Poetry

__ [|The First Australians] __
 * By Troy Hopkins **

The First Australians is a poem expressing Troy Hopkins' hatred towards white settlers because of how they claimed Australia and labeled the natives 'Aboriginal'. He called it an invasion, not a settlement and he says that the natives were the first ones there so they shouldn't call them "aboriginal". Hopkins then tells how the white settlers spilt the native’s blood on 'sacred ground' and they get rewarded for it. Hopkins speaks of Lex Wotton who is an aboriginal man who helps other aboriginals in places that they struggle such as court, because the juries are white australians. Lex Wotton eventually went to prison and is now an inspiration to Hopkins. The author then goes on to talk about an aboriginal by the name of Richard Saunders, who was an aboriginal who died in prison due to poor treatment, Hopkins explains how no 'Blacks' are taking care of in prison because they are 'expendable'. Hopkins says that he has 'seen a pattern', which is that aboriginal people are persecuted worse than white Australians and even half-cast aboriginals. Hopkins talks about how his daughter is a half-cast aboriginal and she wants to have true black skin like her father, but he tells her that she doesn't want that because to him it is a curse. Hopkins believes that to the aborigines, Australia is a dictatorship, not a democracy. The author thanks the SBS channel for sharing the aboriginals beliefs and that it’s kept them hopeful that some white Australians believe the same. Hopkins ends with a powerful line which reads 'Aboriginal is abbreviated, it means Abolish Original. We are The First Australians here; they are convicts, which are criminals'.

__** [|Who are We?] **__
 * By Richard G Kennedy **

Richard G Kennedy opens the poem with a question that asks where an aboriginal can truly be free in Australia, and how everything changed when the Europeans settled in Australia. The life before the white settlers was 'Idyllic' and that they had a 'Oneness with nature' and that they can never have that back. Kennedy explains how aboriginals now live in poverty and resort to crime to get through each day. The author tells how this is wrong and that nature is pained by the loss of the true aboriginal race. The aboriginals have no identity and are not heard amongst the white Australians. The punishment for white Australians is that the 'Vengeful Spirit will awake' and the earth will be cleansed of the white race. Kennedy says it's destiny and that there's no going back.

__** [|Untitled Poem] **__
 * By Anonymous **

This anonymous poet writes of how the white settlers arrived in Australia claiming it their land. The Europeans made themselves very comfortable whilst the Aborigines, the true owners of the land had to live like peasants. The poem speaks of how the settlers had no idea of the dangers in Australia and how it frustrated the Europeans. The poet then goes into the battles and conflicts that happened between the remaining Aborigines and the White Australians. The poet then asks questions such as 'Could you, my friend, 'neath such assaults be still, and never feel that wild desire to kill?', this is obviously the aboriginal stereotype of the white settlers at the time of colonization. The poet then tells of how the Aborigines already had laws and rules of their own before the white Australians, but they didn't listen to the Aboriginals so they made their own laws that favored themselves.

__** [|At Cooloola] **__
 * By Judith Wright **

The author starts the poem by saying that there had been a natural way of life in Australia for hundreds of years, but then white settlement happened and everything changed. The author describes the Europeans as 'a conquering people' meaning that, like many Aborigines believe, it was an invasion of a country rather than a colonization of new land. Aborigines knew that wars settled nothing and that fear of not knowing the land would be the European's downfall. Judith then speaks about her grandfather and how he was confronted by the ghost of an aboriginal warrior that he had killed, who then just disappeared into the plains. Judith wrights that she is 'walking on clean sand among the prints of bird and animal', that she wants to be peaceful and one with the land but the aborigines do challenge her because she is a white settler.

__** [|The Dark Ones] **__
 * By Judith Wright **

'The Dark Ones' refers to the aborigines, they stand separated from the White Australians because of all the damage that the aborigines hold the European's responsible for. Judith tells of how if aboriginals enter the town, all talk dies and people just stare. The author expresses this as 'A shudder like breath caught runs through the town' and that it is a scary thing that they are there. Judith explains how it haunts her knowing that it was her race of people that stole the aborigines land and then excludes them from white towns. the people of the town don't say anything, but their stares clearly are clearly saying "leave us alone". The aborigines leave the town then the white settlers go back to doing what they were doing before the aborigines came to town.