aboriginal land rights issueas recorded in...

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ABORIGINAL LAND RIGHTS ISSUEAS RECORDED INOODGEROO NOONUCCAL'S "WE ARE GOING"

by Sugi IswalonoFaculty of Arts and LanguagesState University ofYogyakarta

Abstrak

Cara pandang bangsa kulit hitam Australia, yaitu bangsaAborijin, dan bangsa kulit putih Australia terhadap tanah tempattinggal mereka sangat berbeda. Bagi bangsa Aborijin tanah tempattinggal mereka mempunyai nilai yang sangat tinggi, terutama nilairelijius, sementara, bagi bangsa kulit putih tanah yang sarna hanyadipandang sebagai asset ekonomi yang dapat diperjual-belikankapan saja mereka mau. Karena perbedaan persepsi yang sangattajam ini, tidaklah mengherankan apabila bangsa kulit hitam inikemudian mengalami penderitaan psikologis yang sangat panjangsejak 'tanah suci' mereka diambil alih oleh bangsa kulit putihAustralia demi kepentingan ekonomi semata. Namun demikian,dewasa ini rupa-rupanya bangsa Aborijin telah mulai menunjukkanprotes kerns mereka terhadap penggusuran tanah yang merekaalami selama ini. Mereka tidak hanya melakukan manuver-manuver politik untuk menunjukkan protes mereka terhadapbangsa kulit putih Australia, tetapi juga memanfaatkan sastrasebagai media untuk mengekspresikan protes mereka. Di antarapara sastrawan dari kelompok ini adalah Oodgeroo Noonuccal,yang sebelumnya menggunakan nama Barat Kath Walker.Oodgeroo inilah yang mempelopori penggunaan puisi sebagaisarana untuk mengekepresikan protes mereka terhadappenyerobotan tanah yang telah mereka warisi dari nenek moyangmereka oleh bangsa kulit putih Australia. Dengan demikian, diamerupakan orang Aborijin pertama yang menerbitkan kumpulanpuisi kontemporer Australia. Kumpulan karya dia ini diberi judul"We Are Going". Karya ini jelas menunjukkan bahwa antarakehidupan bangsa Aborijin dengan karya yang mereka hasilkanterdapat hubungan yang sangat erat, apalagi fakta juga telahmenunjukkan bahwa para penulis kulit hitam Australia yang lain

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telah pula merekan kepedihan dan keterpinggiran mereka dalamkarya sastra yangmnerekahasilkan.

Kata Kunci: Aborigin, Oodgeroo Noonuccal. WeAre Going

A. Introduction

Recently the Aboriginal Land Rights issue seems to have beenpolitically prominent in Australia. Aboriginal activists have alwaysprotested over the dispossessionof their land by white people and foughtto regain their land. When Australia organized the WorldExpo in 1988inBrisbane, Aboriginal people brought about a demonstration in MusgravePark, which is near the expo location. It was a clever undertaking as theworld would give their attention to them. They also make use of art as ameans of manifesting their struggle for their land rights. In 1988 inSidney, for example, they performed a drama called The Struggle ofNaga Tribe. It is about the Naga tribe's struggle to protect their landsfrom the government which wants to sell them because they have richminerals. It was originally written by one of the most outstandingIndonesian playwrights, W. S. Rendra, which was then translated intoEnglish by Max Lane. In fact, they adapted the story to meet Aboriginalconditions.

This paper explores how the lands are traditionally andeconomically essential to Aborigines. It also points out that Aboriginalpeople and the white people aredifferent in their perception ofland.

B. Aboriginal LiteratureAboriginal literature is seen to bear peculiarity. A reflection of

the oppressed and marginalized life-experiences of these indigenouspeople can be explored in their literary production. Moore (1971: 4)highlights such a relationship by stating that literature "is ultimatelyautobiographical, spun with thread drawn, like a spider's web, from the

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body of the writer's perception and thoughts, dreams and desires andmemories". Johnston, as quoted by Colmer (1989: 32), endorses thisnotion by stating that "any serious work of fiction ... must beautobiographical in a lesser or greater degree, since the author's mostreliable touchstone and yardstick to experience and emotion mustalways be himself'. This unique position of literature is furthermoreargued by Spender (in Colmer, 1989: 32) who states that "in literature,the autobiographical is transformed. It is no longer the writer'sexperience: it becomes everyone's". In fact, regardless of the genre ofexpression, "Aboriginal history is present in almost all Black Australianliterature" (Shoemaker, 1992: 128),which may relate personal or tribalaccounts.

