Year 8 KKHS 2020 Indigenous E-Book

24th of January 1788. I ran to the shore of Botany Bay, the place I used to call home not knowing how the day would end. I thought everything would be good until I heard it. It was a monstrous, oversized beast, nothing I had ever seen before. I tried to run but I felt paralysed, my chest felt heavy and my breath quickened until I saw an old man. He was white and wearing a large pointy hat, a bright mesmerising red shirt with white crosses on it. The white man pulled out a long sharp item which he then shot into the air twice. He was not like me, he was different. Then the unthinkable happened, there were hundreds of them running out from the belly of the beast. I was confused about who they were and what they wanted, however, I managed to run away, to hide from the strange men. I felt afraid. I was not ready for what The indigenous land was about to turn into. They have weapons, lots and lots of them. I watch the other men among my tribe go towards the massive ships. “The first contact’’ I whisper under my breath. They run toward each other. I cry silently as I watch more bodies drop. I was a shivering wreck, however, at the end of the day, there were too many. The wind screamed at me as it passed me, almost as if it cried for its people. &nbsp; 25th of January 1788. &nbsp; It has been a day or two since the white people had come to my home and they have changed everything. I have never seen these animals before and the way they treat us, it's all so different. Everyone was so sick and dying however, things got worse as more ships came. My culture was drowning like a sinking ship. They were too empowering. I went back towards my hut and instead of overthinking, I decided to fall asleep. 26th of January 1788 BOOM, BANG! I wake up from a deep slumber and hear the sound of all men yelling and metal clashing. Fear fills my face as I realise what is going on, I look outside to see the white monsters fighting and killing my people. I watched in fright as children were getting taken away and new animals getting imported. Trees were getting chopped down, the land was getting destroyed. My home was broken. I felt hopeless, just wanting someone to hear me but, no one listened. I watched as children would get punished, homes get destroyed and my peoples’ bodies continued to drop. 27th of January 1788 &nbsp; It was getting darker outside so I decided to go out to the shore of Botany Bay, the place I used to call home not knowing what the next day would bring. I thought everything was good, peaceful, and calm. I run to the water to wash up when shock hits my face as I see even more monstrous and oversized ships. I tried to run but I felt paralysed, my chest felt heavy and my breath quickened until I saw men and women with their hands tied together. They were wearing cloth, rags and different used materials. I run back to the tree I first ran into in this frightful moment. They had more weapons and more men with these ridiculous large pointy hat, bright mesmerising red shirt with white crosses on it, with their baggy white pants. They went to fight again, however, I jumped out from behind the tree and yelled loudly,&nbsp;STOP! The white men just stare at me as I stare back in fear.&nbsp;

&nbsp;The Lost Generation &nbsp; 23th June 2019 The tears silently rolled down my face as my son and I drove slowly past the train station where it all began. The bright blue train station is filled with lots of unhappy people making their way home from work. My hands started to grip to the steering wheel as I remembered what happened. My memories of before this time are of my large family, laughing, playing and being carefree. I turn to face my son as I prepare to tell him of my past. February 16th 1914 It comes back vividly, the day they came and forcibly took us away from our parents. We were very young and frightened especially when our older brothers escaped from them and my younger brother, sister and I were put on a train and at the time, we had no idea what was happening to us. We were all terrified and we didn’t know where this train was taking us. It was a freezing cold night and there was no one else on the train except us. It was dark when the train eventually stopped and we could see the lights of an empty city like we had never seen before. The city was so pretty with the night lights. We were taken to a cold dark place with rows and rows of beds which would become our home. &nbsp; February 17th 1914 Our days began at 4:30am with a bowl of watery porridge that was supposed to keep us going while we were expected to scrub the floors, clean the dishes and do the laundry all by hand in scalding hot water and lye soap that left our hands red, raw and painful. This was our life and it was controlled by cold and heartless people. &nbsp; 23th June 2019 Next we drive past farmland which reminds me of my next home. July 27th 1916 A boy’s farm on the outskirts of Bathurst. Once again my days were filled with back breaking work from early morning to late afternoons in the fields. All day we were working harder than ever harvesting potatoes in the freezing cold or on a boiling hot day. It was hard being separated from my brother and sister, not being able to take care of them anymore or knowing what happened to them. &nbsp; Even though I am free, I must teach my son of what happened because he needs to know what my story is so he can share it with the next generation.

