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Following our class camp to Minjerribah, Year 8 finished Term 1 with a unit called On Country, exploring connection to place. We studied Sister Heart, a book of prose by Sally Morgan that delves into the experiences of the stolen generation and other texts that look at the indigenous experience from a more contemporary perspective. Students were asked to share a story or a poem about their own connection to place. Here are two of them.
| At the end of a valley Where rain always falls Distant peaked mountains And feral dogs call A house sits there On top of the hill My house that I lived in Happily until A fire that raged An inferno without end Burned down the forest The air it would bend For weeks the flames roared Till they were no more For water from helicopters It could not content Back to my home Where black cockatoos flew And the echoing boom Of the little wompoo I'd find it funny To hear that bird It's voice so deep Yet it could still be heard I could walk through the bush See a Wallaby leap The moist soil Beneath my feet Then I go back To my house on the hill My house that I lived in Happily until Water that rushed In a tsunami like flood Like a toilet it flushed Out causeways and roads Homes destroyed Like cheap plastic toys Again helicopters with there Bringing food in loads After that I didn't go back home Not back to the forest Where the bush turkeys roam For one long year House to house I moved My home to be sold To some random dude —Djali | Ocean Serenity In the oceans, mighty blue I feel at home, it is true. The waves they carry me, Back to our place I meant to be. Oh ocean blue, how much joy I feel with you. I catch the deep ultramarine waves, My board covered in water, a glaze. That's surging feeling when you pop up, gliding like a dolphin, to see the bathtub. The salty foam sprays upon my skin, A comforting embrace that draws me in. I feel at home amidst the waves, Where all my worries and fears fade away. Oh ocean blue, How at peace I feel with you. The bright sun, rain, and storm, The oceans deep blue has seen it all. The weightless beauty of the sea, A world so foreign, yet familiar to me. I dive beneath the surface, enveloped in the sea, Fish swell around their bright colours so appealing to me. Their movements fluid, effortless and fast. They swim back to the ocean, ever so vast Oh ocean blue how much I adore you. The waves take me for a ride, As I surf its ebbing tide. To be in harmony with the world around me. I let oceans energy fulfil me Your waters clear, that appears a vivid blue, That undertone of turquoise, a glimmering hue. I love how you sparkle in the sunlight, Making the whole world send ever so bright. Oh ocean blue, how much I love you In the oceans mighty blue, I feel at home, it is true. For in its embrace I feel so free, As if it was a specially made for me —Kissi |