Ben and Me
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Today is the 20th of april
19 hundred and 88

It is early hours of the morning
4:52 am

Crickets are still singing in the background
white man and his machines
have not awakened yet

It is just before
the breaking
of the
pickanini dawn
in the eastern sky
which the white man call
daybreak

But to us the Aboriginal people
through and from one generation to another
going back down
through the past
years
to
the beginning of our time
when we first existed here
it’s a long time
ago a way back there

Anyway I said before
today is the 20th of April
within the year 19 hundred and 88

It is the year of the
space travel
we in the time age now
the jet supersonic aeroplanes

This tape is made
or is being made this morning
at this early hour

It is the story of 2 mates

The late
deceased
Ben Morrison
alias
Ben Jackamurra
alias Ben Stack

Ben
Morrison
as I knew him
as Ben Put
that was his Blackfella name
and my Blackfella name was Ming

Ben and I travelled a long way
we come from a family
a large family

His family
backgrounds came from the north
through New Norcia Mission
Victoria Plains
through a little town called Callum?
just out from Toodyay
through Toodyay
into the Northam area
and the Avon Valley
where all the Stacks live now
some of them anyway

Back down through the Swan Valley
to the Eden Hill
the Bassendean camp days
around the Ashfield area
where it all scrub was there then
that was in the past
not there any more

The same applied
to us
my family
my Grandfather
came
from the southern area
my Grandmother came from the southern area
my Grandfather’s buried in the
Busselton cemetery
the south of
Bunbury
along the southwest coast
my Grandmother lays in the sandplains
south of the Moore River Native Settlement
which was Moore River Native Settlement
in the early days
she lays out there now in the sandplains

But more of that later

The reason and the core and the grassroots
of this tape been made this morning
is on behalf of my
best friend Ben
who’s climbed the hill now
he’s gone on
on ahead
who’s left behind
people like myself
and his relations
his daughter
his grandson

He’s left behind the happenings of his past
when he walked and travelled
along the path of life
and I in turn
accompanied him
on many occasions
most of all
I was very close
I spent a lot of time
With Ben
And I know his character
Same and he knows mine
As a Blackfella would say
'I know him like the palm of my hand'
Or 'I know her like the palm of my hand'
And he in turn could say the same about me

We travelled together
we jumped trains together
we stole together
we eluded the police together

We did a lot of things

In the timespace and the time travelling
of crossing the plains of our youth
back there in the past
through the mist
and the dust
and the misery
and the laughter
and the sharing
and the togetherness
that most of all
was the strongest medicine
that we the Blackfellas
will ever have

And the sharing of nothing
and the sharing of something
that is important
is priceless to us the Aboriginal people

To me Ben
was my
second shadow
and to him
I was his second shadow

His father was
one of the many
last of the old fellas
leaving the
Ashfield camping areas
carting props down through
the townships of Bayswater
Maylands
Inglewood
Guildford
Bassendean areas
these were forked sticks cut from
our trees
the Jarrah
to prop up the whitewoman’s clothesline
so she could hang her clothes up high
and the sun would dry them

They’d go around carrying these sticks
4 would be their favourite number
2 on each shoulder
selling em 3 shillings
that was 30 cents
in these days you’d call it
the cost of tucker then
that was red meat
murang to us
tucker to the whitefella
sheep

As I said before
Ben and I
shared a lot of time
and today it hurts me

It was in the
closing of the day
a few weeks ago
after knocking off work
I was sitting down
and the phone rang
it was the Inspector Haling
From the Fremantle
Police Station

He knew me briefly when he was in the Midland area
before he shifted down there
anyway the phone rang and I picked it up
'Hello'
'Hello, this is inspector Haling there
Can I speak to Robert Bropho?'
'Speaking'

'Ben
Morrison'

Straight away it clicked in my mind
'Yes
What’s he been up to now?'
getting in first
'Is he in jail or is he in hospital
or what?'
putting him on the spot

'I’m afraid Robert
that Ben’s not with us anymore
found him
hanging in the police cells
a little while ago
been ringing to find out
directions on
or the whereabouts of
any of his relations
If there’s any left'

Little did the inspector Haling know that
it was my bosom friend
he was talking about
but the damage had been done
and the spear had gone right through me
and I heard the words of
'he’s not with us any more'
meaning that he was norch
meaning that ben has left
not of his own accord
I believe that now