26th February 1844, &nbsp; Hello, My name is Keira and I am a witness of the Stolen Generation in 1910-1970, however, my mother told me the experience of the First Fleet which occurred in 1788. I am an elderly Indigenous woman, who experienced the life changing events of contact and colonisation. It was a very long time ago when everything seemed normal, but everything changed in our lives and became much worse. It was the white men, the British, the empowering men who came to change our lives, but that's not all, let me go back to the start from where it all began in 1788, when they headed towards my island, like a stampede. We were all clueless and unexpecting of the most life threatening events that were just beyond the horizon. &nbsp; 24th of January 1844, (First Fleet) &nbsp; Helplessly running, the Indigenous people were all scared at the time. We didn't know our lives could completely change like this. The boats were gigantic and there were thousands of them. The boats were as large as mountains. They were a threat. They all sailed towards the Indigenous land, with guns and weapons. They empowered over us like there was no tomorrow. They started heading quickly to the land, all jumping off the boats and to the shore. They seemed normal at first, but then they witnessed terrifying, disastrous behaviours. They were here to take over. &nbsp; 26th of April 1788 (4 months later) &nbsp; My mother tells me of the life changing occurrence which happened during the First Fleet. BANG! The Indigenous people were screaming in fright, as they killed my beloved people. My arms were an earthquake of shivers. Many people tried to stop the white men, but there were too many of them. My people charged in anger trying to win the war, but they were too strong. The British were a bunch of monstrous villains. They imported wild animals to the land to destroy my people’s habitat. I had never seen those animals before, they were an introduced species to the Indigenous land. The people said they were imported to spread diseases and ruin our huts. SPLAT! Bodies dropped, like felled trees. They were frightened and crying in sadness, wishing for things to become better. Their tears was a rainfall, marking the soil with my peoples’ history. Running anxiously, as a young Aboriginal girl screaming for them to stop. The sound of screaming and yelling filled the people’s minds with terror. &nbsp; 1910-1970, (Stolen Generation Date) &nbsp; They furiously grabbed my friends then my arm taking us away within a blink of an eye. My fear was as large, as the boats. I have never seen my family ever again since that day. I was startled and shocked, however, I do remember the British fighting my people and hurting my beloved tribe. The British starting contact and colonisation was the most terrifying and frightening thing I could ever experience, not only was this whole experience life changing, but I was never to see my family again since the Stolen Generation occurred. We were harassed and tortured and made to believe that the Indigenous race was to be ashamed of. We were beaten and treated differently to other white children. My hope was as large as the moon, as I waited for them to let the other young Indigenous children and me go. The Stolen Generation was a frightening experience that I lived through for most of my Indigenous childhood. They took the young Aboriginal children away from their friends and families and tortured us brutally. They empowered the Aboriginal race and took away our culture and happiness. 27th September 2000,&nbsp;(40 yrs after Stolen Generation) I'm 56 now, but the entire experience was life changing. I still haven't seen my father and mother since that day, however, I grew to believe that my race was disgraceful. They ruined everything. They took our homes, they ruined the land, they stole the children and took away my family’s and friends' traditional beliefs and culture. The whole past was a torturous occurrence, full of terror and fear. It was life changing and disastrous but they kept on coming and the consequences are still felt to this day.

