Land Ownership Poetry

1. Land Ownership Poetry By Emily Dogan 11C

2. The Poet: Oodgeroo Noonuccal, better known as Kath Walker: the writer, painter and political activist, resumed her traditional name and returned her MBE (MBE is an honors-award also known as the Member of the British Empire award) in protest of the condition of her people in the year of Australia's Bicentenary celebrations. Oodgeroo left school at thirteen, working as a domestic servant until 1939, when she volunteered for service in the Australian Women’s Army. She went on to achieve national fame not only as the Queensland State Secretary of the Council for the Advancement of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders (CAATSI), but through her highly popular poetry and writing. In 1964, Oodgeroo became the first published Aboriginal woman, with her collection of verse We Are Going—which sold out in three days, beating the previously set record for a publication of Australian verse, which was set by C.J. Dennis in 1916.

3. The Context: We Are Going is a political poem, giving an Aboriginal perspective of colonisation in Australia. The poem was written as a form of protest in a time of injustice towards the Aboriginal community. The introduction of Northern Territory Social Welfare Ordinance in 1964, promised to place Aboriginals on the same level as other Australians, instead leaving them with unequal employment, wages, vocational training and housing. Poem on next slide..

4. They came into the little town A semi-naked band subdued and silent All that remained of their tribe. They came here to the place of their old bora ground Where now the many white men hurry about like ants. Notice of the estate agent reads: ‘Rubbish May Be Tipped Here'. Now it half covers the traces of the old bora ring. We are as strangers here now, but the white tribe are the strangers. We belong here, we are of the old ways. We are the corroboree and the bora ground, We are the old ceremonies, the laws of the elders. We are the wonder tales of Dream Time, the tribal legends told. We are the past, the hunts and the laughing games, the wandering camp fires. We are the lightening bolt over Gaphembah Hill Quick and terrible, And the Thunderer after him, that loud fellow. We are the quiet daybreak paling the dark lagoon. We are the shadow-ghosts creeping back as the camp fires burn low. We are nature and the past, all the old ways Gone now and scattered. The scrubs are gone, the hunting and the laughter. The eagle is gone, the emu and the kangaroo are gone from this place. The bora ring is gone. The corroboree is gone. And we are going.'

5. Analysis: • The second line “A semi-naked band subdued and silent”, introduces the Aboriginal tribe witnessing the destruction of their village. They are ‘subdued’ and ‘silent’, reflecting the behaviour of mourners at a funeral as they come to terms with the death of their land. • ‘Where now the many white men hurry about like ants’. ‘Many’ suggests the overwhelming majority of white men who they are in conflict with. The poet uses a simile to create imagery, expressing the destruction as purposeful and rapid. • There is reference to ‘the old bora ring’, a highly significant and sacred place visited daily by Aboriginals. The notice covering the bora ground reading ‘Rubbish May Be Tipped Here’ emphasises the blunt disrespect faced by the native Australian community. • ‘We are as strangers here now, but the white tribe are the strangers’, this line reflects the displacement felt by the Aboriginal tribes, believing they are strangers in their own home—however, also recognising that it is the white man who does not belong.

6. Analysis: • Lines 8-19 contain repetition of the word ‘we’, referring to the Aboriginal community and reinforcing their demand for land rights as they believe they belong to the land. • The personification of ‘Thunderer’, ‘day-break’ and ‘shadow-ghosts’, stresses the Aboriginals’ ability to see life as living and breathing. Thunder is spelt with a capital letter and referred to as ‘that loud fellow’, relating thunder to humans and therefore hinting that human influence has a significant effect in nature. • In the last lines of the poem, there is repetition of the word ‘gone’, highlighting the damage caused by the white man. It reflects the destruction of nature but also the fading of the Aboriginal population. ‘And we are going’, suggesting that because they think of themselves as part of nature, they will also die with nature.

7. bibliography • http://www.creativespirits.info/aboriginalculture/history/aboriginal-history-timeline-early-20th.html • http://www.nudgeewaterholes.com/traditional_owners/bora_rings.shtml • http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corroboree • http://www.indigenousaustralia.info/culture/corroborees-a-ceremonies.html • http://www.ict.griffith.edu.au/~davidt/redlandbay/oodgeroo.htm