The Past

White Australians state “shame when [their] kids they die from colds or from sheer neglect. Shame when [they] live on the river banks. While collectin' [they’re] welfare cheques. Shame when [they’re] blind from trachoma. Shame when [they’re] crippled from blights.” The rhyming scheme in the stanza makes poem flow seamlessly constructing a conversational tone as if the narrator is speaking directly to the audience. This feature purposefully lulls the reader into agreeing with the white Australia’s arguments as it constructs an image that the Indigenous people are refusing to integrate themselves with modern society and suffering the consequences of those decisions. The mention of welfare cheques also contribute to the perspective that white Australians are attempting to mend the lives of Indigenous individuals, however this could not be further from the truth and message of this

Our knowledge of the generic conventions used in poetry influences our understanding of the text. “The Firstborn”, a poem by Aboriginal author Jack Davis, enables the reader to determine the poem as a graphic protest about the extinction of and discrimination against the Australian Indigenous people, and the loss of their ethnicity, as their world collides with the Western culture. By focussing on my understanding of both generic conventions and author’s context, I am able to conclude that the poem concerns a tragedy within the Aboriginal community.

Readers often find Katharine Susannah Prichard’s “The Cooboo” deeply unsettling. The narrative is set in Australia during the European settlement of the continent. The plot revolves around an Aboriginal woman named Rose who is renowned amongst her peers for being an excellent cattle driver. She was so good, that her white bosses even held her skills higher than the other white musterers of the day. This all changed, once she became in the possession of a Cooboo. This term Cooboo is slang for the sound that an infant makes, and had become synonymous with the word for baby. Rose now had this Cooboo to worry about and care for, and it was hurting her efficiency and ability to drive cattle. This was deeply frustrating for her, because she found her identity in her ability to cattle muster. In the story, she was reprimanded by her superior for letting the cattle mob break three times in one day. She used to be his best, but now his go to girl is Minni, who Rose thought “did not ride or track nearly as well as Rose” (Prichard 17). Minni was very pleased with her own performance that day, and was “jabbering of the tobacco she would get” (Prichard 26). Rose was also being ridiculed by all the men, and her and Minni’s man Wongana had called her “a hen who did not know where she laid her eggs” (Prichard 25). This was maddening to Rose, who reasoned that the baby could be blamed for all of her current struggles. While riding back with Minni, Rose took the Cooboo from her breast and

Oodgeroo Noonuccal was an Australian poet, activist, artist and a campaigner for Aboriginal rights. Her poems ‘We are going’ and ‘Let us not be bitter’ conveys the loss of the Indigenous culture and how much they suffered because of this. Oodgeroo Noonuccal’s perspective on Aboriginal rights is impassioned, concern and worry for the loss of her family and home. She expresses these emotions using imagery, poetic structures and poetic techniques, such as inclusive language and symbolism, to strongly represent what she is feeling and how much the Indigenous people have suffered through.

Gilbert’s poem portrays many Aboriginals plight’s within Australia and conveys notions of despair, anguish and anger for his fellow Aboriginal comrades. Again, Gilbert uses strong visual imagery in “the anguished death you spread” which helps convey the persona’s feeling of horror and anger at the Europeans. This is further emphasised through the poet’s vehement and repetitive use of second person pronouns in “you” which conveys a sense of blame and accumulates into an accusatory tone and generates a strong sense of detachment between the author and the European settlers. Furthermore enjambment enhances the accusatory tone in “you pollute all the rivers and litter every road” because the lack of punctuation and pauses makes the lines sharp and quick, creating a sense of anger in the author. In addition the author’s use of metaphors in “humanity locked in chains” creates a sense of struggle and inability to escape the oppression the Aboriginals are in, whereby the word “chain” is symbolic for trapped and lack of freedom. Kevin Gilbert’s emotional poem brings light to the pain and suffering Aboriginals are going through, which is a stark contrast to the image of Australia, being a free and accepting

The use of imagery builds the story and expresses how important Dillard's childhood was in shaping the women she has become today . The excerpt begins with a reflection upon her childhood and growing up a tomboy. Dillard set the stage for “the chase” by explaining the day as “cloudy but cold” (5) with cars lining the snow covered street. Imagery is used not only to set the stage for the day of “the chase” but it is also used to describe the man chasing them as a city man dressed in “a suit and tie, street shoes” (10). Using imagery to describe the man’s appearance helps the reader to understand how unusual the man's appearance was and that the man was chasing them through the city. Dillard builds the suspense of “the chase” by taking the reader through the motions, past a “...yellow house...under a low tree, up a bank, through a hedge…” (12), she builds an image in our minds of the neighborhood. The imagery is used to build up the scene, convey suspense and create emotions for the reader.

