by John Tomlinson, December 1998

Could it be the tide of history
that's washing over us?
If it is the tide of history
we wont create a fuss.
Was it the tsunami of invasion
or the peaceful flow of settlement?
We are tired of your evasion
for Christ sake pay the rent.
Was it the breakers of intolerance
which undermined our pride?
Have you acted with due reverence
or is it cultural genocide?
Was it the waves of soldiers
with their gleaming bayonet,
or was it brutal Christian elders?
For Christ sake pay the rent.
Was it the trickle of the farmers
which left us of land bereft,
or are judges and other charmers
sanitising theft?
Was it the torrents of indifference
that scoured the Murray's shore?
Can you really claim it's justice
ensuring we stay poor?
Is it an overflow of piety,
or an unjust legal lie?
Terra nullius your new deity
is there nothing you wont try?
In your flush of legal bullshit
you regurgitate the putrid lie
we abandoned country -that's it,
time to fade away and die.
You can't stem the tide of history:
our struggle is not spent.
The world will hear our story-
so for Christ sake pay the rent.