It is a fact that previously Aborigines had no form of writing;written tradition belongs to the white people. They became literate afterthe white settlement. This may serve as a reason why a picture ofAboriginal life is mostly provided in their literary pieces. Macartney (inSemmler, 1967:56) puts forward his idea that "the distinctive life of theAborigines is generally treated in imaginative literature". In line withMacartney, Narogin (1990: 1) underlines that, different from othernational literatures, Aboriginal literaturehas its own definite readership;Black Australian writers direct their writings towards a white Australianreadership. Furthermore, Narogin states that "Aboriginal literaturebegins as a cry from the heart directed at the white man ... forjustice and. .. a better deal, ... understanding and an asking to be understood". If artis a social act, any individual writings of these people may, then, beregarded as a representation of the whole Aboriginal people. In otherwords, any protests of Aboriginal people may also be accommodated insuch akind of writings.

c. Aboriginal People and Their LandsAboriginal religious belief cannot be separated from their lands

which were, in line with this belief, created in the Dreamtime, which

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means, in Aboriginal mythology, "a dimension of being where the spiritancestors reside and where the permanent records of the history ofgenerations of the Australian Aboriginal people are kept. These areillustrated in pictographs, rock and bark paintings, ceremonies and oralteachings" (Malykke, 1991: 98). It is the beginning of creation. Theybelong to the land and the land belongs to them. According to Gibbs(1975: 46), the land seems "to own them, rather than the reverse". Theeverlasting union between Aboriginal people and their land is welldescribed below:

The great ancestral creative beings, who journeyed across thecontinent at the beginning of time, established the landboundaries between different Aboriginal groups and sacredsites. Carrying out ritual obligations at these sacred sites andperforming religious ceremonies are the ways by whichAborigines feelbound to their lands andprotective towards it.(AustralianAboriginal Culture, 1991: II)

Since the land is the spiritual home of their ancestors, includingtheir ancestralbeings who wandered the landduringthe Dreamtime, theyregard the land as being entrusted to their care, rather than owned for apractical purpose. They see their land as having a religious as well as aneconomicbenefit: the home of their ancestral spirits as well as a source offood and materials.

White people's notion of land-holding is different fromAborigines'. For white people, land is a valuable asset that can beexchanged into cash-money whenever they need. It is a commoditywhich can be owned by any individual. Buckley andWheelwright (1992:70) remark that White people obviously regard land as "a major naturalresource forproduction".

D. Aborigines,Lands and Noonuccal'sPoetryThereusedto be a perceptionof WhitepeoplethatAboriginal


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people were nomadic people who did not own lands. They believed thatAboriginal people had no idea ofland ownership as they did not developany agricultural activity.They were not economically bound to the land.Therefore, white peoplejust took the land from them without giving anycompensation which was fonnally acknowledged by the Britishgovernment. Broome, Buckley and Wheelwright have revealed that sucha perception is wrong. Buckley and Wheelwright (1992: 21) say that"actually, recent research indicates that Aborigines were not as nomadicas was supposed. Periodically they occupied regular camp sites andsometimes theyconstructed durable huts."

Broome shows the economic tie between Aboriginal peopleand their lands. He takes an aboriginal song from the Oenpelli region toreveal this idea. From his observation to the song, he arrives at theconclusion that not only does Aborigines' love to the lands indicate aspiritual but also economic relationship: "The land not only gave life, itwas life" (Broome, 1992: 14).

The land rights in Australia prove to be complicated. Thiscomplication is reflected in one of Oodgeroo Noonuccal's powerfulpoems entitled "WeAre Going". Noonuccal also uses this title to nameher first poetry collection in which her single poem "WeAre Going" islisted. This poetry collection becomes the first Aboriginal literatureproduced in Australia.

We Are GoingThey came in to the little townA semi-naked band subdued and silent,

All that remained of their tribe.They came here to the place of their old bora groundWhere now the many white men hurry about like ants.Notice of estate agent reads: 'Rubbish May Be TIppedHere'.

