Oodgeroo Noonuccal (Kath Walker) - We Are Going lyrics

*For Grannie Coolwell They came into the little town A semi-naked band subdued and silent, All that remained of their tribe. They came here to the place of their old bora ground Where now the many white men hurry about like ants. Notice of estate agents reads: 'Rubbish May Be Tipped Here'. Now it half covers the traces of the old bora ring. They sit and are confused, they cannot say their thoughts: 'We are as strangers here now, but the white tribe are the strangers. We belong here, we are of the old ways. We are the corroboree and the bora ground, We are the old sacred ceremonies, the laws of the elders. We are the wonder tales of the Dream Time, the tribal legends told. We are the past, the hunts and the laughing games, the wandering camp fires. We are the lightning-bolt over Gaphembah Hill Quick and terrible, And the Thunder after him, that loud fellow. We are the quiet daybreak paling the dark lagoon. We are the shadow-ghosts creeping back as the camp fires burn low. We are nature and the past, all the old ways Gone now and scattered. The scrubs are gone, the hunting and the laughter. The eagle is gone, the emu and the kangaroo from this place. The bora ring is gone. The corroboree is gone. And we are going.'