It is the town in a far-flung corner of Western Australia whose name is now as well recognised in London as it is in Sydney.
Carnarvon, a coastal community that’s home to 5,500 people at the mouth of the Gascoyne River, has had the type of searing spotlight shone on it that normally comes with events of global importance – earthquakes and other such disasters.
This time it was the case of missing four-year-old Cleo Smith that drew the world’s attention. Her abduction from her family’s tent from a holiday camping ground, the subsequent massive police search and her final, dramatic rescue from a nondescript house on the fringes of Carnarvon itself, making international headlines.
The 18-day drama ended early on Wednesday morning when she was carried away, smiling under the glare of a spotlight, by WA detectives and reunited with her family.
Now, as the fleeting spotlight turns off and the public’s attention moves on, residents of Carnarvon say they will be left behind to deal with an event that has shaken it to its very core.
Right now, the town is breathing a collective sigh of relief.
Not just for Cleo and her family, but because many feared Carnarvon’s social fabric would not withstand the mystery of losing one of their own.
Rennee Turner, a Carnarvon cultural awareness coach and Ingaarda woman, says for 18 days her town was lost to fear, despair and sadness.
“The morning they found Cleo, I felt my town smile again,” Turner said. “I felt like a light, or a spark, had begun to shine again. I really felt like our community was back. It is overwhelming.”
On Thursday, 36-year-old Terence Darrell Kelly was charged with abducting Cleo. The Carnarvon local was flown to Perth on Friday, bare-foot and shackled, where he was transferred to a maximum-security facility before his hearing next month.
Some feared the fact the accused is Indigenous may ignite tensions that sometimes bubble below the surface here.
Former Greens MP Robin Chapple says that Carnarvon has had issues with racism in the past.
“Intrinsically, it has had problems [with racism] over many years,” Chapple says. “It’s certain sectors of the community, it’s not the community as a whole, and it plays out over many different ways over many years.”
But Turner says while the abduction threatened to tear people apart, the journey brought the town together.
“I get emotional just talking about it. At the end of the day, we have a lot of Vietnamese here, Islander people, obviously a lot of Indigenous people here, every one of them had one of those ‘Find Cleo’ stickers.
“It brought us together even stronger because there has been division over the years, it flares up and it goes down, but I saw this as something that we all came together as a town, community and as a family.”
More than 18% of the Carnarvon population are Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people.
For now, it’s still flooded with police working on the painstaking task of building a prosecution case, and still living under the glare of the media.
The property that Cleo was rescued from is under heavy police guard and being scoured for evidence.
On Friday Cleo’s mum, Ellie Smith, and step-dad, Jake Gliddon, released a statement thanking the police, those involved in the search, the Carnarvon community, local business and family and friends.
“We are humbled by the love and support that we have received from not only our local community but the whole of Western Australia and across the country.”
And while many say they are desperate for things to go back to normal, the resolution to Cleo’s disappearance doesn’t mean all the town’s problems are solved.
Local state MP Vince Catania says that, like many regional towns across Australia, Carnarvon has its share of problems with mental health, family, drug and alcohol, and housing issues.
The midwest/Yamatji region has one of the highest rates of youth suicide in the world, according to the Geraldton Regional Aboriginal Medical Service, which covers Carnarvon.
Catania has called for the $1m reward offered by the WA government, for anyone with information leading to the safe return of Cleo, to be donated to the Town of Carnarvon.
The opposition Nationals MP says it could be used for things the community vitally needs.
“We have got a very high suicide rate and that goes to the lack of programs and mental health support,” Catania says.
“It can provide counselling services to people, enhance the security and CCTV and support the hard-working and selfless volunteer groups.”
Catania says many of the key social service operations are based 400km away in Geraldton.
“Housing is the number one issue. If you want to ever fix these issues, the government needs to provide the housing for these government departments to be able to come back into town.”
WA’s minister for mental health and Aboriginal affairs, Stephen Dawson, declined to answer specific questions about social service provisions in the town in the wake of the investigation.
“State government agencies have mobilised to provide support to people in and around Carnarvon,” a spokesperson said.
Turner says there are resources available, but because the agencies are based in Geraldton, the programs aren’t tailored for the community.
“The agencies need to engage and listen more to impacted families,” Turner says. “We have programs and help that is available, but it’s not been targeted through Carnarvon, it’s in Geraldton.”
Turner says she’s known Cleo’s family for a long time and hopes the family doesn’t leave because of what’s happened.
“After this, I’m hoping this is something that highlights Carnarvon, it doesn’t scare people off Carnarvon. We have the best coastline on the planet.”
Carnarvon has a warm climate and is famous for its rugged coastline, fishing and tourism. It’s known as the food bowl of Western Australia, supplying 70% of Perth’s winter fruits and vegetables. It was also the first place in Australia to grow bananas, according to the shire.
In town, local pest controller and Blowholes Protection Association president, Shane Aylmore, says the lost child stickers and posters have been removed or crossed out with the words “found”.
“I think as a community we will come together, give the family their space, but I think there is a whole community here for anything they need in the future,” Aylmore said.
“There’s no racial tension here. This is not a black, white thing,” he says. “It would be good to see positiveness come out of this.”
Aylmore says he is well-connected in the community and that the general feeling in the town is people need to heal and for normality to return.
As that slowly starts to happen, a massive sign on the roadside says what everyone there is thinking. “Welcome Home Cleo. Thank you WA Police.”
