When WA Children's Court President Hylton Quail noticed youth crime falling in Fitzroy Crossing, he travelled to the remote Kimberley town to see what was driving the change.
Open seven nights a week, the Marra Worra Worra Aboriginal Corporation's Night Space gives local children a hot meal and a safe place to go after dark.
The community-run hub offers mentoring, showers and creative workshops, with staff and police working together to get young people home safely and link them with school and support services.
Since the Night Space opened youth crime in Fitzroy Crossing has fallen by approximately 22 per cent, a shift former Attorney-General John Quigley credits to the program's mix of care and consistency.
"The reality is that in a lot of these communities there are high levels of family and domestic violence and alcohol abuse within the home," Mr Quigley said.
"A lot of the kids are wandering around town trying to escape that. They haven't had a feed, and in some places break into houses, sometimes just to get food.
"Where you can, at night in particular, engage them, give them things to do, give them a feed, give them some positive feedback, that's where the crime rates are going down."
When Chief Justice Peter Quinlan heard of the results, he joined Mr Quigley and Judge Quail on a weekend road trip to the Kimberley, a trio Mr Quigley called "the three Qs".
The group spent the evening observing the centre's operations, with Justice Quinlan joining local children in a spirited game of Uno.
Mr Quigley said the work in Fitzroy Crossing is far from finished, with the next challenge keeping teenagers in school.
While primary attendance in Fitzroy Crossing is steady, high school engagement drops sharply.
To close the gap, Marra Worra Worra has applied to purchase 20 temporary accommodation units - used during the devastating January 2023 Fitzroy Valley floods - and convert them into dormitories for about 40 students from outlying communities.
The idea is to support students to live in town during the week, attend the new $42 million high school, and return home on weekends.
The plan is modelled on a program in Derby, an Aboriginal town 220km east of Broome, where a youth hostel run by Emama Nguda Aboriginal Corporation has boosted school attendance to about 80 per cent.
The former Attorney-General said the Fitzroy project, supported by $3 million from the Western Australian Government and an earlier $1 million commitment he made during his tenure in parliament, could turn the Night Space precinct into a 24-hour learning hub combining mentoring, meals and classroom links.
He hopes the Education Department will go a step further, releasing a teacher to spend an hour each day at the centre to help reconnect disengaged young people with school.
"You've got to dream big," Mr Quigley said.
For now, Fitzroy Crossing's late-night refuge stands as proof that sometimes the simplest interventions of a hot meal, a safe space and a trusted adult can change the course of young lives in the Kimberley.
