Imagine that you are walking along the dusty crimson plains of your home country, surrounded by old

oak and gum

trees and the fresh air is softly blowing in your face. Kangaroos and wallabies hop past you, Koalas can be seen in
almost every tree and to top it off you are surrounded by your entire nation. Life is wonderful.Suddenley these
people appear. They look nothing like you have ever seen before. Your nation takes them in, they treat you like
family. Slowly as the years progress the foreigners start making life of their own. Making new rules, taking children
away from their families, Bringing death to those who did not abide by their laws.
Good morning Mt Gravatt show society,the poem I will be presenting is called Aboriginal Australia by jack
davis.Aboriginial Australia explains the connection the Aboriginal Australians had with the European settlers.
Throughout the poem, the author elaborates about how the white Australians treated the indigenous
Australians “the real Australian story”.  The poem focusses on the European influences upon
Aboriginal life, as well as the oppression and death that the European population brought
with them.

The author uses a depressed tone to express the hardship that his ancestors faced dealing
with the arrival of the European settlers.  This tone allows the poem to show its true emotion
and for It to be portrayed throughout the entire peice. This tone can start to be seen in lines
six and seven where the mood abruptly changes   When the author use the lines “Then you
swamped my way of gladness, “Took my children from my side”. Jack Davis also uses
juxtaposition of specific lines to create a clear contrast of how the Aboriginals initially felt
about the European settlers. He uses the lines “Became to me a brother” and “Took my
children from my side” to display the quick change in the relationship of the Aboriginals and
the settlers. After the settlers gained power over Australia, they went from needing the
Aboriginals to survive, to deciding how they wanted to live their lives There are many types
of emotion being expressed in the poem such as anger sadness and grief.

The author uses high modality and deep meaningful words to express the meaning behind the poem and get the
point to the reader. It makes the poem very depressing and serious at the same time. This style of poem can be
shown when the author uses the words,” swamped my way of gladness” and “disease and lordly rape”. Jack Davis
incorporated a lot of imagery into this poem to describe and mention how other were killed and dying out. He
used the metaphor, “the thin stick bones of people to create an image of the appearance of the many people who
were suffering from starvation. He also uses personification to elaborate on the suffering of the Aboriginals. This
can be shown when he says “greed that kills”. The poem uses an ABAB rhyming pattern and includes one rhyming
word at the end of each verse.
Aboriginal Australia shows that the Aboriginals went through an extremely though time loosing family and friends,
and being betrayed by the settlers who originally treated them like family. Jack Davis got his point through in his
poem about the truth and the meaning behind the “Real Australian story.” This poem increases understanding of
an alternate Australian perspective by elaborating on the true Australian story.