Defeat Seeing this massive boat charging towards shore I take a step back to prepare myself for war We fear in silence as we are offshore Waiting in distress for the news to come forth Here we are standing ready for war &nbsp; &nbsp; The massive boat arrives to the coast My people and I prepare for the most As the strange boat is getting very close We all take a step back disappearing like ghosts As we all prepare ourselves for the most &nbsp; &nbsp; The strange people set out their massive sail As the strong, viscous, wind blows a gale My brown, old, wrinkly, face starts to go pale As we start to spear at their massive tail &nbsp; &nbsp; Looking into the grey, stormy distance I fear my very own existence As our strong spearing is very consistent We have no resistance As we need so much assistance

Forever Me Darkness. It surrounds me like a large, pitch black blanket, wrapping around me as if it will squeeze me to death. It feeds on my fear, drinking it like a massive mosquito sucking the blood out of a human. I’ve always been nyctophobic since I was a baby and still now as an young, independent adolescent boy. I’m so terrified that I will sometimes cry until I fell asleep, but thankfully my parents were always there to sit with me until I fell into a slumber. That was until my family was broken by the most terrifying events which brought destruction and chaos throughout my tribe and the creatures that brought this upon us were the white people. The white people were like red foxes, overpopulated and extremely hard to exterminate, but they were ten times worse. They had the same bodies as us, ate food and drank water like us and moved like us, except.... they weren’t. They looked different, dressed differently, talked differently and worst of all, they thought differently. For my culture, the Whadjuks, we think that taking someone away from their land is a disgrace, while the white people believe that this is a good thing. They believe in it so much they literally did it. Their leaders decided to strip families from their land and placed them under roofs and between walls. They were called reserves and missions. Our sacred lands were turned to land for grazing. Worst of all, they decided to take the kids away from our families so we could learn to be just like them, to act like them, to look like them, to hate like them. And we lost our culture. But not me, when they came to my family to take me, I fought them and used my kylie (boomerang), hielaman (shield) and pure, burning courage to fight them off and escape. Now, a month later, I look out of the window of my hut, staring into the darkness, thinking about how far I have come from when I escaped the white people to now. Now with my tribe of young boys who like me, who want to fight for our land, we will fight the white people as a rebellion and rid our kind from them and finally restore peace to our lands. For I am Yarren of the Whadjuk tribe and as long as I have blood pumping through my veins, I will fight for freedom, even if I get myself killed.

The Stolen Generation Waking up to the sound of people screaming marra (run away!) hundreds of my people run rapidly past. I look up to see unknown things taking my bunjis (mates), my stomach drops getting up and I rush to my family. All of a sudden pain goes through my wrist the weird creature is trying to communicate to me as it is latched on to my arm. Water slowly flows out of my eyes. I see my family getting thrown to the ground. I scream in anger as someone pulls me to the ground and violently drags me into a mysterious patjikang (vehicle/beast). I grip my hands tightly yelling for my tankan and pintankin (mother and father) but they’re nowhere to be found. We go further and further away “My family, my friends they’re all gone”. The patjikang starts to slow down. Swiftly glancing out the window there is a family outside, they looked completely different to me. I go to get out but they slam the door as they were having a conversation in a weird language. They open the door and let me in. Their house felt like it was a looming beast about to hunt me down, walking inside with fear the walls were white, the furniture was white, the people were white. Everything was white. I felt uncomfortable and heartbroken. The white family gave me a sponge and a bucket with a weird block in it. The more I held it the more my hand hurt as my hand was raw, as red as red paint. I can’t understand what they’re saying as he grabs me and reaches for a wooden pole. He uses all his strength and starts beating me. I start crying in terror as my master stops hitting me he points at the floor. I quickly start cleaning up the floors as the clock hasn't moved past one minute. The feeing of being here makes my heart clench, washing the floor, the lye soap covers my hands with pain but I continue cleaning. Finalising the floors my master angrily points at the ongoing field but then another Aboriginal kid walks out of the shed. He looked as skinny as a twig and hasn't had a shower for months. He looked different but I became excited, but it wasn't my brother we both walk out and grab a hoe and a shovel. We start digging. The exhaustion starts to catch up to me as I talk under my breath about running away. The kid looks at me and talks in the same language. I jump with joy as we plan running away, we drop our tools and start walking. Our master sees us and starts yelling at the top of his lungs. We speed to a run as he we hear him getting closer.

