessing specialist medical care is subject to a $600 airfare, as residents need to fly down to Perth to see any kind of expert.
A house on a street named after the Matsumotos could cost them an average of $546,731.
Matsumoto Street in Old Broome and has some of the most affordable houses in the town. However, many still remain out of reach for Indigenous home buyers.
“It’s just getting harder and harder, and we can’t afford it,” Ms Matsumoto said.
“I told my kids, if the rent ever gets higher, we’re going to go and live out on country because we can’t afford this.
“But no matter where we are, we can hear our ancestors singing to us, telling us to come back and they miss us.
“The country doesn’t want us to leave but because we can’t afford the food, the rent, as well as the electricity and everything else – it’s just too much for us and it’s very sad.”
Natasha Matsumoto now works with a local organisation helping First Nations people where she lives. (ABC News: Hannah Murphy)
City-dwellers push locals out
The cost of living in regional areas has been slowly increasing in recent years as city-dwellers move to the country.
According to 2021 census figures, Broome is home to a population of nearly 5,000 Aboriginal people; making up 28 per cent of the community.
Those in remote areas were more likely to have a lower income than those living in big cities. (Supplied: Australian Institute of Health and Welfare)
The 2021 census found the median weekly income for a household in Broome is $2,091.
However, the median weekly income for a household in Broome with at least one Indigenous occupant is $1,266.
Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute’s Dr Michael Fotheringham said the last four years since the census had accelerated gentrification in regional areas.
Michael Fotheringham said gentrification could have a disproportionate impact on Indigenous communities. (ABC News: Daniel Fermer)
“Since the start of the pandemic, we’ve seen a wave of people move away from the large cities into regional centres,” he said.
“That’s caused displacement … so, some people from the regional centres have moved to more smaller communities.”
In Broome, the cost of rent has jumped $400 in a four-year period.
“There’s a sort of cascading effect of displacement going on that’s that’s now making its way all the way to the most remote corners of the country.
“I think we need to be concerned about [gentrification] at every step.”
Dr David Kelly works at RMIT University, and has studied gentrification in places like Broome, Perth and Geelong.
He said it was not a new concept in the pearling town.
“Displacement of communities from their homelands on this continent has been occurring since 1788,” Dr Kelly said.
“The processes that people are identifying as gentrification are not new, and in places like Broome these are enduring colonial processes that affect people differently according to their income, educational background and ethnicity.
“First Nations people are the most frequently displaced population in Australia.
“People who experience forced displacement once, are more likely to experience recurring displacement.”
Home ownership as the gentrification handbrake
Broome has about 9,000 properties as of the last census, and about 500 are owned by the government for essential workers.
About 41 per cent of the town owns a home, and 61 per cent of Indigenous households rent.
Nadine Naude works with Broome’s local Aboriginal organisation Nyamba Buru Yawuru, and helps run the Jalbi Jiya program, which means “your home” in language.
Ms Naude said it was a community-led solution to the local problem.
Nadine Naude works to help local people into housing, and says Broome is prohibitively expensive for a lot of Aboriginal people. (ABC News: Hannah Murphy)
“You need to have money to be able to live in Broome,” Ms Naude said.
“It’s becoming more of an exclusive place to live, rather than what it was.”
The program takes on local Aboriginal people and guides them through a rent-to-buy scheme, with house prices set at what they were in 2020 to encourage attainable home ownership.
However, all their homes are now full.
Loydine McIntosh was a program participant, who has successfully transitioned to home ownership. (ABC Kimberley: Andrew Seabourne)
Ms Naude said while the program was helpful, there was still a long way to go to easing cost-of-living pressures.
“It’s still hard for people to save,” Ms Naude said.
“House prices have gone up, but the wages here are exactly the same.
“We’re finding a lot of people use pay-day loans just to live.”
Dr David said First Nations-led solutions were critical to protect Indigenous communities.
“First Nations’ control over sovereign land needs to be fully supported by the community,” he said.
Town fights for survival
Dr Fotheringham said the impacts on First Nations communities would be disproportionate to other regional residents.
“I think whenever those patterns play out — whenever the higher costs come into play — it’s those who are most disadvantaged who feel the brunt of it,” he said.
“Because Indigenous people in Australia tend to be, on average, less resourced and more vulnerable, then yes, they’re going to feel it disproportionately.”
Dr Fotheringham said gentrification could cause significant problems around retaining Indigenous culture.
“I think there is a particular lens here to consider for Indigenous people who are being displaced from country,” he said.
“I think that’s a particular concern where that connection to country is incredibly important.
“Displacement of people on simple, short term economic grounds is a real concern.”
Ms Matsumoto echoed his concerns.
“We’re going to lose out,” she said.
“We’re going to lose our culture, we’re going to lose our country.
“If we’ve got nowhere to go, where is that culture going to go?”
