Dreamtime

Oodgeroo Noonuccal (Kath Walker)

Here, at the invaders talk-talk place,

We, who are the strangers now,
Come with sorrow in our hearts.
The Bora Ring, the Corroborees,
The sacred ceremonies,
Have all gone, all gone,
Turned to dust on the land,
That once was ours.
Oh spirits from the unhappy past,
Hear us now.
We come, not to disturb your rest.
We come, to mourn your passing.
You, who paid the price,
When the invaders spilt our blood.
Your present generation comes,
Seeking strength and wisdom in your memory.
The legends tell us,
When our race dies,
So too, dies the land.
May your spirits go with us
From this place.
May the Mother of life,
Wake from her sleeping,
and lead us on to the happy life,
That once was ours.
Oh mother of life,
Oh spirits from the unhappy past,
Hear the cries of your unhappy people,
And let it be so.
Oh spirits— Let it be so.
Writer’s Biography

Oodgeroo of the Noonuccal, known until 1988 as Kath

Walker, was born Kathleen Jean Mary Ruska on 3 November 1920,
on North Stradbroke Island in South-East Queensland, one of seven
children of Edward (Ted) Ruska and his wife Lucy (née McCulloch).

In the 1950s, Walker became interested in writing poetry. By

the late 1950s she had joined the Brisbane arm of the Realist Writer’s
Group, and some of her earliest poems appeared in the group’s magazine, Realist Writer
(later The Realist ).

Her second poetry collection, The Dawn is at Hand , was published by Jacaranda in
1966. A third collection, My People: A Kath Walker Collection (1970, rev. eds. 1981, 1990)
incorporated the content of the first two collections, and in later editions added new poems
and essays.

In 1988, as a protest against continuing Aboriginal disadvantage during the

Bicentennial Celebration of White Australia, Walker returned the MBE she had been
awarded in 1970, and subsequently adopted the Noonuccal tribal name Oodgeroo (meaning
―paperbark‖). Recognition of her literary, educational and political achievements continued to
flow, however; she was awarded honorary doctorates from Macquarie University (1988),
Griffith University (1989), Monash University (1991), and Queensland University of
Technology (1992). In 1990, after the formation of the Australian and Torres Strait Islander
Commission (ATSIC), she was elected a member of the Southeast Queensland Regional
Council. Oodgeroo died at her home on Stradbroke Island on 16 September 1993. Her
distinctive and pioneering poetry was part of a literary legacy that went hand in hand with her
political life.

Poetry Collections :
- We Are Going (Brisbane: Jacaranda Press, 1964).
- The Dawn Is At Hand (Brisbane: Jacaranda Press, 1966).
- My People: A Kath Walker Collection (Brisbane: Jacaranda Press, 1970, rev. eds. 1981,
1990).
- Kath Walker in China (Beijing: International Culture Publishing Cooperative and Jacaranda
Press, 1988).
Analysis of the Poem

Dreamtime poem by Oodgeroo Noonnucal is one of many poems from Aboriginal poems
genre. Noonuccal titled the poem as Dreamtime because Aborigines call the beginning of the
world the ―Dreaming‖ or ―Dreamtime‖. Aborigines are Australia's indigenous people. The
name ―aborigine‖ derives from the Latin, meaning "original inhabitants." The poem tells
about the Aborigines’ feelings towards ―the invaders‖ who dispossessed them, their feelings
for being strangers in their own land that once was theirs before ―the invaders‖ occupied the
land which now has become Australia. It can be sensed in the following lines:

Here, at the invaders talk-talk place,

We, who are the strangers now,
Come with sorrow in our hearts.

The word ―invaders‖ in the first line means people who have been residing in Australia but
they are not natives. They came from many other parts of the world and populating Australia.
The process of colonization by European powers a long time ago, as might be expected, has had
a radical effect on Aboriginal culture. The ―invaders‖ viewed the natives as barbarians, seizing
tribal land. Many Aborigines died of disease, starvation, cultural dislocation and neglect.
Today, there are fewer than 230,000 Aborigines in Australia, less than 2% of the population.

