Adrian+Song


 * Short story "how we fled when i was a girl" by Molly Nungarayi**



** Commentary on short story by Adrian Song ** ** Title: How we fled when I was a girl ** ** Composer: Molly Nungarrayi **

** Year published: 1995 **

** Text type: short story ** ** Commentary – ** “How we fled when I was a girl” is a short story written by Molly Nungarrayi, Shows the harsh and dangerous indigenous life in Australia which was the time of the stolen generation .This story talks about a typical aboriginal family being forced out of their countries because of the whites and they have taken refuge in a cave far off from where they used to live avoiding the whites and keeping low and not cause too much attention. In “How we fled when I was a girl” constructs a view of indigenous life style being disrupted by the whites. For example, “When the white fellas first came to our country a long time ago, they started shooting our people” This quote shows that the whites were invading the indigenous areas and killing them to remove them from their motherland. In the short story “how we fled when I was a girl” shows that one of the most dangerous hazards to the indigenous were the whites while they had all the guns and weapons. The family expresses their culture by their physical apparels “We were just naked little girls”. This reveals their culture, about their life being an Aboriginal. Molly uses similes to describe the indigenous culture and to describe them (the Aboriginal family) “That time we were bone naked”. She also uses adjectives to describe the setting and the characters. Molly describes the family to always be together as a group. This short story explains the culture and life of an Aboriginal family being forced out of their homeland. This text shows identity of an aboriginal life during the stolen generation was very harsh and dangerous.

**We Are Going ****by Oodgeroo Noonuccal **

They came in to the little town A semi-naked band subdued and silent All that remained of their tribe. They came here to the place of their old bora ground Where now the many white men hurry about like ants. Notice of the estate agent reads: 'Rubbish May Be Tipped Here'. Now it half covers the traces of the old bora ring. 'We are as strangers here now, but the white tribe are the strangers. We belong here, we are of the old ways. We are the corroboree and the bora ground, We are the old ceremonies, the laws of the elders. We are the wonder tales of Dream Time, the tribal legends told. We are the past, the hunts and the laughing games, the wandering camp fires. We are the lightning bolt over Gaphembah Hill <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">Quick and terrible, <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">And the Thunder after him, that loud fellow. <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">We are the quiet daybreak paling the dark lagoon. <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">We are the shadow-ghosts creeping back as the camp fires burn low. <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">We are nature and the past, all the old ways <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">Gone now and scattered. <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">The scrubs are gone, the hunting and the laughter. <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">The eagle is gone, the emu and the kangaroo are gone from this place. <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">The bora ring is gone. <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">The corroboree is gone. <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">And we are going.'

<span style="display: block; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-left: 0.3in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-align: center;"> __<span style="font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS','sans-serif'; font-size: 16pt; line-height: 115%;">Commentary on ‘We Are Going’ __ **<span style="font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Text: **<span style="font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> ‘We Are Going’ **<span style="font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Composer: **<span style="font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> Oodgeroo Noonuccal **<span style="font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS','sans-serif'; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">Year: **<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS',sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">1964 **<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS','sans-serif'; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">Text Type: **<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS','sans-serif'; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"> Poem <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS',sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">This story is about a tribe of Australian Aboriginals that are driven from their homeland by white people and eventually return. The Aboriginal Tribe returns to find that the white people had colonized their land and did not appreciate the land as the Aboriginal tribes did, “ <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Notice of the estate agent reads: 'Rubbish May Be Tipped Here'. “ This extract shows that the white people that colonized their land had little to no respect for nature because they would dump there litter.

<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0in 0in 3pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">The poem goes on to explain the reactions and feelings of the Aboriginal tribe when they find what the white people have done,” We are as strangers here now, but the white tribe are the strangers. We belong here, we are of the old ways.” This shows the tribes displeasure with the white settlers and how they believe the land should belong to them. The poem finishes with the phrase “And we are going” which shows that the tribe cannot change what has happened and must move on.

<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0in 0in 3pt;">The poet uses powerful metaphors, similes and verbs in the poem which becomes apparent in stanzas like “We are the quiet daybreak paling the dark lagoon. We are the shadow-ghosts creeping back as the camp fires burn low.” This extract effectively uses its poetic devises to create a vivid description of what the Aboriginal tribes people where going through when they returned to their sacred land to find it inhabited by the people who drove them away from that land.

<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0in 0in 3pt;">‘We Are Going’s identity is represented by the Indigenous people and their struggles with the white people that colonized their land and drove them away from their heritage.

Adrian,
 * Where are your visual texts? This is not complete!
 * You needed to define more clearly the representations presented in each of your texts
 * You need to provide more analysis on specific literary techniques and the intended effects of these on readers and how they contribute to the representation of Australian Aboriginal people/history/culture etc.

A fair effort

Your wiki is really good, but there are no visual texts so its not very exciting and you need to do the analysis for them as well. The analysis's need to be more specific when you are talking about the techniques in the poems and short stories. You also need to show how Australia is represented through the texts. Katy