In a small, remote town in North West New South Wales, a group of First Nations leaders, elders, and community members have been building one of the most powerful and practical examples of what community-led change can really look like.

Maranguka means “caring for others” in the Ngemba language. And in Bourke, the Maranguka Community Hub is showing us what caring looks like when it’s well-organised, connected, and deeply committed to shared goals.

I remember how excited I felt the first time I read about Maranguka’s success. Community-led decision-making suddenly didn’t feel like a pipe dream—it looked like the future. So when Alister Ferguson, the founder and Executive Director of Maranguka, agreed to sit down over the internet for a chat with me and Kate in April, I was both thrilled and a little in awe.

When we spoke to Alister, I was struck almost immediately by two things.

First—his passion for data. He has seen, first hand, how information can reverse damaging trends and make real changes to peoples’ lives.

Second—how deeply he cares. He speaks with pride, understanding and affection for his community and there is a sense that everybody’s struggle is his own.

Maranguka’s journey is filled with achievement and discovery, but also has a long history of difficult times, especially for young people.  Bourke was experiencing disadvantage in multiple areas. Long-term unemployment and high levels of family and community violence were having impacts on young peopleⁱ. Alister and others had been seeking support to reduce youth crime in Bourke for a number of years, before Just Reinvest NSW partnered with Maranguka in 2013.

Together they set out to develop Australia’s first major pilot site for justice reinvestment—a model that diverts money from incarceration back into community initiatives that target the underlying causes of crime.

To understand those causes, the Bourke community put in a data request to the NSW government. What they asked for was a full, life-course view of young Aboriginal people growing up in Bourke. They wanted indicators across everything that shapes a life including:

• Prenatal care and early childhood

• Education, health and housing

• Employment opportunities

• Child protection and mental health

• Substance use

• Involvement with the justice system

Data from multiple government departments—both state and federal—was compiled, and in 2015, Maranguka received a detailed report: Snapshot of Life for Aboriginal Children and Young People in Bourke.ⁱⁱ

It was a powerful moment. For the first time, the community had a clear, data-informed view of the patterns behind the problems. As Alister put it, “It was the moment the lights came on.”

One of the first things that stood out through the available data was timing: most crime was happening between 6pm and 6am, and 48% of crime took place on the weekend. Just when schools and support services were closed. Another observation was that a large number of driving offences were linked to unlicensed drivers.

So the community got to work.

• 24-hour access to community services was introduced

• Suspensions were handled within schools, so kids weren’t simply sent home

• School holiday activities were created and supervised

• A driver licensing program was launched to help young people get legal and safe

The changes weren’t just intuitive—they were strategic, informed by the patterns the community could now clearly see.

And Then Came the Results

Within two years, there was visible change:

• Offending dropped

• Sentences got shorter

• Re-offending reduced

• AVO breaches and family violence-related assaults went down

• Driving offences fell—most dramatically, a 72% reduction in young people being proceeded against for unlicensed driving

And with this came savings. The money that would have been spent on court proceedings, prison, and other justice system costs stayed in the community. In 2017 alone, those savings added up to over $3 millionⁱⁱⁱ.

But most importantly, individuals and families were spared the stress and trauma of arrests, court and incarceration. Lives started shifting in real, tangible ways.

Bringing Others Along

After the 2015 snapshot, more patterns emerged. They helped broaden the view—from focusing just on crime to looking at young people’s overall wellbeing. The Bourke Tribal Council, made up of representatives from 22 local Indigenous Tribes, is the overarching governance body in Bourke and the driving force behind Maranguka’s work^iv. The Tribal Council embraced the findings in the snapshot. They welcomed service providers and other community members to take part in a training program to help them understand and interpret the data. From this collective work came a shared measurement system and a guiding strategy: Growing Our Kids Up Safe, Smart and Strong^v.

