After more than 18 months being closed to outsiders due to COVID-19 there is a light at the end of the tunnel for the remote community of Beagle Bay in WA's Kimberley with 90 per cent of its eligible residents fully vaccinated.
Western Australia has battled to get Indigenous people vaccinated and some communities are facing the prospect of not being able to open with the rest of the state.
In Beagle Bay and its surrounding small communities it is a different story.
"We are on the path of getting all our mob vaccinated," said community chairperson Corinna Sebastian.
"I'm really proud of our people, of our Beagle Bay community.
Attention turns to reopening
With vaccination rates so high, Ms Sebastian and other community leaders are turning their attention to a possible reopening of Beagle Bay.
In the heart of the Beagle Bay community sits the 100-year-old Sacred Heart Church which Ms Sebastian said was a major drawcard for tourists travelling up the Dampier Peninsular.
"This place was pretty lively once upon a time. We used to have 45-50 tourist cars coming in a day because of our icon that we have here," she said.
Ms Sebastian said she had high hopes for the future of tourism in the town once it reopened.
Former Beagle Bay Futures chairperson Arnold Sahanna backed plans to re-open the community.
Mr Sahanna was the first person to get vaccinated at the local clinic and one of the first Indigenous people to be vaccinated in a remote community in the Kimberley.
He said while getting the jab was "scary" at first for many, local health authorities and community leaders helped quell fears and bring the community around.
"Fifty per cent was all for it, the other 50 per cent was doubting. But once the elderly went through, I think they were the ones that set everyone else to follow them," he said.
Hope to inspire other communities
With Indigenous vaccination rates in WA so low, there is hope Beagle Bay can set an example for other communities and increase vaccine uptake across Australia.
Data from the National Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation (NACCHO) shows less than a quarter of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people over the age of 12 in WA are fully vaccinated.
Medical director at NACCHO, Jason Agostino, said that was concerning.
"It's a great thing for Beagle Bay, they've protected their community," he said.
WA health authorities have battled to quell vaccine hesitancy in remote communities and shut down misinformation spread from radical religious groups.
Dr Agostino said he was really concerned about WA, especially after the virus spread rapidly to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders over east.
In the past two months, Dr Agostino said thousands of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders had contracted COVID-19 around Australia, with 600 of those sent to hospital and 11 eventually dying from the virus.
"We need to get vaccination rates really high or we will continue to see really a high number of hospitalisations and a high number of deaths."
