Youth crime: Geoff Guest speaks about Petford Youth Training Camp near Cairns

An adaptation of an Aboriginal elder’s training camp which turned thousands of troubled kids’ lives around, is now being investigated as a solution to the youth crime crisis.

On a remote property in Petford, 150km west of Cairns, 96-year-old Aboriginal elder Old Man Geoff Guest sits impatiently with a list of ideas he believes can solve the state’s crippling youth crime crisis.

Over the past 40 years, Mr Guest has steered more than 4000 troubled kids onto better paths and has been bestowed with one of the nation’s highest honours for his work – a Medal of the Order of Australia.

With his late wife “Aunty” Norma, he ran the Petford Youth Training Farm between the late 70s and 90s.

The camp’s program included horsemanship, diet, exercise and mentoring, and is now being researched by a charity organisation called the Petford Wellness Association.

The group is drafting a submission it hopes the state government will consider to better address the skyrocketing crime rates across Queensland.

Horse handler and bushman Geoff Guest has been running a successful on country program for juvenile delinquents since 1978. In 45 years, over 4,000 troubled youths have lived on Geoff's remote property between Petford and Herberton, learning healthy lifestyle habits, horsecraft and bush skills. Picture: Brendan Radke

According to Mr Guest, punishment alone is not a solution.

“I am not saying we let (youth) get away with things but we get the kids assessed early for any mental health conditions, recognise their problems at school, get them the right food, vitamins and minerals,” he said.

“Young boys need interesting, exciting work that presents a challenge – something prisons do not allow for.”

Mr Guest said he feared battle lines were being drawn and the escalating situation could end badly without a fast solution.

“Vigilante groups are getting bigger, they are starting to talk about weapons now and that’s frightening,” he said.

While Mr Guest initially labelled social environment as the biggest factor in determining a child’s propensity for aggression and criminal offending, more recently he has placed a stronger focus on the importance of good food and vitamins in children’s diets.

He is also an advocate for having children work with and train horses – equine therapy.

Despite his advancing age, a heart condition and a recent broken rib, Mr Guest can still break in a new horse – a skill that requires building a foundation of trust with the animal.

“Horses are like five or six-year-old kids, they haven’t got the reasoning. Youngsters don’t have it and some adults too,” Mr Guest said.

“How long does it take to win the trust of horses? As long as it takes to win the trust of people. They are all uniquely different. Some take ten minutes, others can take 5-6 hours. They are just like us. We can’t treat everyone the same.”

He said he believed the current justice system needed to work faster.

His envisions a camp that places children into small family units with “house parents”, providing an environment to get their lives back on track.

“We should be able to take these kids to court in a week, not in six months when they are reoffending again,” Mr Guest said.

Horse handler and bushman Geoff Guest says we should be able to take kids to court in a week, not six months where they are reoffending again. Picture: Brendan Radke

“It is important to learn self control at an early age but it’s very hard in a dysfunctional family.

“They can’t put a bar of chocolate in the fridge and tell a boy when he comes home from school he can have a bit every night because someone else will take it. Sometimes even his clothes will get taken.”

Mr Guest also called for government intervention to provide more help for young mothers and to prevent unplanned pregnancies “where the trouble often starts”.

Horse handler and bushman Geoff Guest, founder of the Petford Youth Camp, believes maternal health is a key area of investment in solving youth crime. Picture: Brendan Radke

Horse handler and bushman Geoff Guest says proper nutrition, vitamin supplementation, neurofeedback, mentoring and equine therapy when addressed together, work in reforming troubled youth. Picture: Brendan Radke

Although his methods have been lauded for decades across Australia, Mr Guest remains modest, suggesting his latest plans still need fine tuning by “professionals”.

“I’m an unqualified person, I’m just a bushy,” he said.

“The trouble with me is I have never been taught, I have learnt everything myself.

“If we get enough professionals on (board), we can have them look over our work and fine tune it.

“Proper nutrition, vitamin supplementation, neurofeedback, mentoring and equine therapy – they are all about fixing existing deficiencies and when addressed together, it works. I have seen it over and over again through decades.”

Originally published as Youth crime: Geoff Guest speaks about Petford Youth Training Camp near Cairns