Through this lens, it also became clear that the systems delivering services needed attention. Strategic working groups were set up, each bringing together service providers, government and non-government organisations, and community members. These groups now use data to track local issues and co-design responses—grounded, realistic, and responsive.

Alister chuckles as he recalls the early days of the working groups. “You’ve heard of herding cats, well this was more like mustering kangaroos.” Getting people on board took time and patience, but once the data started to flow and people could see what was happening attitudes really changed. Now service providers are eager to attend regular meetings and enthusiastically report their findings.

Connecting the Whole System

As interest in the project grew, so did the need for structure: A Cross Sector Leadership Group was formed. This group helps communicate what’s happening— all the way from the working groups and service providers on the ground to different agencies, local, state and federal government, non-government organisations, academia, philanthropy, industry, funders, schools, police, local council and more. It’s an effective mechanism for breaking down departmental silos and keeping a broad array of stakeholders and community leaders talking together. The Bourke Tribal Council remains the cultural authority, with government departments supporting the process through designated champions^vi.

Palimaa: Where Sky Meets Land

Another landmark achievement is the Palimaa Data Platform. Palimaa meaning horizon—where sky meets land, is a project developed in partnership with Seer Data & Analytics. Palimaa automates data from 15 contributors^vii and centralises it within Maranguka’s systems. It’s designed to:

• Provide live access to local data

• Ensure accountability through a centralised collection system

• Align with cultural protocols and community governance

• Follow Seer’s TRUST^viii Framework for ethical data sharing

                                                                                                                                                                            Partnerships, funding, inclusion and connection: The secret to success

So how does a small remote town in outback NSW achieve such outstanding results?

Alister is the first to acknowledge the project’s position of privilege. Strong partnerships with Just Reinvest NSW and Seer Data & Analytics, access to state and federal data, and support from philanthropic foundations like Dusseldorp Forum, CAGES, and the Vincent Fairfax Family Foundation have all been crucial to supporting Maranguka’s work.^ix

But even from this privileged position, Alister points out it hasn’t all be smooth sailing and getting traction, or even a response, from various levels of government has taken years of determined letter writing and campaigning. Building trust and getting people on board has taken time and commitment.

Effective communication is another key ingredient. Alister believes in the value of reaching out; connecting to other communities who and sharing knowledge, seeking support from government and external sources, regular reporting and check-ins, and especially reaching out directly to individuals in his community. “You need to go and meet people in the places where they feel comfortable to have a conversation. It could be sitting at a kitchen table or on a river bank.” People need to feel that they’re being heard and respected.

Creating opportunities for participation is important, especially for young people. “The first thing that is wrong with a meeting” says Alister, “is if there are no young people present.” Maranguka recognises the community’s responsibility to provide meaningful education and professional development pathways for young people, and data literacy is a big part of that. The Palimaa Action Groups for youth and elders are working on getting people up to speed on the use of data. Alister is conscious that they are “putting data into the hands of young people”.

While Maranguka is paving the way for a new wave of data-driven, community-led projects, Alister’s main concern is continuing to do what he can for the people of his community. Whether it’s innovating more robust systems or advocating for a member of his community’s fines to be waived, it’s about doing what needs to be done to alleviate peoples’ hardships. Alister sees his community going beyond caretaker-mode, to a place where young people are given every opportunity to thrive and live a happy life. I believe that with their new tools and knowledge they are well on the way to achieving this.

The Bega Valley has it’s own story and challenges. Identifying and understanding the obstacles to wellbeing for people of the South Coast of NSW may not be as clear cut as it has been for the people of Bourke, but as a data collective it is our role to investigate. By collecting data we can build a clearer picture of life in the Bega Valley and better understand need and the underlying causes of peoples’ struggles. As a well-informed community we are better equipped to co-design more effective ways to provide support. How the Bega Valley does this may look very different to what is happening in Bourke, but we are fortunate to have sources of inspiration, insight and guiding principles through our connections to Maranguka and other data collectives in Australia and abroad.

The conversation continues…