1. I need to talk to someone. Anyone. Anyone who’ll listen. I’ve just come from a community meeting and all hell broke loose. I can’t stand what’s happening. It feels like it’s all happening again.  In the end Auntie Ev had a real bad fit, she was so upset. Ambulance came and took her.  Her diabetes is playin’ up. But she wasn’t the only one crying. Uncle Mervin was full on in tears and he just kept saying, “Why don’t they ever ask us? They never ask us!” That just started up the others then…the ones who had been moved before… on the trucks…way back. And everyone started wailing and crying and shouting until all the kids started and then in the end we was all crying just sitting in the hall, crying… Thing is… we like our homes and now they want to move us to the other side of town… Funny thing is we were moved here from another part of town… then all the whitefellas came for work and they spread out and didn’t want us in their backyards, so they moved us along… Uncle says that is what they did there three times on the mish too. Just kept moving us… moving us on. Herding us up and moving us on. One of the Aunts got feisty after a while stood up and said; “We need to fight this… no one’s gonna make me leave!” She yelled, “I like living here”.  That’s when someone... don’t know who that was yelled back, “They’ll make us you know… they just give us two weeks’ notice and board up the houses just like they did last time. What choice you got heh? Them council fellas and property developers don’t care about what you want.” Cassie? Cassie! Yeah? Coming! 2 See there’s a bit more too it… It’s not just moving us.  It is the breaking down of things that keep us together.  Like the safe house for the mums and kids and the community centre where I use to do homework… Where we met for the meeting today… they have a computer in there and all. Us kids used it for homework… But even the old Uncles and Aunts get in there sometimes and have a go and some mob type up job applications and things for Centre Link and the courts there too… They also did the handouts for bubba boy’s funeral on that computer. It looked real flash with a photo of him and all. His was the fourth death in three weeks. He just got out of juvie. Don’t know what happened in there but something happened to him…something real bad…  they found him hanging off his father’s verandah. His brother had to cut him down… now everyone’s worried about him cause the other two before bubba boy came so close together …they was related too. It happens in patterns in family. When the mental health workers came in they called it ‘generational trauma’. 3 Goes back to them that was stolen too. Still the old Aunts cry about that − most of those never came back… we never knew what happened to them. Sometimes one will be found or we’ll find them … but it is always hard and the coming back is hard for everyone… …even those that stayed behind. That’s why this moving gets people so upset. It reminds the ones who lived ...

1. 1.
I need to talk to someone. Anyone. Anyone who’ll listen.
I’ve just come from a community meeting and all hell broke
loose. I can’t stand what’s happening. It feels like it’s all
happening again. In the end Auntie Ev had a real bad fit, she
was so upset. Ambulance came and took her. Her diabetes is
playin’ up. But she wasn’t the only one crying. Uncle Mervin
was full on in tears and he just kept saying, “Why don’t they
ever ask us? They never ask us!”
That just started up the others then…the ones who had been
moved before… on the trucks…way back. And everyone started
wailing and crying and shouting until all the kids started and
then in the end we was all crying just sitting in the hall,
crying…
Thing is… we like our homes and now they want to move us to
the other side of town… Funny thing is we were moved here
from another part of town… then all the whitefellas came for
work and they spread out and didn’t want us in their backyards,
so they moved us along… Uncle says that is what they did there
three times on the mish too. Just kept moving us… moving us
on. Herding us up and moving us on. One of the Aunts got
feisty after a while stood up and said; “We need to fight this…
no one’s gonna make me leave!” She yelled, “I like living
here”. That’s when someone... don’t know who that was yelled
back, “They’ll make us you know… they just give us two
weeks’ notice and board up the houses just like they did last
time. What choice you got heh? Them council fellas and
property developers don’t care about what you want.”
Cassie? Cassie!
Yeah? Coming!
2
See there’s a bit more too it… It’s not just moving us. It is the
breaking down of things that keep us together. Like the safe
house for the mums and kids and the community centre where I

2. use to do homework… Where we met for the meeting today…
they have a computer in there and all. Us kids used it for
homework… But even the old Uncles and Aunts get in there
sometimes and have a go and some mob type up job applications
and things for Centre Link and the courts there too… They also
did the handouts for bubba boy’s funeral on that computer. It
looked real flash with a photo of him and all.
His was the fourth death in three weeks. He just got out of
juvie. Don’t know what happened in there but something
happened to him…something real bad… they found him
hanging off his father’s verandah. His brother had to cut him
down… now everyone’s worried about him cause the other two
before bubba boy came so close together …they was related too.
It happens in patterns in family. When the mental health
workers came in they called it ‘generational trauma’.
3
Goes back to them that was stolen too. Still the old Aunts cry
about that − most of those never came back… we never knew
what happened to them. Sometimes one will be found or we’ll
find them … but it is always hard and the coming back is hard
for everyone… …even those that stayed behind. That’s why this
moving gets people so upset. It reminds the ones who lived on
the mish how it happened. Mobs being herded up in the middle
of the night… Children being given to Aunts and Uncles,
thinking they’d all be going to the one place but then, in the
light of day, realising that didn’t happen and wouldn’t happen.
They never saw some of ‘em ever again. Thought they were
dead of something. Sometimes they got told that.
Nana Clara used to talk to me about it… “That wailing at night
when that happened,” she said, “used to disturb the spirits.”
Nan was taught by an old law woman, a magic woman who
picked her out of the group of girls. She saved the old Aunt
from falling into the fire one night, when the old Aunt was
lighting her little pipe, and from then on she showed her things.
First, she said, “It was small things like bush tucker where the
yams and flowers were.” Then it was the medicines, how to

