Arabic version: سكان إسكان ييلي يواجهون الانتقال إلى باتشلور

According to The Guardian, Fiona Dhawunymurruwuy and 120 other First Nations residents are due to leave the Yilli short-stay accommodation complex in Darwin on Sunday after the Northern Territory government did not renegotiate a five-year lease.

Dhawunymurruwuy, a 52-year-old bilingual teacher from Millingimbi in Arnhem Land, has lived at the facility since April last year. She moved closer to dialysis services and her work at Malak primary school, where she assists students transitioning from Milingimbi to schooling in Darwin and teaches in English and Yolngu Matha.

She is undergoing rehabilitation at Palmerston regional hospital after her left leg was amputated last month because of ongoing health problems. “The problem is, if I finish all of this, where will I go?” she said. “There’s no place for me when I get out.”

The federal government offered $6.5m to buy the demountable buildings from private company AUSCO Modular, provided Yilli Rreung Housing Aboriginal Corporation remained the service provider. Federal Indigenous Australians minister Malarndirri McCarthy said the offer remained available and would help families through the wet season. NT chief minister Lia Finocchiaro had previously called the proposal a “waste of taxpayers’ hard-earned money”.

Residents will instead be relocated about 100km away to Batchelor. In July, 383 people, including 145 children, were living at YiSSA, while another 300 people were on a waitlist. At its peak, the facility housed almost 400 First Nations people, including people seeking medical treatment and women and children escaping domestic violence.