December 1955 School Magazine

Brisbane Girls' Grammar School Magazine

December, 1955

December. 1955

Brisbane Girls' Grammar School Magaz:ne

The Arnhem Landers are a fine people. The men are of perfect physique, and the women are at the same time strongly built and shapely. Their skin is almost jet black, as is their curly, wiry hair. They have large, childishly innocent eyes and perfect white teeth. These primitive people lead happy, carefree lives. There is food ("bush tucker") in abundance for a good tracker with a fast, accurate spear, or for a woman, trained from earliest infancy to detect, by the slightest sign, yams, or the many edible roots that are used in place of vegetables. The life of a native boy is almost complettly free of responsibility until he reaches the age of ten or eleven. At this a.g·e he goes through the first initiation or the ' ' gooroomul ' ' (young man) ceremony. ThE.n he must undergo· various exact- ing tests of strength and hunting ability. He is introduced to songs and dances hitherto unknown to him. At the end of the ceremony the boy is circumcised, and on his chest, arms and legs, he receives thE. fir-st of the "warrior" weals that he will carry through life. He is now a person of responsibility, with a definite stand- ing in the tribe. He must help provide food for the camp, and he may no longer associate with the womenfolk, nor may he speak to·, or look at, his younger sister. At the age of seventeen he is fully initiated. but what actually happens at this ceremony is not yet known by the white man. After the ceremony he is a full member of the tribe, and he may take a wife. As he grows older he will most probably acquire mort wives, and for some reason the older he becomes the younger the lubras of his choice. "When a native dies his friends and relations cut and gash themselves with knives and axes to express their sorrow. He· is wrapped in paper-bark, and his closest relations carry his body to a carefully prepared grave, and bury him. They drag the ground between the grave and the camp with bushes, so t hat the man's spirit will have no trouble finding his way back. He will return once to t he camp, then will climb into the sky, where he will remain in a black man's idea of paradise forever. Fights are very frequent among these people, but though we tend the vvounded, the natives always do their utmost to keep a killing quiet. They have already begun to realize the rudiments of the white man's law. And with this realization will come the end of the aborigine. Already the tribal life of the few real natives left is falling into rapid decay. Soon even these least civilized tribes, the Rambunga and Djimha peopl e. will be no more. HEATHRR DODD (3B ) 39

But evening nigh, they drowsily homeward turned, And, with the tide, sailed o'er the harbour bar. To where the piles of nets an brown and burned Lay broken 'mongst the mooring-ropes and tar. In groups the simple fisherfolk sat dreaming, While slowly sank the sun beneath the sea; And great grey seagulls overhead wheeled screaming Over the fish upon the cobbled quay. Into the gathering darkness dropped the scene- Each nodding rooftop and each winking light ;

St. Ives, of silent sea and harbour-side, Went, blessed by God, into the night.

-NANETTE BUCHANAN (IVA)

DREAM WANDERLUST

Dust and dirt, clamour and strife, Noise and confusion of city life, Dull monotony and drab routine- ! must escape, escape to dream! Buildings fade, noises subside; I wander in the countryside Where softly falling April rain Dims the view of an English lane.

The skirl of the bagpipes, harsh and loud Breaks the shroud of the mists that cloud Around the heathered plains and slopes, And hangs low where the wild stag lopes. A silvered moon o'er the water swings, And shadows the ground with elfin wings; A ripple brings a star to me As I stand at the edge of a tropic sea. The north lights flash on a distant land,

Far removed from the sea of sand Where, silent and cold, of life bereft, Stone monuments of the past are left. . . .. A mist has veiled my eager eyes- The sun has faded from foreign skies, And now shines forth from the dusty blue v ·er this town where I live my whole life througn.

Dust and dirt, clamour and strife, Noise and confusion of city life- But 'mid my troubles a bright ray gleams; I can close my eyes and escape in dreams.

- RHONDA VICKERS (IIID)

THE ARNHEM LAND ABORIGINES Only a very few of Australia's original inhabitants are now left living in their original state, neith er touched nor troubled by the influence of the white man, but it has been my privilege to come into fa i.rly close contact with these people. 38