Poem We Are Going Assessment

We Are Going    

            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 lightening bolt over Gaphembah Hill

Quick and terrible,

And the Thunderer after him, that loud fellow.

We are the quiet daybreak paling the dark lagoon.

We are the shadow-ghosts creeping back as the camp fires burn low.

We are nature and the past, all the old ways

Gone now and scattered.

The scrubs are gone, the hunting and the laughter.

The eagle is gone, the emu and the kangaroo are gone from this place.

The bora ring is gone.

The corroboree is gone.

And we are going.’

 

Oodgeroo Noonuccal

 

Appreciating “We are Going” by Oodgerooo Noonuccal

Read Oodgeroo’s “We are going” (p. 32) and answer these questions on it:

 

1. Explain why they are “silent and subdued”.

2. How are white men represented? Why?

3. What is a bora ring and explain why it is so central to this poem.

4. Explain their reaction in line 8.

5. Lines 9-17 begin a ‘litany’. What is the effect produced?

6. Comment on the significance of metaphors used in the poem.

7. Comment on the structure and form of this poem.

8. Why does Thunder have a capital letter?

9. Comment on the mood and atmosphere created here.

10. Combine comments on its theme, title and conclusion.

       

1. The Aborigines are silent and subdued because they are known to be quiet especially as they are going to a white civilization not knowing anything about the culture or what the white people would think or do to the Aborigines.

 

1. The white men are represented as ants to show how many white men there are compare to the Aborigines which is a large quantity between the Aborigines and the white people.

 

1. Refers to religious ceremony for the Aboriginal people but its significance and origin is not clear nor fully accepted by the culture.

  

1. This refers to the reality that the white man’s invasion makes the white people the true strangers.

 

5.      These lines emphasise the importance of the Aboriginal people speaking, feeling and praying as a group of unified and spirited people. It shows how they think and their views on the land, water and the Dreamtime and ways for them to come forward as a group. 

1. Some of the metaphors such as, “We are the quiet daybreak paling the dark lagoon.”

           “We are the shadow-ghosts creeping back as the camp fires burn low.”           “We are nature and the past, all the old ways” are presented to emphasise that the           Aboriginal people are part of the land, are part of the Earth and part of the nature. They do not see them selves owning such things, but rather being part of the Dreamtime culture.  7.      This poem is very powerful because it describes feelings and attitudes by using emotive and highly descriptive words and phrases. Its structure is demonstrated by short sentences, words with capitals and strong figurative language to highlight the message and ongoing struggle for the Aboriginal people. Also the different lengths of each line provide some impact to make the reader take notice. 8. The word Thunder is in capitals to emphasise the power and loudness of the thunder that is described in the poem.        9. The mood created forces the white person to appreciate and understand how the Aboriginal people feel, think and speak about their situation. The mood helps create an atmosphere not of guilt, but a way of the Aboriginal people speaking out so change can take place.         10. The theme is summed up by the concluding lines of the poem where the Aboriginal people cry out for help so that there customs culture and strong spirituality does not disappear. The final line “And we are going” tells the reader that there is still hope because it does not show that it is too late. 

We Are Going Poem Assessment

Poem Analyses Assessment supplementary material

The Aboriginal Dreamtime Unto this king of people,Life’s not a modern rhyme,Ancient Culture be thy real love,Govern’d, potency, Dreamtime. Jiva or Guruwari, seed power,Ever boding dreaming,Thy sacredness enshrined,A’fore the white man scheming. Tis nobler, do not teach the teacher,Thou canst not be Wandjina,Assimilation, doubt thou spirits,What says a horrible scar? To thine Baiame thoust be true,Hath not your mystery bonded?An aboriginal nation,On whitemans untimely stage, secondered. 

