ABPA - Australian Bush Poets Association

Muruwari - Maureen Clifford © The #ScribblyBark Poet


The Warrego waters writhe and wash - floodwaters coming down,
it flowed through Murawari land of this there was no doubt.
In scattered bush the kula or wild kangaroo abound.
Round campfires little children play and shout.

This was a nation bountiful - the mother filled their needs
the women's dilly bags were full with shellfish seed and berries.
They made their shelters from the bark of ancient red box trees,
hunted the emu, feast on yellow bellies.
Yams and water lily roots, wild cod, birds, snakes, goannas
helped provide them with protein that strong healthy bodies need,
but white man came, mission police, insisting they speak English.
And they got special treatment - yes indeed.

They stole the native's language, children too, without contrition
and systematically began to dismantle their nation,
Muruware people moved to Goodooga and Cherbourg Mission
and others were moved onto pastoral stations.

Dictated to by white men, those who book no inhibition
their life style changed, and sickness came and Paradise was lost
as white man's law held sway and it would brook no opposition.
'twas sadly Muruware paid the cost.
And so it went across the land - made dispossessed and homeless
their kulka tied green gum leaves onto their elbows and knees.
Knowing their song , their thirra, helped them hold onto their dreams,
honour the earth - dance at corroborees.

Today the landscape looks the same but seems the song is silent,
no babies sleep in coolamons 'neath shelters made of bark.
The media lies have all been told - the history was violent -
old memories still linger in the dark.

*kula - Kangaroo
kulka - Dancers
Coolamon - carrying devices made from bark or the base of palm leaves
thirra - songs

My ancestors had their kingdom and their system of governance taken away by violent military invasion, their hunting land converted to private game reserves, their language relegated. The were made into serfs for despotic estate lords. They have been ruled for centuries by royal families from other countries who spoke foreign languages,( the present royal family are Germans ) they were required to abide by laws made by conquering kings. Those who resisted were cruelly slaughtered ( the harrowing of the north it was called ) Even today gamekekeepers shut the common people off large areas of the land. And the Duke of Normandy has NEVER apologised, my tribe had to just suck it up.

Yep, hearing you loud and clear Neville...

I agree with you both Neville and Ross, these events happen throughout the world sadly as history shows, and over generations we have all had to 'suck it up' at one time or another - however, that doesn't mean that we cannot show or express sympathy and empathy with those people, some of whom feel the pain more than others.

I hope I will always have compassion for others when they are feeling pain - be it physical or emotional. We cannot sanitize our history by ignoring it, and neither we should.