ngarla songs is a book of contemporary indigenous songs collected by alxander brown, & translated from ngarla into english by brown & brian geytenbeek. it includes 2 introductions, b/w photos of the country & b/w illustrations by jilalga murray.

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from 'Night Drive in a V-8 Buckboard' p120 by Katakapu (note: poems are centred throughout but i dont know how to do this. (title reminds me of a song by cornershop .. '? ? in a beatup datsun'.)


'Night Drive in a V-8 Buckboard'

Darting here and there [Yintiri wakarnirnu], eager to get going.
'Let's tie the load tightly on the buckboard [warnta karlu-karlu]!'

'When will we be on the move?
After sunset?
'After supper we'll move, nonstop in the moonlight.'

in a note, Yintiri wakarnirnu is given as 'going here, there and everywhere'. 'darting' sounded a bit contrived to me at first, compared to a word like 'running' which sounds more vernacular - but why should the poems be so vernacular just because theyre written by indigenous poets (or songwriters) - or because theyre farmworkers. my second thought was the image of someone darting around a country town (it is a portrait of the de grey station manager) - it conjures a particular kind of man, unlike the more banal running.

warnta karlu-karlu is given as 'timber lightweight', saying 'the buckboard was timber in those days'. a date for the song isnt given, but katakapu worked on de grey station in the 40s & again in the 60s - as a stockman, driver & cook. he joined the 1946 strike against poor conditions, 'and returned in the 60s when conditions for aboriginal workers had improved'.