Short Stories

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I am Australia a land of diversity and beauty. There are many people who have lived in this land for thousands of years. One particular tribe Darug people lived in and around what came to be known as Sydney cove. They would travel within their land planting seedlings for yams, which I tended for them lovingly. When the trees and shrubs became unproductive they would burn a section so that the animals and birds would come and feed on the new growth providing them with meat.

This all changed when on waking one morning strange vessels appeared in the harbour. They were taken with the many inlets and beaches that were scattered around the fore shore. They chose Sydney cove because it had fresh water supplied lovingly by me creating a small stream the meanders down to the harbour. This first contact with the pale skinned people affected the Darug people who thought they were ancestors coming back to live amongst them.

Darug people after a period of time realised their mistake and tried to evict the settlers. This caused the settlers to retaliate driving many of the Darug people from their land forcing them inland. Their blood cried out from land as Abel’s many centuries before grieving for the loss of innocence. Darug people and I the land are one interconnected through space and time.

The settlers did not understand my tender soul. They put up buildings on my foreshore and began clearing away the trees. Covering my skin so it no longer was able to breath in the fresh rays carried along by the winds, which lovingly but fleetingly caressed and kissed me. The fresh water I supplied by the spring they covered so as it would not be contaminated by the comings and goings of the settlers.

The settlers that moved from Sydney cove moved across the landscape of undulating hills and cleared away the trees on the even pieces of ground. Uprooted the yams which I was nurturing and planted their own seedlings. These seeds needs so different from what I previously experienced. These new seeds sprouted quickly to produce corn. The Darug people came and found that their yams uprooted and discarded shrivelled up like dry fruit.

The language was also a concern between the cultures. Going past the words to give the gestures prime importance. One instance was when a Darug person was chastised by a person in authority because there was something taken. The Darug person raised the spear in retaliation but looked the person in the eyes and found a heart of stone in place of a heart.

The settlers saw the Darug people as threats to their existence and rumours flared and bounced off the chasms that there was trouble afoot. This stirred up the settlers to deal with the situation before them in a violent ways. Some were offered food that was laced with poison while others were shot or driven over cliffs. The Darug people also suffered from illness and were not given medicine to help.

The final scenes of this tale shows that the unspoken void of what happened affected the relationship between husband and wife and father son. Closing the heart even further to unspoken realities. My wealth is not found in possessions or position but in sharing of the heart tending to secret ways handed down through the generations. Still they do not listen to the cries of my heart and continue to cover me with coffin lids preventing the tender rays to dance upon my skin or allow the symphony of this land to be music to my heart.

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