Three Aborigine boys airlifted to hospital after circumcision ritual goes horrifically wrong and they are left sitting in 'pools of blood'



Three b oys airlifted to ho spital after disa strous initiation ceremony

Ambulance driver finds his grandson sitting in pool of blood

No medical staff from local clinic were in attendance at the ritual



NT Police investigate after complaints to child abuse taskforce

Three teenage boys have been hospitalised following a circumcision ceremony in the Northern Territory that went disastrously wrong.

The boys were evacuated to Darwin from a remote community near Borroloola, 700km away in the Gulf of Carpentaria, after suffering severe cuts during the ceremony. The incident has sparked anger and debate in the community over safety procedures surrounding indigenous initiation ceremonies.

One of the boys who was airlifted to hospital, Bryce Miller, 17, said when he was circumcised the cut was so bad that 'heaps' of blood poured out.

Borroloola, 700km away in the Gulf of Carpentaria, where the young boys had the ceremony performed

'I seen blood squirting through on the wrong side, it was bad. Squirting out bad ... heaps. And losing a lot of blood,' he told ABC News.

According to news reports, no officials from the local health clinic were present at the ceremony, which involved about 20 boys and took place on December 23, 2013.



Clinic staff have attended such ceremonies in the past. Some staff, who did not want to be named for fear of losing their jobs, have told the media that they were appalled by what had happened.

Bryce’s grandfather, ambulance driver William Miller, said he was shocked to arrive at the ceremony to find his grandson 'sitting in a pool of blood'.

'I wasn't happy at all with the whole people who done the job,' Mr Miller said.

The Northern Territory police and child authorities investigated the case after it was reported to the NT Child Abuse Taskforce. However, NT Attorney-General John Elferink said no child abuse was found to have occurred, adding that the case had been given careful attention because of the cultural sensitivities involved.

Keith Rory, one of the local Garrawa elders who supervised the ceremony, said the injuries were probably due to the inexperience of one of those who was conducting the circumcision procedure.

'I think some place he make mistake, some place he don't,' Mr Rory said.

A family of aboriginals strolling in the wild, near Darwin, Australia. For young boys in the tribes, circumcision is a right of passage and is not taken lightly

A former doctor at Borroloola, Peter Fitzpatrick, whose sons have been initiated in similar ceremonies, said this was not the first time participants had needed medical treatment after an initiation.

'They're doing lots of young men and it's a remote area and I've seen and evacuated young men myself,' he said.

The circumcision ceremony is common practice in traditional and remote communities in northern Australia, as it signifies the stage in the local culture where boys become men.

Despite his injuries, Bryce Miller said he had no regrets about taking part in the ritual. But his grandfather has vowed that no other family member will take part again.

Male circumcision has been a controversial issue in wider Australia. In 2009, the then Tasmanian Commissioner for Children, Paul Mason, said the practice was akin to assault and should be made illegal in Australia, like female genital surgery.



After an extensive review, The Tasmanian Law Reform Institute presented a report to the state government in 2012 recommending that it prohibit the circumcision of 'incapable minors', except for well-established religious or ethnic reasons. The government is still considering the report.