Students' Creative Writing 

Year 9 English students have been exploring contemporary writing by indigenous Australians and have used some words of Oodgeroo Noonuccal’s famous poem “We Are Going” to create their own thought-provoking poetry.  

We are as silent as a gentle breeze crossing your shoulders,

But lest you forget whose ancestor left those marks on those boulders,

Traces of the past spread on these grounds,

Now trampled by the many white men and their hounds,

The land on which you walk is old,

Nature is not one for being sold,

Let us go hunting, let our tribe be free,

Kangaroo, emu, eagle, three

This is a place that does not belong to you,

You bring us sickness, illness, flu,

Ceremonies are held to protect our history,

Where did our elders go? You say it’s a mystery.

By Niamh Gallacher 9A

Where the kangaroos jumped

And the emus ran

Where the eagles soared

And where ceremonies were held

The place that held everything meant something

The place that meant something meant nothing to the white men

We were the nature

We were the traces of the past

We used to belong

We are the silent tribe

By Aleana Saab 9S