Hard lessons ... jamal Daniels, Ezekiel Phillips and Trae Campbell / Pic: Cameron Richardson Source: The Daily Telegraph
A man put in a wheelchair by a car crash 20 years ago told them of the weight of losing his independence. The head of St Vincent's Hospital's accident and emergency department, Professor Gordian Fulde, spoke of brain injury and the trauma of car accidents, and the young lives that come into his ward and never leave the same again.
They came together, at the invitation of police, because children as young as 12 are stealing cars in the inner city, and rates are soaring.
Worse, officers are talking of an increasing number of stolen cars pulling up alongside them, close enough to see the whites of the eyes of underaged drivers behind the wheel, who then deliberately engage them in police pursuits.
It is not just the police who see the danger.
"I reckon it's a pretty big problem," says Jamal Daniel, 16.
"They're trying to show off in front of friends," says Trae Campbell, another 16-year-old.
"I think the key is everyone is trying to have a big name, then someone else does it,"says Jamal.
"They're just trying to make their name bigger," says Trae. "Trying to give themselves a big name, but not for the right things."
Police are so concerned Redfern local area commander Superintendent Luke Freudenstein sent police out in their squad cars on Wednesday morning to pick up troubled youths from the Redfern, Leichhardt, Newtown and Eastern Beaches commands to taxi them to his forum.
Supt Freudenstein is one of the silent heroes of this city.
He sees the wisdom in the old line, the one that goes that, if you do what you've always done you'll get what you've always got, and so he is no longer prepared to stick with stubborn policing.
Instead, he has reached into the community. Australia was built on people who ignored the popular wisdom and went out on their own to solve a problem.
Detective Inspector Leanne McCusker runs the forum.
"In the past couple of months we have seen an increase in the number of stolen motor vehicles, knowing primarily it's our juveniles that have been stealing the cars," she says.
"For the kids, it's about acknowledging the risk.
"The consequences not only to themselves but to the police and to the general community."
Insp McCusker introduces Roy Smith, who is 22-years-old and has done it all.
"At the end of the day only the weak get in the car," he says.
"Everyone wants to be a gangster and Americanised. But that shit's where you are wrong.
"It's not what our family is about. I look at the men who were role models in my life and they weren't men - they were little boys.
"Real men stay out of jail. Our kids are missing out on a dad.
"I've been locked up, been in some brutal fights, and every action I've had has a consequence.
"I own my mistakes, I own them all. I don't blame anybody else for the way I grew up because, at the end of the day, you've got to make your own decisions.
"At the end of the day you've got to ask yourself what sort of man you want to be."
What many of these kids don't realise is that the first offence of almost every juvenile reads " ... in company".
It spirals from there, which is why many of them are here today.
It's why Aborigines, who make up about 2 per cent of the Australian population, also make up 15 per cent of the prison population.
Shane Phillips, head of the Tribal Warrior Organisation, draws a pie graph of these figures to highlight the disparity.
Then he draws another pie graph representing the community, a sliver of pie representing those within the community who steal cars.
"The rest," he says, sweeping his hand over the graph, "they don't think you're cool. They think you're dickheads."
Then he orders those boys with baseball caps to take them off.
"That's American," he says. "That's not us. We have to help each other. Your job is to look after each other.
"So today - we're starting today - let's make the first step. Every long journey starts with the first step."