The Bora Ring, the Corroborees,

The sacred ceremonies,
Have all gone, all gone,
Turned to dust on the land,
That once was ours.

The Bora Ring (boorl or buhl) was highly significant in the daily and spiritual lives of
Aboriginal people. Bora Ring is the place where the Aborigines dance and held their
ceremony. A bora ground consisted of a large ring about six to eight metres across
surrounding by a low earth mound. A long pathway connected it to other rings where
initiation ceremonies took place. During initiation, boys were isolated from contact with
women and were instructed about the Dreaming and traditional laws and customs.

Meanwhile, the word ―Corroboree‖ was first used by early European invaders to describe
Aboriginal ceremonies that involved singing and dancing. Corroboree was the English
version of the Aboriginal word Caribberie. However since the Aborigines now are getting
rare, these Bora Rings, Corroboree, and other traditions are slowly disappear, only the
remainders still on the ground, becoming silent witnesses of the changing era.

Oh spirits from the unhappy past,

Hear us now.
We come, not to disturb your rest.
We come, to mourn your passing.

The word ―spirits‖ from the past means the Aborigines’ ancestors. The Aborigines honor
their ancestor very much, and through this poem, Noonnucal pours the Aborigines’
complaints about their disappointment of their ancestors’ passing back then when the
European invaders came to the land.

Aborigines today face many problems as a result of the colonial project. Their numbers have
been decimated, they face a great deal of unofficial discrimination and remain
underprivileged socially, economically (the unemployment rate for Aborigines is more than
six times the national average, and their average wage is less than half the national average)
and politically (the militant movement started in the1970s, which aimed to bring about the
creation of a separate Aboriginal state, has so far been unsuccessful).

You, who paid the price,

When the invaders spilt our blood.
Your present generation comes,
Seeking strength and wisdom in your memory.

This is related to ―Dreamtime‖ as the poem’s title. The Aboriginals believe that, in the
beginning, the earth was featureless, flat and grey. There were no mountain ranges, no rivers,
no billabongs, no birds or animals - in fact not one living thing. Then long, long ago came the
Dreamtime. Aboriginal "Ancestors" rose from below the earth to form various parts of nature
including giant animal species, bodies of water, and the sky. These giant animal species
wandered across the vast grey wastes, digging for water and searching for food and as they
searched, because of their giant size, they made huge ravines and rivers in the land. Thus the
world took on the shape it has today.
The 13th line of the poem, ―You who paid the price” explains us about how the ancestor first
―develop‖ the world and yet nowadays’ people (present generation, line 15th) ―ruin‖ the
world by creating high buildings and such, ―seeking strength and wisdom in your (ancestors)
memory.”

The legends tell us,

When our race dies,
So too, dies the land.

These lines refer to the Aborigines way of life. Aboriginal spirituality entails a close
relationship between humans and the land. Australian Aborigines migrated from somewhere
in Asia at least 30,000 years ago, though they comprise 500–600 distinct groups. Among
these are strong spiritual beliefs that tie them to the land; a tribal culture of storytelling and
art; and, like other indigenous populations.

May your spirits go with us

From this place.
May the Mother of life,
Wake from her sleeping,
and lead us on to the happy life,
That once was ours.
Oh mother of life,
Oh spirits from the unhappy past,
Hear the cries of your unhappy people,
And let it be so.
Oh spirits— Let it be so.

The remains of the poems tells us about how the Aborigines wanted a happy life apart from
being exiled from the society and being strangers to their own land. They hope for the Mother
of life which we called Mother Nature (because Aborigines consider nature as their mother
which gave them life), to lead them to the better future along with the spirits from the
unhappy past.
References

http://www.poetrylibrary.edu.au/poets/noonuccal-oodgeroo
http://www.infoplease.com/spot/aboriginal1.html
http://www.janesoceania.com/australia_aboriginal_dreamtime/index1.htm
http://www.nudgeewaterholes.com/traditional_owners/bora_rings.shtml
http://www.qub.ac.uk/imperial/austral/abo.htm
http://www.indigenousaustralia.info/culture/corroborees-a-ceremonies.html