http://paolospoems.com/poem-54/the-aboriginal-dreamtime/

 By Paul Buttigieg  Poem Analyses 1^st Stance-In this stance the writer is telling us that even though we are in the modern age we still have to go back to our past and remember the ancestry of our family’s and as this is where love really started. The writer in using the word Govern’d means that back in the old times like the Dreamtime, are being remembered in our everyday lives.2^nd Stance-The power of the original seed was very strong within the Aboriginal culture and it was strongly integrated with the Aboriginal Dreamtime culture. The poem emphasizes the view that the arrival of white man created a tricky and scheming situation where the Aboriginal people could not practice their culture and spirituality without being undermined by the knew arrivals. 3^rd Stance-This is saying that the white people are trying to teach the teachers who are the Aborigines. The meaning of the second line is telling the white people that they can’t be Wandjina who is for the {[1]Worrorra, Wunambal, and Ngarinyin people of the north-western and central Kimberley say that the Wandjina are the creator beings of the Dreaming, and that they made their world and all that it contains.} By the white people teaching the Aborigines and incorporating enforcement teachings on how they should live their life will destroy the Aborigines identity and they do not need to be assimilated by the white people as they should be accepted for who they are and what the Aborigines are. This will leave a tragic scar on all Aborigines as they will lose all that they have and not be recognized as their own person.   4^th Stance-{[2]The Great Spirit of the Wanaruah was Baiame – who came from the rivers of dreaming. He created all things beautiful, the kangaroo, the wallaby, the emu, the goanna and all the animals of the valley.} He created the bird, Eagle hawk as the protector of the land. There is a mystery behind this as Australia is an Aboriginal nation and always will be, as the white people came at the wrong time and ruined and buried the identity of the Aborigines along with the Dreamtime culture but we will always remember who the land really belongs to.   

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[1] http://www.aboriginalartonline.com/regions/wandjina-art.php

[2] http://www.singletontourism.com.au/pages.asp?code=115

Poem Analyses Assessment

Draft

Our group exposition and cover letter.

CST / IST 3 / 4

Group Criteria

Demonstrate Leadership

Can be any race or culture

Must be inspirational

Strong religious beliefs

Actions must stand out from others

Good communicator with good people skills

Must have the qualities of St Marcellin Champagnat and Jesus Himself

Must be older than 18

Self motivated and able to motivate others

Modest about his/her actions

Role model to local, national and/or international communities

Be sacramental to the Christian community

Might be involved in a national and/or peoples freedom movement

Might be involved in a Marist community in some way

Might belong to a religious order

BIOGRAPHY ON FRED HOLLOWS

Fred Hollows

Frederick Cossom Hollows was an opthalmologist who became known for his work in restoring eyesight for countless thousands of people in Australia and many other countries. It has been estimated that more than one million people in the world can see today because of initiatives instigated by Hollows.

Work

Early in the 1970s, Hollows visited isolated New South Wales towns and stations in Aboriginal communities. He was very amazed with the amount of Aborigines with eye disorders, the most concerning was trachoma. In 1971 Fred Hollows, Mum Smith and others set up a Aboriginal Medical Service in Redfern Sydney and he was officially the founder for the establishment of medical services for Aboriginal people throughout Australia. Fred Hollows himself went three years visiting Aboriginal communities to provide eye care and carry out a servey of eye disfunctions. More than 460 Aboriginal communities were visited, and 62 000 Aboriginal people were examined leading to 27 000 being treated for trachoma and 1000 operations were taking place. Hollows received an Advance Australia Award in 1981 and Hollows was an Australian citizen in 1989.

Fred Hollows visited Nepal in 1985, Eritrea in 1987 and vietnam in 1991 he started teaching training programs for the local technicians to perform eye surgey. He organized LOL laboratories in Eritrea and Nepal.

Awards

He was given a Human rights medal and was also named Australian of the year in 1990. He also received another advanced australian of the year award for aiding people overseas. He was named Humanist of the year and received an honorary citizenship in Eritrea in 1991. Fred Hollows was a consultant to the (WHO) World Health Orginisation. In 1992.

Early life

Fred hollows was 1 of 4 children born in Dunedin New Zealand to Josheph & Clarice Hollows. He lived in dunedin for 7 years , he went to north East valley primary school for 1 year. Fred then when to palmerstone north boys high school where he completed his schooling. Hollows then went to university and received a Ba degree at victoria university of wellington. After a short while in a seminary he decided against a live at clergy and enroled to otago medical school.when he lived in dunedin he was a member of the new zealand Alpine club. He was a member of the comunist party of new zealand dureing the 50’s and 60’s. Fred hollows was married twice 1^st in 1958 to mary skiller who died in the year 1975 and 2^nd in 1990 to gabi O,sullivan

 

in this lesson we are working as a group to get everything ready to present for the following lessons and we will be all putting our best effort but we have two group members away so next lesson we will get as much as we can done.

in todays lesson we will be working on our individual assessments and we will try to finish most of them so next lesson we can start again with the group to present the following week.