3. prepare them, and what words to say.”
Got to get some sleep now. Big day tomorrow. I gotta go to
court.
4
I wish I had a job to go to instead of court. I'm sick of it really.
It’s just a bond I broke when I got caught stealing some things
from the local shops. Don’t know why I did it really for all the
hassle it got me in.
The Elders gave me a good talkin’ to. “Cassie,” they said, if you
don’t wake up to yerself, you are heading for the big house, my
girl, and we got too many of our people in their already. 'Bout
time you made something of yerself. Maybe got yerself an
education or something; did some work for the CDEP or helped
with the Community Centre… you need to do something to
make your mother proud. You know how hard it is for her. How
is what you are doing helpin’ her?”
Those Elders are harder to face than any old mate judge I can
tell you and I got to see ‘em every day. Don’t know what is
going to happen today – mum is real worried I’ll end up in juvie
like my brother and my cousin. She says, “Cassie you got to
pull yerself together and get out of here. Get out of this town.”
She wants to send me to live with my Uncle.
5
I don’t like the idea of moving… moving anywhere. I’d miss my
mob too much… miss my friends… I’d miss mum.
Mum is my rock. She’s not good. Her health’s bad. Her sugars
play up and she’s tired all the time and she keeps going when
she should rest…she works real hard… then she’s worried about
my brother… he’s not coping being locked up… and he’s real
angry… and sometimes he takes it out on her. I hear her crying
some nights.
One of my friends is thinking of going to Uni she says. She
reckons she’s going to do Early Childhood and work with the
kids. She stayed at school see, not like me… I was off in Year
8… just couldn’t cope with it… I felt out of place… too black…
for all ‘em white fellas. She says you can go to Uni if you go

4. do Year 12 at TAFE or you're older. I just turned 17 see.
Rhonda, my friend, she’s been working in the childcare centre
next to the community centre and she says it is really good what
they do there. They teach the kids, cook for them and feed them.
And, they have great play equipment and books. Things we
never had.
She said, “You should do it Cassie.” She reckons I’d be good at
it.
But I don’t know. She kinda looks out for me…don’t know
what I’d do without her really… Maybe I’ll talk with the social
worker… For a gubba she’s okay. She says I got great skills
and all I need to do is develop ‘em. Don’t know what she
means half the time though. She says some counseling would be
good for me but… I am too shame to do that. Anyway, I don’t
like digging up the past too much.
Mum says I got to look good for court. “Respectable,” she says.
I hope it turns out ok. I’m packin’ it really. I wish I never took
those coloured pencils; Don’t know… just wanted to give ‘em to
the twins next door – things are hard for ‘em with the all the
drinking that goes on there.
6
It’s all gone bad… Real bad… They bulldozed the safe house
today. They boarded up the community centre. Now they talk
like they are gonna move the child care centre into town… It’s
won some award… Rhonda’s been crying too… One of the old
Uncles got some papers in the mail this morning that says he
has to move in two weeks to this other part of town. If he don’t
they’ll evict him. He cried, Rhonda told me, when he got them
papers. She said, “He doesn’t know anyone over there.”
Mum’s crying. She’s having a lie down. Court went ok but we
have to find some money for another bond. We don’t have any
money, but. So looks like I’ll have to go into juvie for a while.
Maybe it will be good for me. Who knows? I suppose things
will get better. After Rhonda and I had a good cry, we had a
good laugh too. One thing about us mob… bad things have
happened so much you have to laugh... But things don’t change

5. really. Just the same thing and a different day.
TIPS
it does ask you to produce a paper which focuses on the
discussion prompts. Another way to present this assignment
would be to use the discussion prompts within the assignment
task and put your responses beneath each one. Either will be
acceptable. Please note that this is an academic paper so the
language needs to be written at that level
current references such as within the last 5 years. Seminal
works or government documents may be older and this is
acceptable. The emphasis is in referencing according to APA
guidelines.
Presentation:
Length: 2000 words
Margin :2.5 cm
Space :Double line
Font :12pt
Font type:Times New Roman
TIPS
it does ask you to produce a paper which focuses on the
discussion prompts. Another way to present this assignment
would be to use the discussion prompts within the assignment
task and put your responses beneath each one. Either will be

6. acceptable. Please note that this is an academic paper so the
language needs to be written at that level
current references such as within the last 5 years. Seminal
works or government documents may be older and this is
acceptable. The emphasis is in referencing according to APA
guidelines.