‘We are taking our town back’: Vigilante group forms, but Indigenous visitors say they are being wrongly profiled as troublemakers and targeted

Whyalla has become a tinderbox and it seems ready to explode with Indigenous visitors saying they are being wrongly profiled after vigilante groups form within the town.

WHYALLA – Razor Marshall (R) and Zeke Edwards, provide security at the Westlands Hotel, and say that the problem is out of control, and just getting worse. 14 March 2025. Picture: Dean Martin

Tensions in Whyalla are running high as several burly young locals complaining of a lack of police form a vigilante-style group to patrol the streets.

They say they are monitoring areas on the edge of the town’s dry zone, as groups of Indigenous people from towns with harsher alcohol restrictions arrive.

While Local MP Eddie Hughes stressed it was only a small minority of Indigenous people causing problems, one resident, who didn’t want to be named, said: “We had to do something. People now call this place Whyalice Springs.”

Aside from the on-going steelworks saga, there are several issues confronting the community. This group on a Whyalla street are not accused of any wrongdoing. Picture: Dean Martin

“We had to do something. People now call this place Whyalice Springs,” said one resident, who didn’t want to be named.

Another local, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said they had formed a group to patrol the Westland shopping Centrearea regularly to “stop people getting harassed” and to “move people on”.

But while listing his concerns about anti-social behaviour, he made a number of vile racist remarks about Indigenous people.

Indeed, Indigenous people who have come from the APY Lands and Alice Springs say they are being wrongly profiled as troublemakers and targeted because some locals “just don’t like the look of us”.

Whyalla’s Wild Frontier

It was a warm Friday night when the Sunday Mail visited the edge of the town’s dry zone at Westland Shopping Centre.

Across the road, a group of about 15 Indigenous people were gathered outside a modest home converted into an accounting firm, drinking and yelling joyously in the dark.

That night in the dusty coastal town of 22,000 people, there were just two police officers on duty.

Security guard Razor Marshall, who works at Westlands Hotel Motel on the dry zone’s edge and is not part of any vigilante group , has a foreboding stare that masks his chatty, friendly personality.

Mr Marshall said the area was out of control with fights, shoplifting and verbal abuse.

He said some Indigenous people called locals “racist white c---s if they don’t hand over money”. “People are getting cornered around here, spat on and intimidated ... for money,” he said.

Mr Marshall said the numbers of Indigenous people coming from Alice Springs, the dry community of the APY Lands and now Port Augusta, was increasing each week.

Outside the motel, more residents told of rocks being thrown at vehicles and carparks being used as toilets. “One woman went into Kmart the other day, took a s--t on the floor and wiped her a--e with the clothes. There is a toilet about 15m away,” said another Westlands Hotel Motel security guard, Zeke Edwards, who is also not part of any vigilante group.

One woman said her daughter was driving home from a shift at Dominos, stopped at traffic lights, when three men opened her car door, got in and robbed and assaulted her.

Debate Over Dry Zone

Alcohol-related anti-social behaviour has prompted Whyalla City Council to propose extending the dry zone to cover the whole town rather than just the shopping centre and Civic Park precinct.

Former councillor and veteran local MP Eddie Hughes – who had his office windows smashed this month – said a more “localised” dry zone would be a better start.

Mr Hughes said people were coming from other towns because “Whyalla is known as a place with more relaxed alcohol laws”.

“I think we need to look at having permanent Police Security Officers and enhanced powers for private security guards or even making it a declared precinct,” he said.

Mr Hughes, who was born in Manchester in the UK and grew up in SA Housing Trust homes in Whyalla, called out what he said were “unhelpful responses” fuelled by “baseless rumours”. He said only a “small minority of the Indigenous population are causing the problems” and the town historically had a good relationship with the local Barngarla people.

Meanwhile, long-time resident and deputy mayor Peter Borda, who is running for the National Party in the federal seat of Grey, supports the citywide dry zone idea and is calling for federal government support to bolster Whyalla’s police resources.

Indigenous Speak Out

On Mcdouall Stuart Ave, which straddles the dry zone, an Indigenous group welcomed the Sunday Mail warmly. They said they are from the APY Lands and Alice Springs and are sleeping in overcrowded SA Housing Trust homes.

“If we all gather at someone’s house, people call the police,” one says.

“We don’t all cause trouble. They just don’t like the look of us.”

One woman in the group said she and others were verbally abused by locals who threw things at them as they drove past.

WHYALLA – Razor Marshall (R) and Zeke Edwards, say the issue out of control and SA Police is under-resourced. 14 March 2025. Picture: Dean Martin

Locals “Losing Patience”

While the Indigenous visitors say they are being victimised, some local business operators say it is their staff whose safety continues to be at risk, as it will likely take at least six months for any change to the dry zone to take effect.

One prominent business owner, who did not want to be named, said he felt most sorry for retail workers who were often young and female.

“You call the police, nothing happens, they (thieves) are back in the shop three hours later doing the same thing, filling entire backpacks without paying,” he said.

“I’ve never seen anything like it. The town is no longer safe and there are no consequences. I went to a music festival and I said to my wife ‘should I pack the bat in the Esky?’ and I’ve never had that thought in my life.”

Westland Shopping Centre Whyalla. Picture Campbell Brodie.

SA Police said staffing levels in Whyalla were adjusted daily for operational needs and community events.

“Consequently, the number of active officers can fluctuate, and specific numbers are not provided for operational reasons,” a spokesman said, adding police “actively encourage” reporting of crime and anti-social behaviour.

Originally published as ‘We are taking our town back’: Vigilante group forms, but Indigenous visitors say they are being wrongly profiled as troublemakers and targeted