July 1957 School Magazine

Brisbane Giris' Grammar Schooi Magazine

July, 1957

Brisbane Girls' Grammar School Maqazine

July, 1957

was also waving his arms furiously. How the thing was settled, I shall never know, because we were so helpless with laughter that we had not the courage to stop, and perhaps alter the ending of this delightful tale. And therefore we chugged and clanked on OUr way. -CLACE BIRKBECK, VB. LINYUNGA At the faint wail from within the humpy, the young native sitting out~ide sprang to his feet. The child was born! His first child, and, he hoped, a boy. He waited patiently, out- wardly calm, but, inwardly, with a burning impatience until an old lubra-the midwife-emerged from the humpy. The young chief waited for her to speak but she only stared at him, speechless, her eyes full of fear. "The child is well?" he finally asked. She nodded. "Yes, Boorit Doon, and it is a boy, strong and healthy." But even in his joy he saw the fear still in her face, and a sudden, horrify- ing doubt gripped him. "Go", he said, "and bring the child to me." Whimpering in her fear she did his bidding, and brought the tiny, wailing bundle to him. He gazed at the child in horror, and then as the awfulnPss of the whole situation came over him, he shook with rage and disappointment. By native law, this child must die. "Give him to me," he growled, and she placed the little half caste in his arms·. Miraculously, the child's crying ceased, and he gazed up into the native's face. And the man knew that though this child was not of his making, he could never kill him. He stood in a moment's indecision, then: "Tal

in a "home" and sent him to school where the white children ridiculed his native ways and halting English. In the years that followed he fought himself free of their ridicule, but they never accepted him as one of themselves; while he, for his part, ever dreamed of a camp by a river, a tall native chief- tain, and the carefree, happy life he had lost. He understood now the stigma of his birth, and wanted only to return to his native life. At last, at fifteen, he left school, and finding work with a droving plant, returned to the country of his people. They welcomed him with smiles and gladness, but the old familiarity and equality was gone. Linyunga realised that now, owing to his long absence, he was an outcast even here. The natives, regarding him now as a product of the white man's ways, did not trust him. Sadly, he .left them. An outcast of both the white and the black worlds, Lin- yunga lived on in a morose, sullen world of his own. With not even hopes and dreams to cheer him he went, as do thousands of half breeds, from bad to worse, drinking and fight- ing his freedom away. He is eighteen now, a hard and bitter youth, just completing a nine months term in prison. His plight is a typical one. Can nothing be done for the thousands of half castes in Australia to-day, with no future, no hopes, and no dreams? -H. DODD, VB. MUNGALPIN Mungalpin is !he aboriginal name for Morelon Island, meaning-"where !he sand meels !he sky." This is their heritage. This is their land. A million years have called her fair.

Raised from the sea In mist blue years, Alone, she stands. The ghos t gums whisper-the moonlight is stilL Soft on the wing the light wind breathes, Ripples the pools Hung dark with sleep. The warm earth stirs . This is their heritage. This is their land. Brown eyes mirror a dusty dream Lost in the earth, And the shimmering heal Of a silent age. Here is the dream land, hushed and still In the infinite blue the eagle waits . The thunder rolls,

The black ships strain Broken the silence-

The dream is gone . 25

-A. CRAWFORD, VB.