Anyway I told the inspector
'yes, there’s some relations
around the Northam area'
I thought straight away of the Stacks
'There’s some around the Koongamia area
in Midland'
yes
his daughter’s here somewhere in Perth
caught up in the traffic jam
with the concrete jungles
in Perth
his grandson was there somewhere too
the whereabouts I didn’t know then
but I know now

These are the things that
the Blackfella thinks about
When you sit down
And you think hard and long
And you look
in the far distance
and you visualise
the happenings of the past back there
it’s misty
sometimes in your mind
but it’s clear
the hurt’s still there

Ben’s gone now
he’s climbed the hill
meaning that he’s passed climbing I’m still climbing

He’s been around the
New Norcia Mission
areas he was reared up there
he was a great footballer
he was a guitar player
he was a happy person

The people in the Moora area knew him
the people in the Nangara community
living in Sydney road
Nangara now
and north of the Perth area
the people of the Swan Valley knew him
the people of Kalakabardi knew him
the people south of Pinjarra knew him
And in the Pinjarra area
the Northam area

He’s been around
he’s walked the streets of Perth
in his old age

Now he sleeps on the hill
in the Midland area
the Swan View area
the Midland cemetery they call it
it is the home of the Green Bullfrogs

That is the Dreaming Track
Where they come down the Blackadder Creek
to enter into
the Sacred
areas of the
Swan River
running right down

Through the beliefs
Of the Waugal our snake

These things to us the Aboriginal people
Are priceless

These things to us
is shared by
all Aboriginal people
no matter if they
what they Aborignality
behind they and gone
out into the white society
got good jobs and living in houses
and driving flash cars
and
believing in their mind that they are accepted in the white society
which they are not

Once an Aboriginal
always be an Aboriginal

And you will die an Aboriginal
you will go back into the Land which is your Mother
you will come back into the togetherness
of the Aboriginality
of the Aboriginal people
Which is the sharing
even if there’s nothing
at least you’ll be sitting down with the Aboriginal people

Ben’s mum
name was Anny
she was a tall ?
proud
push out your chest
springy walk woman

There was Abraham stack
who was a tall 6 footer
a big man
Who was around the camp life days
in the Eden Hill
Bassendean area
when the day when the Grace Gentle’s were alive
and the Barney
and Tina Parfitts
and the Ollie Worrells
and the Lottie Annas
and the ?
and the Herbert Disons
and the Grannie Hangies
my godmother

And the Tom Corbits
and the Edwards
and the Womdines
and the Bungbungs
and the Colbrits
and the Higgins
and the Mippys
and the Brophos
and the Sandys
and the Laylans
and the Andersons
and the Abdullas
and the Hills
and the Jacobs

These are the people were around then
and the Isaacs
and the Deevils
and the Colbungs
and the ?

To me
Ben was more than a mate
he was a brother
cause he was part of me and I was part of him
and we were part of the Aboriginal people
which we still are
and the Aboriginal people are part of us
and we are of the Land
and the Land
is a part of us

We are the Trees
we are the Blades of Grass
we are the Crow that flies
we are the Magpie that talks
we are the Parrot that talks
we are the Fish that swims in the river
and in the sea
we are the Waugal
which is our Dreaming Snake
we are the
Green Bullfrogs
we are the Caterpillar
we are the Dingo
we are the Emu
we are the Kangaroo
we are the Porcupine
the Ningarn
we are the Kunyanii
the Rainbird
the Black Cockatoos

We are the air
we are the sun
we are the rain
we are the suffering
we are the happiness

We are all these things

Why I’m saying this is
because
a poem was coming later on
from his daughter
that she gave to him
although his eyes was closed
but it was his
and it always will be his
and it will be ours
because we share

to my mate
I say unto you Ben
wait up for me
on the hill
wait up for me
on the hill

For you have climbed it
you have crossed
the plains of your youth
through the dust and mist
the misery
the happiness
and the sharing
of the togetherness

Of your life
with me
and I with you

Wait up on the hill
wait up on the hill my friend
for I am a slow climber
and when I get there
you and I will look back
and you and I will go on
together

© Copyright Swan Valley Nyungah Community 1988, 2007

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