Now it half covers the traces of the old bora ring.They sit and are confused, they cannot say their thoughts:

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'We are strangers here no'Hl,but the white tribe are the

strangers.Webelong here, we are of the old ways.Weare the corroboree and the bora ground,Weare the old sacred ceremonies, the laws of the elders.Weare the wonder tales of Dream TIme, the tribal legends

told.

Weare the past, the hunts and the laughing games, thewandering campfires.

Weare the lightning-bolt over Gaphembah HillQuick and terrible,And the Thunder after him, that loudfellow.Weare the quiet daybreak paling the dark lagoon.Weare the shadow-ghosts creeping back as the campfires

burn low

Weare nature and the past, all the old waysGone now scattered.

The scrubs are gone, the hunting and the laughter.The eagle is gone, the emu and the kangaroo are gone

fromthis place.

The bora ring isgone.The corroboree is gone.And we are going. '

When this poem is observed in more detail, it is seen that itconsists of two parts. The first part gives an account of how a remainingparty of a 'subdued' Aboriginal tribe finds themselves to be robbed oftheir sacred place of 'their old bora ground' by the careless 'white men'who use the place as a 'rubbish' tip. Despite this bitter fact, this voicelessparty cannot do anything. The second part shows the poet "acting as


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voice for the voiceless" party (Tiffin, 1985: 159).Aboriginal people who are the 'nature' of the land are made

'strangers' by 'the white tribe' who are themselves the true 'strangers' tothe land. They are dispossessed of their natural property after the whiteintrusion. Everything they used to own is gone now: "the scrubs", "theeagle", "the emu", "the kangaroo", "the bora ring" which is a sacredcircle of ground "where certain initiation ceremonies are performed bythe Aborigines" (Delbridge, 1991: 205), and "the corroboree" which is"ritual and ceremony of a religious nature" (Malykke, 1991: 98)observed in Aboriginal culture. As their hunting lands, totem animalsand sacred sites are 'gone', they feel that they themselves are subject tobeing condemnedto vanish..

Obviously this poem reflects the problematic dilemma of thelandrights in Australia where land-spotswhich are sacred for Aboriginalpeople have been used as rubbish tips by white people. This depictionentitles the poem to have a dramatic value. The poet intends to conveyAboriginal people's point of view by making a comparison of a sacredplace to a rubbish tip. The main themes of the poem are the Aboriginalland rights struggle and the conflicts between tradition andmodernization, between sacred and economic considerations, andbetween thepast glory andrecent reality.

In the interview conducted by Jim Davidson, as published inMeanjin (1977: 428-41), Noonuccal admitted that "WeAre Going" is aprotest poem. In fact shejust put her people's voices on paper. When shewas asked about the realistic goal that Aboriginal people could aim forwith Land Rights, she answered that they do not want to claim the landwhere the white people live. They want to have the Crown Land andwantthe_.government to protect Aboriginal sacred sites. She wanted thegovernment to stop mining the uranium deposits in the NorthernTerritory where "there are at least 380" Aboriginal sacred sites there.There seems to be an economic reason behind the Land Rights dispute asNoonuccal asserted that "they're now afraid to give us Land Rights in

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case they're giving us the minerals under the ground". Aboriginalawareness of the essentialvalue ofland as an economic resource is finnlydisclosed by Noonuccal: "gave us the land [and] enough money to runthe land".

The 1960s marked a great change in Aboriginal history. Whitepeople in Australia fmally admitted that they had treated Aboriginalpeople badly and in 1967,

"89 per cent of all Australians of voting age agreed to thereferendum proposals that Aborigines should be included in thecensus count and that the federal government should be givenpower to legislate forAborigines" (Broome, 1992:178).

In the following years the campaign for Aboriginal Land Rightsachieved a remarkable success. Aboriginal people gained what they hadfought for as from the 1970s the Commonwealth and some Stateparliaments began to pass Aboriginal Land Rights Acts (Buckley andWheelwright, 1992:22).Thus, they could control much of their own landand especially in the Northern Territory they "succeeded in extractinglarge royalty sums from mining companies" (Buckley and Wheelwright,1992:22). Aboriginal people's struggle for their land rights; however,still continues. The majority of Aboriginal people have not got thebenefit fromthis landrights legislation, particularly those living in urbanareas such as Redfern in Sidney. These urban Aboriginal people do notobtain practicable landcompensation fromthe government.

