Coastal stories…
Drama in the van park
It’s autumn, and we were still on the road…
There’s drama at the van park. Police are talking with the young blonde woman whose partner is nowhere to be seen. They stay awhile, then drive off.
We became alarmed when camped next to the family. The guy was reserved but friendly enough to nod a greeting. He was not so friendly to his kids and partner. The two nights we camped next to the family before we moved to another campsite, the guy yelled at his kids, every few words an f-word. He also drank.
He’s quite a bit older than his partner. She’s a quiet young woman, although repressed might be a better description. One of the van park residents says he beats her. She says that she has seen blood on her face. One day when I saw her walking past our van she was crying. I was told that, when the camper on the other side said something to the alledged offender about his behaviour, he responded with “do you know who I am?” and threatened him with violence.
I learned why he wasn’t present when the police came. He was hiding in the toilet. Later, the police came back and took the family away. They returned some time later and next day they started to move their stuff in their car and trailer, ordered out by the van park manager.
People see and hear
People see and hear things in a van park. The only private space is in your van or tent, but even there privacy is at best minimal. Word gets around among long term residents. That is how I heard the man had lost his wife not too long ago and that his young companion was the kid’s stepmother.
That might earn him some sympathy, however people can do little about the reasons behind someone’s behaviour. How do they react? With fear or sympathy? It’s hard to know and any attempt at well-meaning intervention is likely to be met with a mind-your-own-business response and hostility. People have to deal with the behaviour itself. To ask more of people is to ask too much.
We can only speculate about why people behave as they do. My speculation is that the family are homeless. They are not homeless in the sense of people voluntarily living on the road, people whose van or camping trailer is their mobile home. I think they are homeless in the sense of having lost their rental property and not being able to secure another. Perhaps they, like one or two others in this van park, are victim’s of Tasmania’s rental housing shortage and high rents.
On our nine month toad trip we have witnessed only two incidents involving police. We have seen no cases of hostile behaviour other than this one in this van park. We have never been subject to hostile behaviour. We are thankful for having seen only this one incident.
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