Remembered By Heart: An Anthology of Indigenous Writing by Sally Morgan
Authors: Sally Morgan
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Brother and Sister.
After reports were made to the big bosses in the Native Welfare department that Brother Wright was robbing the Aboriginals in Gnowangerup, Brother and Sister were forced to leave. It seems to me they wanted Brother and Sister Wright out so they could close that mission down. Their place was taken by Mr and Mrs Street, who built dormitories. Then only the children of school age had to be looked after by the Streets and all the parents had to go back into the bush to live and find work where they could and fend for themselves.
Well, then they all drifted away, and Mr Street looked after the kiddies and that. And, well, they had no other place to come to, so Main Roads said they could shift backto Gnowangerup, to a place just up from the railway station. That was the old reserve, where Brother founded the first old mission.
Well, they went back there and they all camped around. Tents and bag huts and bush camps and such like. They had to go and leave the little homes that theyâd built up at the mission, just to come back and live under the trees again. Well, there werenât any trees, just bushes. I guarantee there wasnât a tree at that reserve that was as high as a kitchen table. So really, they had no home, they were sort of shuffled to and fro. But all those years, they kept their tongues behind their teeth.
They didnât talk, most of âem, because they were afraid to speak out. The police walked roughshod all over the top of âem, and did what they wanted and not one said one word.
Abridged from
Kayang & Me
Kim Scott and Hazel Brown, 2005.
Alice Bilari Smith
IN THOSE DAYS
I was ten years old then, when Walter Smith started teaching us. We were always in the house, in the homestead. We want lolly. We was willing to do anything for him. We started off feeding the chooks. Chooks used to be about half a mile from the homestead. And then we used to go and feed the sheep â the killer we used to have in the yard. We used to go and feed that one, put water and everything, make sure they okay. Then we come back to do a bit of sweeping round the house, outside.
And then when we was turning twelve he tell us to start watching him cooking everything, baking in the oven. We started like that, baking things. He didnât make us work, we just worked for him. Then he started giving more jobs then; we keep going now. Teach us more and more. He used to chop all the meat in the butcherâs shop,and he used to fill that baking dish, and we had to go and put it in the cooler. We used to do all them things for him. He used to tell us to go and get vegies â might be cabbage or cauliflower or whatever he needed to cook. We used to go and get it and he used to tell us to chop it up and put it in a pot, cook it.
You might go to the homestead and first it might be wood-chopping time; chop the wood, fill the wood box. We used to use the axe, chop all the wood in the wood heap. If the men were too busy, well we have to chop it, the girls. Sometimes middle-aged womans chop it, and we used to cart it in the wheelbarrow to the homestead. Fill the wood box in the wall outside, to use it for cooking. We had a big wood stove, two-door, so we can fit everything in there, roasting meat or baking bread. We used to bake six bread every day, big loaves of bread in a long tin. We used to bake that with yeast â we used to make it in a bottle all the time. Nice bread, they used to make. Sometime we made a damper, baked it in the oven.
Len Smith and Walter Smith taught us how to cook whitefella way, and waitering job, and sweeping floor with a broom, and baking bread and cooking roast in the oven. How to go and butcher the sheep, and washing up dishes. My mother was started like that, then when we got big enough we used to do the same.
We used to milk the cow every morning, and boil the milk. And we separate the milk from the butter, and we saved the milk in the cooler. There was a big cooler
After reports were made to the big bosses in the Native Welfare department that Brother Wright was robbing the Aboriginals in Gnowangerup, Brother and Sister were forced to leave. It seems to me they wanted Brother and Sister Wright out so they could close that mission down. Their place was taken by Mr and Mrs Street, who built dormitories. Then only the children of school age had to be looked after by the Streets and all the parents had to go back into the bush to live and find work where they could and fend for themselves.
Well, then they all drifted away, and Mr Street looked after the kiddies and that. And, well, they had no other place to come to, so Main Roads said they could shift backto Gnowangerup, to a place just up from the railway station. That was the old reserve, where Brother founded the first old mission.
Well, they went back there and they all camped around. Tents and bag huts and bush camps and such like. They had to go and leave the little homes that theyâd built up at the mission, just to come back and live under the trees again. Well, there werenât any trees, just bushes. I guarantee there wasnât a tree at that reserve that was as high as a kitchen table. So really, they had no home, they were sort of shuffled to and fro. But all those years, they kept their tongues behind their teeth.
They didnât talk, most of âem, because they were afraid to speak out. The police walked roughshod all over the top of âem, and did what they wanted and not one said one word.
Abridged from
Kayang & Me
Kim Scott and Hazel Brown, 2005.
Alice Bilari Smith
IN THOSE DAYS
I was ten years old then, when Walter Smith started teaching us. We were always in the house, in the homestead. We want lolly. We was willing to do anything for him. We started off feeding the chooks. Chooks used to be about half a mile from the homestead. And then we used to go and feed the sheep â the killer we used to have in the yard. We used to go and feed that one, put water and everything, make sure they okay. Then we come back to do a bit of sweeping round the house, outside.
And then when we was turning twelve he tell us to start watching him cooking everything, baking in the oven. We started like that, baking things. He didnât make us work, we just worked for him. Then he started giving more jobs then; we keep going now. Teach us more and more. He used to chop all the meat in the butcherâs shop,and he used to fill that baking dish, and we had to go and put it in the cooler. We used to do all them things for him. He used to tell us to go and get vegies â might be cabbage or cauliflower or whatever he needed to cook. We used to go and get it and he used to tell us to chop it up and put it in a pot, cook it.
You might go to the homestead and first it might be wood-chopping time; chop the wood, fill the wood box. We used to use the axe, chop all the wood in the wood heap. If the men were too busy, well we have to chop it, the girls. Sometimes middle-aged womans chop it, and we used to cart it in the wheelbarrow to the homestead. Fill the wood box in the wall outside, to use it for cooking. We had a big wood stove, two-door, so we can fit everything in there, roasting meat or baking bread. We used to bake six bread every day, big loaves of bread in a long tin. We used to bake that with yeast â we used to make it in a bottle all the time. Nice bread, they used to make. Sometime we made a damper, baked it in the oven.
Len Smith and Walter Smith taught us how to cook whitefella way, and waitering job, and sweeping floor with a broom, and baking bread and cooking roast in the oven. How to go and butcher the sheep, and washing up dishes. My mother was started like that, then when we got big enough we used to do the same.
We used to milk the cow every morning, and boil the milk. And we separate the milk from the butter, and we saved the milk in the cooler. There was a big cooler
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