aboriginal land rights issueas recorded in oodgeroo noonuccal's ...

163'We are strangers here no'Hl,but the white tribe are thestrangers.Webelong here, we are of the old ways.Weare the corroboree and the bora ground,Weare the old sacred ceremonies, the laws of the elders.Weare the wonder tales of Dream TIme, the tribal legendstold.Weare the past, the hunts and the laughing games, thewandering campfires.Weare the lightning-bolt over Gaphembah HillQuick and terrible,And the Thunder after him, that loudfellow.Weare the quiet daybreak paling the dark lagoon.Weare the shadow-ghosts creeping back as the campfiresburn lowWeare nature and the past, all the old waysGone now scattered.The scrubs are gone, the hunting and the laughter.The eagle is gone, the emu and the kangaroo are gonefromthis place.The bora ring isgone.The corroboree is gone.And we are going. 'When this poem is observed in more detail, it is seen that itconsists of two parts. The first part gives an account of how a remainingparty of a 'subdued' Aboriginal tribe finds themselves to be robbed oftheir sacred place of 'their old bora ground' by the careless 'white men'who use the place as a 'rubbish'tip. Despite this bitter fact, this voicelessparty cannot do anything. The second part shows the poet "acting asAboriginal Land Rights Issue (Sugi Iswalono)- ---