Callum+&+Oliver

Please visit: Essay Preparation


 * __ Spirit and Belief __**

by ** Bradley Flanders **, Tamworth, New South Wales

I look at these kids having fun and running free, seeing their smiling faces without a care in the world, hoping they don't fall over and scrape their knee. But with a scared and frightened face, we look up the road at the dust building in the air.

So we gather the children and say 'hurry, quick, run, run as fast as you can over there, near the trees in the gully you'll be safe for now, so please be silent'.

Then this police car pulls up and we're hoping that the children will be quiet. Two police officers jump out of the car and one lonely black fulla following from behind.

They call him the Tracker but I wonder how he can hunt his own kind.

We stand frightened, answering questions about our Aboriginality and where we belong. <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0in 45.35pt; vertical-align: baseline;">All we think of is if they take our children and for how long.

<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0in 45.35pt; vertical-align: baseline;">They send the Tracker off and I swear to you, without a lie, <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0in 45.35pt; vertical-align: baseline;">within five to ten minutes, I hear this awful and terrible cry. <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0in 45.35pt; vertical-align: baseline;">It's the children - two girls and one boy singing out aloud, <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0in 45.35pt; vertical-align: baseline;">and the Tracker dragging them with a tear, but without a sound.

<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0in 45.35pt; vertical-align: baseline;">He throws them in the car and as the gungies [police] try to hold us back <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0in 45.35pt; vertical-align: baseline;">from our kids they think that their Aboriginality is what they lack.

<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0in 45.35pt; vertical-align: baseline;">As they drive away, my heart breaks at the thought that my children have gone. <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0in 45.35pt; vertical-align: baseline;">But I know I will get them back one day. That's what my heart has sworn.

<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0in 45.35pt; vertical-align: baseline;">I look back on that horrible day and all it brings is grief. <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0in 45.35pt; vertical-align: baseline;">But I will have my children one day because my heart has great spirit and belief.

<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0in 45.35pt; vertical-align: baseline;">[]

=Stereotypes=
 * __ ﻿ __**

<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 0px; margin: 0in 0in 0in 45.35pt; overflow: hidden; vertical-align: baseline;"> **A Letter To My Mother - Eva Johnson**

I not see you long time now, I not see you long time now White fulla bin take me from you, I don’t know why Give me to Missionary to be God’s child. Give me new language, give me new name All time I cry, they say—‘that shame’ I go to the city down south, real cold I forget all them stories, my Mother you told Gone is my spirit, my dreaming, my name Gone to these people, our country to claim They gave me white mother, she give me new name Australian Poetry All time I cry, she say—‘that shame’ I not see you long time now, I not see you long time now.

I grow as Woman now, not Piccaninny no more I need you to teach me your wisdom, your lore I am your Spirit, I’ll stay alive But in white fulla way, you won’t survive I’ll fight for Your land, for your Sacred sites To sing and to dance with the Brolga in flight To continue to live in your own tradition A culture for me was replaced by a mission I not see you long time now, I not see you long time now.

One day your dancing, your dreaming, your song Will take my your Spirit back where I belong My Mother, the earth, the land—I demand Protection from aliens who rule, who command For they do not know where our dreaming began Our destiny lies in the laws of White Man Two Women we stand, our story untold But now as our spiritual bondage unfold We will silence this Burden, this longing, this pain When I hear you my Mother give me my Name I not see you long time now, I not see you long time now.

**<span style="color: black; font-family: Arial,sans-serif;">We chose this poem by Eva Johnson as a representation of both sides of the stereotype that Aboriginal people aren't as smart as others. This poem starts off supporting of the stereotype through the poet writing in broken English and using slang. When she wrote 'I forget all them stories', it supports the stereotype. However, in the last stanza of the poem, she changed her writing style and used proper English, disproving the stereotype by showing that aboriginal people are just as smart as everyone else. It is important to prove that stereotypes are inaccurate because sometimes they can be wrong and disrespectful to people and cultures. Aboriginal people have a number of stereotypes applied to them, which are basically all disrespectful to their culture. When authors, poets and artists help to abolish stereotypes, it shows that people who aren’t necessarily involved with the problems still care. **

**<span style="color: black; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; line-height: 0px; overflow: hidden;">﻿ **