We are going is a poem that picturizes the identical crisis faced by the people in colonial and post-colonial Australia. Kath walker as a writer symbolizes the transformations the people have to undertake. To elucidate her protest, she even changed her name to Oodgeero Noonucall to express her intimacy with her tribe and culture.
Colonialism is a common theme in African literature. There are works like Weep not child and Once upon a time that express the theme of national identity.
Noonuccal is the tribal name of the poet. She is proud to be a part of her tribe. She ties even her identity with her tribe. As an activist, she stood for the rights of the aboriginals of Australia. She criticizes the British rule in which aboriginals were treated miserably.
She feels like the colonizers eventually outnumbered the colonized. The poet narrates how the British interrupted the culture and the religious beliefs of the aboriginal Australians.
She condemns the notice left by the colonizers in Bora ” Rubbish may be tipped here.” Bora was a sacred place for the aboriginals.
The poem further takes the readers to the theme of estrangement felt by the natives on their land. She elaborates on the golden history of her tribe with the lines, ” We belong here, we are of the old ways. We are the corroboree and the bora ground, We are the old ceremonies, the laws of the elders. We are the wonder tales of Dream Time, the tribal legends told. We are the past, the hunts and the laughing games, the wandering camp fires.”
She narrates how nature itself has been exploited by the colonizers. She writes about the loss of the eagle, emu, and the kangaroo.
The poet clearly outlines the depth of hardships created during the colonization. She feels the colonizers evaded the history, religion, philosophy and ecology of the nation intensely.
By the end of the poem, she propels her people about migration. As the title denotes, she convinces the readers that they are going from their homeland. She evokes her tribal people about this transition.
