“Then you swamped my way of gladness/took my children from my side”

This is a metaphor as the ‘path to gladness/joy’ isn’t a real path, more an imagined one, and thus cannot be ‘swamped’. The quote suggests that their children are their path to joy, and that the path was swamped when their children were taken from them. This is also an allusion as it alludes to the Protect Act established in 1869.
- The use of this technique provides insight as to how the indigenous Australians were deprived of their joy when…

“So, I remember Lake George hills,”

This is an allusion as hints to an injustice which took place Lake George’s hills. This is supported in the text by the quote “The think stick bones of people”, which implies that Lake George’s hills is the death place of many indigenous Australians.
- The use of this technique highlights how the greed of the British colonizers resulted in the slaughter of many Indigenous Australians. This is supported in the text through the quote “Sudden death, and greed that kills, That gave you church and steeple”. This quote tells us that it was the greed for church and steeple which resulted in the deaths of the aboriginals, specifically the “Warrarra men”, which was mentioned in the line succeeding it.
- From this technique, we receive the information that they have ‘thin stick bones’. We can suggest this to be a result of malnutrition, as it is common knowledge that if you do not receive the proper amount of sustenance then your bones will deform, becoming thin and fragile. This information allows us to infer that perhaps the British were starving the “Warrarra men” in order to drive them away from their precious church and steeple.

“You murdered me with rope, with gun”

This quote utilizes the technique of imagery and metaphor, however, it could be interpreted in multiple ways, meaning it could be utilizing other techniques. “You murdered me” is a metaphor. This refers to how innately Indigenous Australians are connected to one another, and experience each other’s pain, or in this case death. Moreover, it refers to how they are dead without their brothers and sisters.
- Rather than saying ‘you murdered them/us’, the poet writes ‘you murdered me’ which emphasises the impact of the Aboriginees murder.
- However, combined with the latter half of the quote “..with rope and gun” the line becomes imagery as it is allowing us to visually imagine how they were killed, the rope infers that they were hung or suffocated, and the gun suggests they were shot to death.

“You propped me up with Christ”

The quote is a biblical allusion as it compares the way the aboriginals were killed to the crucifixion of Christ in the Catholic Church.
- However, it is also a metaphor, because Christ is a holy figure who is believed to have died many centuries ago before the time the poem is referring to, and thus Christ could not have been ‘propped’ up with them.
- This infers how the Indigenous killed were thought of as Martyrs.

“Tobacco, grog and fears/Then disease and lordly rape”

The quote demonstrates the technique of Contrast or Juxtaposition. This is due to the fact that it refers to the Lord as in God, who is believed to be the holiest and moral being in the Universe according to Catholics, and rape which is unholy, sinful, and immoral.

“And sing of a nation’s glory”

This quote utilizes the technique of metaphor and allusion as the word “sing” can be interpreted as proud, however when combined with the second half of the quote it alludes to the Australian National Anthem. It infers how we, being the European population of Australia at the time, boasted of and praised our glorified our nation in ignorance of “a people crucified” which compares the murder and oppression of the indigenous Australian people to the crucifixion of Jesus Christ.

“The real Australian story”

This quote utilizes the technique of tone as it its using the aggression built upon throughout the poem, specifically this is demonstrated in the word “real”. This helps us to understand the oppression of the Aboriginal Australians from their perspective. It illustrates the horror-filled truth from their perspective, not the watered-down version we are taught in schools across the country.

Jack Davis