New Year's Day 2008
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It's so many hours now
into the year 2008
the year 2007 is behind us
so many hours

It's the early hours of the morning
I don't know what time it is
but it's still dark
just before daybreak
of the coming of this day
which is New Year's Day
year 2008

Making this tape
just to look back down through the pages of time
through the whole of the year 2007

Nothing much to talk about
nothing's happened
towards
assisting the Aboriginal People
this is the Blackfellas
as a Nation
all across the breadths and lengths
of they Country
which the whiteman named Australia
now

Statement out
to all you Blackfellas out there
no matter where you may be
from this point where I'm making
this tape
this morning
whether you be in the North East South or West or Central
or up there or down

Governments of the past
that came and gone out of power
have did nothing to assist us
the Aboriginal Nation
to go back to where
we rightfully belong
to our homes
no matter where it is

In the creekbeds
in the space
of the bushland
the breakaways
and the flat plains
of the Nullarbor plains
the hills and the valleys
where we
as
a Nation of People
were born into
through our Mother
the Spiritual Dreaming
to get to where we are now

Governments in the power
who got into power in the past
have did nothing to recognise
respect
and show
the rightful respect
that is required to us the Aboriginal People

We keep saying Aboriginal
we keep saying Natives
we keep saying Indigenous
but where's the word terms
of we always used to say
us Blackfellas

We have not changed

It's the tides of tiem
and the coming generations
in and out of power
of the white society
that change and twisted around
and renames us the original owners
for the purpose of what they want us
to be renamed

We as Aboroginal People
know where we Belong
know who our Mother is
our first Mother is the Land

And she has given us everthing
a Home
love and affection
and guided us through and along
the pads of our lifespan

As we
generated
from back there in the past
to where we are now

When we are born of a man and woman
through our mothers and fathers
we are set on a destined course
that's our lifespan
each person
or persons
are born into who they become
through their Mother
be they male or female

And they lifespan
is set out before them
the footprints
and the pads of their ancestors
the highways and the byways
that are made by State and Federal Governments
that came and gone
into power and gone out of power

And still
the days and the nights
still unfold
moving forward

It is set in that timeframe

We've started from the Beginning of Time
to get to where we are now
us the Aboriginal People
we were the First Race of People

Born through our Mother the Land
and lived with her
until the invasion
and the coming of the second race of people
that took over
from us by force
ignored us and the Rightful Owners
respected us not as Human Beings

And they inflicted upon us
they powers which they set down
which they call the white values

They went berserk when they first came here
they brought guns, disease and disrespect

They tampered with our women
and borne them halfcaste children
they flogged our men
and they murdered them
they stole our land
they polluted our waterways
they tore down the trees
they dug holes in the ground
and they just went berserk

And they built they cities
they roads
they run they electricity
across the lengths and breadths
of the Land
they lay down they railway lines
and they press buttons
on a daily weekly monthly yearly basis
every time they went to the toilet
and flushed away the waste
of the human body
back down into the Land
injecting Her
every time they pressed the button
to destroy Her
of Her goodness

We've had nothing but attacks
and attacks
and attacks

Each Government
that came into power
and gone our of power
and when they was in power
they set up their so called experts
white men and white women
and they called them experts
and they paid them big money
to advise
on what the Aboriginal people wanted
without consulting them

All through the years
of the year 2007
there was nothing

And we can honestly say
and go back down
through the pathways
of the tides of time
through 2006
2005
2004
and so forth and so on
right back down
to
when the second race of people came here
that's the white
lust for power greedy people
and took this Land by force
murder
rape
thief of our Land
polluting of everything they came in contact with
to get to where they are now

Experts they call themselves now

But when we turn the mirror around
and we look back through
the pages of time
and through the generations of white people
to when they first got here
and from there back up
to where we are now

They've got clean streets
cut lawns
buildings painted up
and curtains on their windows

That's falseness
of what dwells
behind the scenes
as the song said
"no one knows what goes on
behind the closed doors"

Priests become predators
of young children
Black and white
Black especially
of their own race
sexual abuse takes place
in the whiteman's homes
in each capital city
in each home

Rape
murder
home invasions
violence
police brutality
deaths in custody

Governments that come into power
become
godfathers and dominators
of the Disadvantaged People
that they claim they represent

They know not the suffering
of the Disadvantaged People
that dwell
in and around each capital city

And they know nothing
and undertand
of the Homeless People
who sleep in parks
under bridges
in laneways
or anywhere
in bus stations
as the night falls
they bed down to sleep
until the next very day
to re-act over the same act
that they've gone through
yesterday
and yesternights

Boom time
Governments splitter splatter
riches riches
it brightens up them
this is the premiers
the politicians
the prime ministers
and the so called experts

From the Aboriginal nation's point of view
the second race of people
are a race
of meddlesome monkeys
always touching things
to see what makes it tick
always digging holes
and always pissing
where they're not supposed to piss

The year 2007
was a treacherous
unlawful
year
that we passed through

With the Johnny Howard Government
that dominated the Aboriginal People
and the Aboriginal Nation
and the Disadvantaged People
and all the terms that John Howard
and his Government has been in parliament

We hear nothing form the Rudd Government
that says
they've got into power
what they are going to do
and how they are going to assist
trying to righten the wrongs
that have been done
to the Disadvantaged People
and the Aboriginal People
mainly

It's a still day today
there's not a breath of wind blowing outside
I'm looking through the window
of the whiteman's house
and the leaves on the flooded gum tree
are still not even moving

it's a quiet room
where I'm making this tape
I can almost hear the sound
of my old weak heart beating
which
I am the Old Man
of 77 years of age

And I've travelled a long way
in my life span
to get to where I am now
and I sit down
looking in a westerly direction
through the whiteman's window
to the stillness out there

With not a sound or movement
anywhere over the pointed picked fence
where I'm looking
the stillness worries me

I am the Old Man
from the Swan Coastal Plains
I am the Old Man
who was born into a huge family
of the Last of the River People

I am the Old Man
that is only left
of a family of 14 brothers and sisters
my mother and father is dead

Aand all my old friends
that I've passed by
passing through
places
like Wilair Bridge
between Broome and Derby
Looma
Fitzroy Crossing
Noonkanbah
Oombulgarie
Port Hedland
Roebourne
Marble bar
Wiluna
Meekatharra
Leonora
Laverton
passing through Skull Creek
to the Ranges
to Jamison
to Linton Bore
to Blackstone
to Wingellina
to Docker River
to the Olgas
Ayers Rock
to Alice Springs
to Bazzos Farm
to Kintore Ranges

And I passed in and along down
the Oodnadatta Track
to Port Augusta
to Adelaide
through the Flinders Ranges
through Quorn
Wilpena Pounds
Morgan
Fowlers Bay
Penong
Mildura

I've travelled a long way

I will not see
like you
the year 2007

Because it's behind us now
we've passed through it

I am the Old Man
from the Spiritual Dreaming
through my mother and father
my first Mother and Father
and my first Grandmother
and Grandfather
to where I am now

So many hours
into the year 2008
I sit now
wondering
how many tomorrows
will I see
before I leave
on my last journey
crossing the Clouded Plains

I'm robert C Bropho
Traditional Elder
of the Swan Coastal Plains
of the Last of the River People
in the Swan Valley
Perth Western Australia

© Copyright Swan Valley Nyungah Community 1988, 2008

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