The Aborigine

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poetry

The Aborigine

Theona Councillor

“Pacific Ocean” by Gail is licensed under CC BY 2.0 

Federation of 1901 says ‘the aborigine shall not be counted’

Labelled as the ‘missing link’, the ends justify the means

The cry of terra nullius, shiftless nomads to be discounted

Caste as flora and the fauna, the intent is clear it seems

I am seen as the illegal alien, I’ve more in common with the refugee

For I see how they are treated, as they flee across the sea

They are not the preferred race, they don’t have the white face

I see their children, I see mine, I see their struggles. Woe. Is. Me.

Displaced, marginalized and voiceless 

Policies that abuse and make me choiceless

Where once we were the princes of the land

Now you call us ‘dusky sons of the sand’

And yet still… I hear my people calling on the wind

Carried across the waters and whispered by the trees

 It sounds like a thousand voices of a thousand generations

And yet it sounds like a single voice.

It speaks in my voice

It speaks like me

And yet, I’ve seen you take that voice and…

Please don’t, clean it up, change it up, make it fit for the populace

So, it no longer sounds like me

Like data collected and paraphrased, analysed and corrected

White-washed, and no longer sounds like me

Stop trying change me, I am perfection as I am

Listen to your spirit and then you will begin to see

Then listen to your heart as you listen to my song

See the perfection in my chaos, look for the beauty that is me

  

I cannot see into the future

  

God knows I wish I could

  

I can only be my best. Staunch. Brave. And strong.

  

About the Poet

Theona Councillor
 
“I am a Naaguja woman from the Midwest Region of WA, I live in Geraldon and study on-line at CDU. I am working towards a Bachelor of Arts in Linguistics, with focus on Indigenous Languages. Previous to this I have worked as a nurse, then as a finance officer, I have worked in the mines for about 9 years. And now I have chosen to change my life and study at Charles Darwin University, and work within the area of revitalisation of indigenous language in my region, hopefully. Through his whole time period from youth to now, the only constant has been music and writing. I am a singer/songwriter, and am currently working on a musical play, still a work in progress. Through my bloodlines I belong to the Murchison River down to the Greenough River and out to where the sun sets into the Weelongga (ocean)."
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