D. Conclusion

Aboriginal people's struggle to regain their lands is carried outin various ways. They protest to their white counterparts over their landdispossession through political demonstrations and art. They, withoutfalling into despondency, undertake this struggle as land makes up aconstituent part which is very essential to their life. Land has not only areligious but also an economic tie to Aboriginalpeople. This religious tie


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is strongly attached to them. They have to protect land spots which theyconsider sacred. They are originally hunters and food gatherers and,therefore, they did not cultivate much of their land for agriculturalpurposes. This Aboriginal way of life was misunderstood by whitepeople during their early settlement in Australia. Even these whitecolonists thought that Aboriginal people were nomadic so that they couldlegitimize themselves in taking Aboriginal people's land. This actionconstitutes the problematic essence between Aboriginal people andwhite people.

Oodgeroo Noonuccal is the first Aboriginal artist who recordsthe Aboriginal-white problem in herpoems. "WeAre Going" is her mostpowerful poem which well records this problem. Automatically thispoem can also be seen as protest poetry. She portrays how the Aboriginalland dispossession has always caused her black people to live in misery.She also shows that white people's view of land is different fromAboriginal people's. Accordingly, they treat the lands differently. IfAboriginal people have more religious considerations of the lands, whitepeople tend to base themselves on economic value as theirconsiderations. In fact, Aboriginal literature has become an importanttool to record Aboriginal past history as well as to show Aboriginalprotests over the white injustice andbrutality.

The 1960sand 1970sare closely associated with the significantmovement in Aboriginal history. These years not only saw the firstpublication of Aboriginal literature but the significant change inAboriginal life as well. Aboriginal people began to be formallyacknowledged to control their lands. Nevertheless, their struggle is stillseen to go on, for many have not got the benefit from this landcompensation. The Aboriginal land problem is still complicated.Aboriginal people cannot escape from the white domination. Practicallytheir land management is under the white law although they have adifferentview of the lands.

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

Anonim. 1991. Australian Aboriginal Culture. Canberra: AustralianInfo International.

Broome, R. 1992. Aboriginal Australians: Black Response to WhiteDominance 1788-1980.North Sydney:Allen & Unwin Pty.Ltd.

Buckley, K. and Wheelwright, T. 1992. No Paradise for Workers:Capitalism and the Common People in Australia 1788-1914.Melbourne: OxfordUniversity Press.

Colmer, J. 1989. Australian Autobiography: The Personal Quest.Melbourne: Oxford University Press.

Dalbridge, A. (ed). 1991. The Macquarie Dictionary. Second Edition.MacquarieUniversity,NSW:the MacquarieLibrary.

Davidson, J. 1977."Interview: Kath Walker". Meanjin. Vol. 36/ No.3.October Spring Issue, pp. 428-41.

Gibbs, R. M. 1975.The Aborigines. Hawtorn: Longman Australia Pty.Ltd.

Hardjono, R. 1992.Suku Putihnya Asia: Perjalanan Australia MencariJati Dirinya. Jakarta: P.T.Gramedia Pustaka.

Macartney, F.T. 1967. "Literature and the Aborigines". TwentiethCentury Australian Literary Criticism. Ed. Clement Semmler.Melbourne: Oxford University Press.

Malykke, Y.(ed). 1991. UnderstandingAboriginal Culture. Lane Cove,Sydney:Cosmos Periodicals.

Moore, T. I. 1971. "The Social Elements in Literature". SocialPatterns in Australian Literature. Ed. Tom Ingles Moore.London: Angus & Robertson.

Narogin, M. 1990. Writing from the Fringe: A Study of ModernAboriginal Literature. SouthYarra,Melboume: Hyland House.

Shoemaker, A. 1992. Black Words, WhitePage: Aboriginal Literature1929-1988.Queensland:University of Queensland Press.


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Tiffin, C. 1985. "Look to the New-Found Dreaming: Identity andTechnique in Australian Aboriginal Writing". The Journal ofCommonwealthLiterature. Vol.xx. No. l.,pp. 156-69.

Walker,K. 1964.WeAre Going.Brisbane: TheJacaranda Press.

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