The objects approached the shore We didn't know what to do, we didn't know who they were Everyone scrambled up off the floor One of the creatures, my wife, they grabbed her Retaliating in anger I burst into a rage&nbsp; My people abused and locked up in a cage&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; There was nothing but violence in these times The british killing, they were in their prime&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; The Aboriginals fought for the land But in the end, ended up losing a hand They attacked us in the night, making it an unfair fight&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; They took us away not so long ago&nbsp; From the small country town of Ando They beat my dad, they threw us in a van I was taken in by a scary old man&nbsp; He took away my rights And made me act like I was one of the whites But no one will ever really understand&nbsp;&nbsp; The beatings I got from my old man &nbsp; 1975 was the year we got back our land When Gough Whitlam poured soil back into back into our hands The damage was done but won't be forgotten&nbsp;&nbsp; The way we were treated made us feel rotten Though it is time to forgive&nbsp;&nbsp; Now we can actually live&nbsp;

As I walk past a grocery store and hear a young child crying it brings back horrifying memories of what happened to me a few years back… JUNE, 19 , 1959. It was a casual morning in my house, I felt the warm sunshine on my skin as I looked out of my kitchen window. I quickly sat up as somebody knocked on the door, my mum opened up the door as I saw a tall figure standing at the door. The figure and my mum were talking about something quietly when all of a sudden my mum started bursting into tears. She looked back at me and ran over giving me a hug, I hugged her back not knowing it would be our last. The man walked over to me and grabbed my hand and pulled me outside, my body&nbsp;burning as I got dragged through the dirt. My arms ached as I was being pulled away from my family, not knowing what was happening. I was frightened and didn't know what to do. I tried to escape but it was just too much. I got dragged into a car and forcibly pushed in. As I sat in the van crying I glanced at the window for one last look. I remember looking at my arms, already covered with bruises, my hands were trembling and I was terrified. It was a long ride. I fell asleep along the way and when I woke up I was in a strange house, I stared up at the roof for a while before I decided to get out of bed as I slowly started walking out of the door.&nbsp;As I peek from behind the wall I see a rather tall woman and her husband and before I could do anything they noticed me. I cautiously walked over to them my mind racing, they seemed really nice at first. Welcoming me they took my hand and started walking me back to bed. I was only 8 years old and barely understood anything they were telling me. They told me that I was in better care now and I was in a better place. They explained to me it was part of a government policy and told me it was for my own good. I woke up the next morning, the sun in my eyes, looking up and remembering where I was. I didn't want to get out of bed, I hid under the covers crying until I heard someone walking towards my bedroom. I heard the door slowly open and then all of a sudden, the blankets got RIPPED off of me, cold I curled up into a ball. ‘Get up and get dressed’ a deep voice said sternly to me. I pounced out of bed at the sound as I stared at the man. Shakily I reached for the clean folded clothes sitting on the cupboard next to me. There was a middle aged British woman and her husband James who was rather tall sitting at the table. They asked me to sit and have breakfast with them so I did. After breakfast they made me wash all the dishes, clean the floors and dust. I was forced to cook and clean daily, if I forgot something I would get hit and kicked. I was forced to be a slave for years and barely got to see anyone. Years later when I was 18 I was allowed to move out and have my own house. One day I was in my living room when I got a call, I picked up the phone and to my surprise a very familiar voice answered… “mum!” I yelled in surprise and was always told that she had died. Me and my mum talked on the phone for hours as we made plans to meet again. Now I live with my wife Jennifer and visit my mum frequently. Life is good now but I will always have those terrifying memories from my childhood.

