Ode to Dundalee

More deadly speeches
This time in the rain 
The crowd was treated 
to a treble -
Two water blessings 
And a smoking!

Dundalee proud warrior 
of the age
When will they recognise
you in school
and no longer treat
us like the fool.



Spirits of Pemulwuy, Yagan, Jundamurra
They join us in the circle
Round the sacred fire
While the cops and fire-ees watch on
Brother Bud sings it up good
In the place where you once stood.

In Post Office square that day
Proud Dundalee, born in Blackbutt, 
You put up a fight for fourteen years 
Uniting all the tribes against the gubba 
So they broke your legs and hung you
from the scaffold like a convict.
 
Now they take your children 
in another way
Not with chains
but with their blind laws
and no regret.

But we thirty
We shall not forget
As we stand
Holding hands in a circle
around the sacred fire
cleansed by smoke and rain
We remember how you fought
So strong, so true

We pay our respect to you
And to all the warriors of the rainbow.

  - Ian Curr
    Dedicated to Dusty (1965 - 2014)