“It alarming,” said Mrs Lyons, chief executive officer of the Wagga Local Aboriginal Land Council, said of the recent crime wave.

Mrs Lyons sees a common thread among young offenders, many of whom are coming to Wagga from other centres, and although they have family in the city they have no ties to country and lack respect.

“They are lost,” she said.

“There is no cultural direction.

 “You think about it, their home life is zilch, there are lots of cultural problems, they don’t go to school, they don’t go to work and they have no money.

“There is no reason to get up in the morning.

“Some of them are breaking into homes to get food.

“How sad is that?”

But Mrs Lyons believes it does not have to be that way.

She is keen to establish an Aboriginal keeping place where Wiradjuri culture is explained and honoured and where new people to country are welcomed and encouraged to respect Wagga.

“We need a centre kids can come to no matter what,” Mrs Lyons said.

“There are underlying issues we need to address.

“I am trying to get our culture back, cultural respect.

“We have to respect our country, the country we are in, the land we are standing on.

“Cultural protocols have to be adhered to so we can bring about change.

“What I want to do with youth who are struggling is give them hope; plant a seed and show them there is a life for them out there.

“If only they knew there is life, if they worked hard at it with support there is hope and there is a rainbow at the end.”

Mrs Lyons said the land council needed material support to establish a keeping place and to run programs, but is adamant Wiradjuri people must be in charge.

“We have done the hard work, we have qualified people on the ground,” she said.

According to Mrs Lyons, a keeping place would be ideal to establish early intervention programs to guide young people before the problems they face deteriorate into criminal behaviour.

Mrs Lyons believes education is also vital for young people.

She is encouraged by the Clontarf program at Mount Austin High School that has resulted in a massive increase in attendance.

“It is brilliant,” Mrs Lyons said.

She said she went to a Year 12 graduation at the high school a couple of years ago.

“It was one of the most beautiful moments that I have come across in my working life,” she said.

“Education opens up all doors and then you can look for employment, and that changes your life.”

Another confronting issue for Aboriginal people in Wagga is resettlement of families from other parts of the state, some of whom clash because of differences in cultural backgrounds exacerbated by economic hardship.

“We are all Aboriginal people, but are tribally different,” Mrs Lyons said.

“We need a keeping place where we can all bring it together.”