BY GEOFF SMILEY
Only recently we came to this place.
Forebears found a land occupied.
We were new
in a country to be endured.
We were people
too poor and changed to return.
Marginals, English Oaks
transplanted to a land of Banksias.
But over time,
we became part of this continent;
Australians, accepting the inevitable,
accepting the unpredictable.
Wars fought for a past identity,
while dialect and art evolved.
Self-protecting “white Australia,”
till the reality of location prevailed.
Everyone needs somewhere to live.
We have a collective memory,
of newness in this place.
And of previous peoples
with whom we shared this land.
Surely fellow arrivals
could be included with grace.
Let us not hold too tightly,
to our taken home.
The Australian community is confused by the competing issues of having a coherent society and being fair by including new arrivals. The base fear of xenophobia is likely to outweigh generosity. But let us remember our own history in this wonderful country.
