A Leadership Camp was conducted over the holidays in one of the remote Aboriginal communities on the western side of Cape York. It was as hot as Hades, and dry as toast, so naturally swimming was high on the list of fun things to do in the afternoon. Trouble is, 99% of the waterholes up there are croc-infested, and NOBODY would swim in the sea, that's where all the BIG salties are.
So what was the Risk Management plan for swimming in croc-infested waterholes. Why simple! You get an initiated adult man who belongs to the crocodile totem. He gets in the water first, tells the crocs that these are just his lads who need a swim to cool down. All kids get in and swim. All kids get out. Initiated guy gets out last. Nobody gets eaten.
It worked! Nobody got eaten, and all the participants were absolutely confident that the situation was all in hand. Don't know what they made of the RM back in Brisbane, but hey.
P.S. The initiated guy fetched the water every time too!
