Song of Hope’ – Oodegeroo Noonuccal (Kath Walker)
Look up, my people,
The dawn is breaking
The world is waking
To a bright new day
When none defame us
No restriction tame us
Nor colour shame us
Nor sneer dismay.
Now brood no more
On the years behind you
The hope assigned you
Shall the past replace
When a juster justice
Grown wise and stronger
Points the bone no longer
At a darker race.
So long we waited
Bound and frustrated
Till hate be hated
And caste deposed
Now light shall guide us
No goal denied us
And all doors open
That long were closed.
See plain the promise
Dark freedom-lover!
Night’s nearly over
And though long the climb
New rights will greet us
New mateship meet us
And joy complete us
In our new Dream Time.
To our fathers’ fathers
The pain, the sorrow;
To our children’s children
the glad tomorrow.
About Kath Walker
Ooderoo of the Noonuccal (Kath Walker), was one of the most well-respected poets of her time. Her father belonged to the Nunukul people, who traditionally lived on the Northern portion of Minjerribah, North Stradbroke Island, Queensland. Kath Walker wrote ‘A Song of Hope’ in the 1960s after realizing that there is actually hope in a broken world once she saw a decrease in racism towards indigenous people by the English settlers.