25 January 1788 Hi my name is Tarni. I'm a young Worimi woman. I live with my mum and dad and my two older brothers in a Wirray (summer hut) that my father and brothers built many years ago along Worimi (Botany Bay). Today as I collected water along the coast I heard two older women talking about how they could see strange floating beasts like things with an immense stick on top of it with fabric flowing off it. When I returned home I asked my mother about the strange floating beasts and she just said that it's nothing and I shouldn't worry about it. When eating the Wambuyn (kangaroo) my father brought up the strange floating beasts and how he saw more. While he was working I commented on how I saw them. My father then turned around and said how I should not worry as I'm a bright young woman who doesn't need to worry about these problems. As I was laying in bed drifting to sleep I thought about the monstrous floating objects and the possible devilish items could be on them and what could be on them and my near future. &nbsp; 26 January 1788 This morning I woke from my deep slumber with the sound of screaming and loud bangs. I got up off the hard ground and walked out the front to find my mother in tears. I then proceeded to ask her if she was ok. She replied with “There's a strange man here, they wear bizarre clothes and don’t speak our language, they're trying to take our crops and control us to do things.” My mouth dropped when I saw the man screaming at the other families along from our hut to force them to give him whatever he wanted. &nbsp; 27 january 1788 As I walked out of my hut in fear I saw a white man who was off of the large sea creature that came yesterday afternoon sitting against a gumtree. He seemed sad and lonely all by himself. He had brown hair and green eyes and wore a yellow and black button shirt and pants with shoes. I decided to approach him and say hello. He looked up in fear and then said “Hello who are you?” I replied with “ Tarni I'm an aboriginal from here what's your name ?” He then said “ My name is James, I'm a British convict and I’m forced to steal and do many other cruel things to your tribe.” Then a tall, well dressed man came over and ordered James to hit me with a whip across my back 30 times for interacting with him. I then started imminently apologizing for my actions and the tall, well dressed man started telling me that I’m a bad influence because I’m Aboriginal. James then spoke up and said “ Captain Cook please don’t punish this young lady she was only checking up on me because I looked down” the Captain then responded “Sure sure she's an Aboriginal we can’t trust them because they speak different and don’t fit in one single bit” I then ran away in fear back to my Wirray (summer hut) with treats flowing down my face. &nbsp; Later that night When my mother got home she walked in on me crying on my bed she then proceeded to ask me if I was ok I said “No the captain of the new people told me I was going to get hit 30 times with a whip just because I was asking one of the new people if they were okay because he looked upset.” My mother then started mumbling and tears filled her eyes she said “They are judgemental and curel you are trying to look after their men and be kind and loving like you always are with everyone” I then fell asleep after everything that happen I was exhausted. 28 january 1788 *Knock Knock* I woke up with fear. I walked to the barrier of my comfort and slightly opened it, it was James he was scared. He kept looking around in fear. I whispered “ Hi it's alright come in” he walked in checking his every move. “They yelled at me last night and kept saying horrible things about you and your tribe about your color and how you spoke everything.” My jaw dropped in horror as I found out about these comments. “We need to stand up against them and show them how creative and nice you and your tribe are,”&nbsp;James implied. I thought about it for a second. “ I guess we could. It's not a bad idea, let's round up some more people to do it!” We snuck outside and walked around telling everyone to make headbands and Wambuyn to the fire before the sun goes down. Most people said they would. &nbsp; When the sun went down As the sun went down more and more people started to gather around the fire with headbands, boomerangs and food to show their creativeness and talents. We started to sing tribal songs even James tried to join in with the ceremony after a while the new people came out of their newly built huts with surprised faces. The leader of my tribe burnt gumtree leaves and smoked cleansed the area to warn of the new bad spirits that these new people might bring. We ran round the smoke doing traditional moves in hand crafted clothes and headwear. After the cleansing many more white men walked over to pass through the smoke and enjoy many different meals. &nbsp; This here is how history should have been made - not with guns and fights.&nbsp;

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