The notion of the contemporary indigenous identity and the impact of these notions are both explored in texts that have been studied. Ivan Sen’s 2002 film ‘Beneath Clouds’ focuses on the stereotypical behaviours of Indigenous Australians highlighting Lina and Vaughn’s journey. This also signifies the status and place of the Australian identity today. Through the use of visual techniques and stereotypes the ideas that the Indigenous are uneducated, involved in crime and the stereotypical portrayal of white people are all explored. Similarly the notion of urban and rural life is represented in Kennith Slessor’s ‘William Street’ and ‘Country Towns’.

The poet Oodgeroo Noonuccal, draws the realistic image of the confronting realities of alienation and displacement of Indigenous Australians. It is because of such experiences that has empowered Noonuccal to express and advocate learning from experiences by positioning the audience to view the horrors that occurred, creating a platform for her poetry. Through the emphasis of identity, it allows the audience to deeply connect with the past, determining and illustrating a profound link between the ancient past and contemporary present. Oodgeroo’s deep connectivity with art and poetry highlights the importance of learning from experiences, for not only the Aboriginal culture but, for all cultures, and that colonisation does not destroy self-identity. Through the poems The Past and China…Woman, it has allowed the individual to promote change, encouraging the survival of cultures through learning from past experiences

This story begins to drive the sense of emotion with the very surroundings in which it takes place. The author starts the story by setting the scene with describing an apartment as poor, urban, and gloomy. With that description alone, readers can begin to feel pity for the family’s misfortune. After the apartments sad portrayal is displayed, the author intrigues the reader even further by explaining the family’s living arrangements. For example, the author states “It was their third apartment since the start of the war; they had

Leanne Betasamosake is a popular Indigenous writer who’s had growing experience throughout her life writing numerous of books in multiple of genres, which speak particularly upon Indigenous issues alongside of the playful stories and poetry she enjoys sharing. Leanne is part of the Annishnaabe community and proudly acknowledges her ethnic background and her tradition. “This Accident of Being Lost” written by Leanne Simpson successfully attempts to discuss the underlying issues surrounding Indigenous people and government conspiracy, she views the different types of ways in which love can be expressed and how the mind is deceiving in terms of forgetting old love. The author relates real life issues to her poems written in her book attaching a deep connection. One of the reasons why I chose to write about this book was its connection to one of many discussions we all have, there’s living moments of significant stories, lyrics and poetry she includes in her book. Leanne hasn’t failed to give an authoritative author reader connection in really making one explore the emotion in the book and understand the factual meaning behind her words.

After being crushed with deep sorrow over the death of his beloved Ligeia, the narrator moves into a decaying abbey to leave behind his lonesome house. Although he leaves the exterior of the house untouched, the narrator decorates the interior with strange but lavish furniture. “The furnishings take on the shapes and colors of his fantastic dreams” as he attempts to cope with his loss (Kincheloe). This supports the idea that the narrator would rather live in his own colorful fantasy (like the inside of his house), than engage in the dark reality (as represented by the outside of the house). Losing Ligeia meant the narrator lost his fulfillment in life; which is why his reality is now gloomy and undesirable. Not only does is the furniture an example of dream imagery, the walls of the desolate house also have a dream effect. The moving images on the walls cause the house itself to seem restless and alive. The narrator imagines this because it represents himself; always on the edge of monstrosity with each changing mood. As he hallucinates on opium, his sense of reality and fantasy is put together as one. With each furnishing, a looming memory of Ligeia haunts him as he reminances her during his opium dreams.

"Time is Running Out" composed by Oodgeroo is a poem that revolves around the atrocities European colonisers have caused to the land of the Aboriginal people. But instead of focusing on the entire European colonisation, Oodgeroo

Friendly but satirical, his paintings of scenes takes place in small format, that except casual forays into other genres, are genre pictures. Their bright colors and drawings achieved in the similar to painting watercolors qualities and realistically capture the light of the country. For domestic slave, choose cozy interiors and cooled by the shade of the colonial house. For free slaves, the streets of the city offer freedom of movement and expression

An American novelist Wendell Berry once said that “the past is our definition.” But does the

As soon as I’m back on the bus after school, I pull out my phone and start typing. I search Sal’s name again, but nothing comes up except for articles in many different languages reporting his death 10 years ago. So instead, I look up “Salvadore Johnson company.” I find a news article from 1935 on some historical website, and my calculator tells me he was about 25 when the article was written. The headline says, “Local Entrepreneur makes Millions.” I start reading, zooming in on the tiny print.