The poems Land by Jack Davis, The Developers by W. Les Russell, and Municipal Gum by Oodgeroo Noonuccal all explore themes of invasion and displacement and express how white man has stripped the Indigenous Australian people of their identities. This is because the land is their identity and by invading, the Europeans have taken this away from them and in modern-day Westerners still do not understand the deep connection the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people have with the land and the fallacy committed by stealing it. Firstly, the main subject matter in Land, The Developers, and Municipal Gum is the way in which the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders (ATSI) identify strongly with land. The land is their identity. It is a relationship …show more content…
Being one and the same means that Russell suffers as the land does at the hands of the European invaders. There are also several cases in the poems where land is personified to further demonstrate the parallel between it and the Indigenous people. Found in The Developers is the line “I am this Land and it is mine” (LINE). This not only displays, once again, the way the ATSI and the land are one, but is also personification. Like a proper noun, the capitalisation of “Land” means the land has a name, like a person. Not only that, but the way in which it is capitalised mirrors religion, capitalising words such as ‘God’. Considering Aboriginal spirituality, it appears Russell used a capital letter to convey a sense of divinity in the land, almost like a deity. Another example of personification in The Developers occurs after Russell discusses giving the land away to the Europeans and asks “What man can give his mother” (LINE). This metaphor of land being a mother-like figure accentuates the idea of the ATSI being close to the land, but makes it personal; comparing it to the closeness of a child and their mother. Like The Developers, Jack Davis’ Land also utilises this