We Are Going
They came in to the little townA semi-naked band subdued and silentAll that remained of their tribe.They came here to the place of their old bora groundWhere 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 HillQuick 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 waysGone 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.’ Oodgeroo Noonuccal Appreciating “We are Going” by Oodgerooo NoonuccalRead Oodgeroo’s “We are going” (p. 32) and answer these questions on it:
1. Explain why they are “silent and subdued”.
The aborigines were Silent and Subdued as they entered the town because they had felt that they had been neglected and left out by white people as they were looking at the remains of their Bora Grounds which rightfully belong to them but were taken away and used as a rubbish tip.
2. How are white men represented? Why?
The white men were represented by the Aboriginal People as ants because like ants the white man out numbered the Aboriginal People and just kept on pouring into Australia quicker and quicker and resulting in the white men outnumbering them.
3. What is a bora ring and explain why it is so central to this poem.
The Bora Ring is a sacred Aboriginal ground where they would dance, sing and held ceremonies such as were young boys would be transformed into men. It is a major role in this poem because this poem is about how the white men (ants) had taken over their sacred land and claimed it as their own.
4. Explain their reaction in line 8.
Line 8 states, ‘’We are as strangers here now, but the white tribe are the strangers’ meaning the white men were considered the strangers as they came into Australia but when they kicked the Aboriginals out, the Aboriginals felt as if they were the strangersbut really the white men were the strangers and always will be. Their reactions were sort of upsetting but in the same way calm.
5. Lines 9-17 begin a ‘litany’. What is the effect produced?
The effect produced is a sense of ownership and telling the reader that this is the land of the indigenous people and that they belong here for the right reasons.
6. Comment on the significance of metaphors used in the poem.
The metaphors they use such as ‘We are the lightning bolt over Gaphembah Hill’ to represent their ancestors being the lighting bolt over the Gaphembah Hill and ‘We are the corroboree and the bora ground’ meaning they own the Bora grounds and it is rightfully theirs. They have used metaphors quite a lot to express that even if the white men take over, that they are the Lighting bolts over the Gaphembah Hill, the quiet daybreak paling the dark lagoon and the shadow-ghosts creeping back as the camp fires burn low. So no matter what the white men do it will always be the Aboriginal People’s land.
7. Comment on the structure and form of this poem.
Some lines are short and strong , some are long and have a important message in them. The short lines add a lot of effect and meaning to the poem. The last line is really strong and has meaning and finishes the poem off well.
8. Why does Thunder have a capital letter?
The word ‘Thunder’ has a capital letter to emphasis that the word is strong and powerful as thunder is in real life and to strengthen its meaning.
9. Comment on the mood and atmosphere created here.
The mood that this poem creates is a sad and gloomy mood. As the reader examines the poem you can just feel the Aboriginal people’s pain and agony and makes the reader feel sad and sympathetic.
10. Combine comments on its theme, title and conclusion.
The theme of this poem is to how Oodgeroo Noonuccal writes about the white men taking over. The title ‘We Are Going’ is shown by this four lines:
1. The eagle is gone, the emu and the kangaroo are gone from this place.
2. The bora ring is gone.
3. The corroboree is gone.
4. And we are going.
’Meaning that because everything has moved on or been destroyed there is nothing left for them or in the future. Their culture has been destroyed, so the only thing left to do is to move on and look for a new beginning.
The Stolen Generation
Someone
Turns out the last light
A Blackout
And
A dormitory full of black kids sigh
Unknowing
Waiting for parents to return
A shallow promise from government guardians
If you sleep a white education waits
If you wake
And
Forgive
The theft of your black soul
And
The destruction of your family
Reference: http://paolospoems.com/poem-333/the-stolen-generation/
Analysis: The poem ‘The Stolen Generation’ is about events that occurred between 1910 to 1970 all over Australia. Up to 100,000 Aboriginal children were taken forcibly or under duress from their families by police or welfare officers. They were forced to let their children go. Most were under the age of 5 years.
It is basically about the white men coming and taken the Aboriginal children back to welfare camps. They were promised to be returned to their parents but they were not.The poem begins with darkness and immediate sadness, ‘a blackout …… a dormitory full of black kids sigh’. The poem talks about the aboriginal children waiting during their sleep to be returned to their parents. This is not for sure and this is highlighted by the word ‘unknowing’. They were told if they sleep they would be able to go home but it was all a lie, ‘a shallow promise’. The children were to be gifted with a white education if they forgave the white government for ‘theft of their black soul’ and ‘the destruction of their families’. In my opinion these children were not given a choice. It did not really matter if they forgave or not, a white education would have still been forced upon them.
