Echoes, Waves and Timeless Footprints on the Sand

Eagles glide in the sky over their dominion,
creatures from the earth below crawled out of the bushes,
the warm air spoke, orange red brown soil yielded stories of the land,
timeless footprints on the sand became visible to the eye,
of adventurer seafarers from ‘perlasng silanganan’ –--
the pearl of the orient, landing on the continent,
diving for a living, open palms from their industry
disclosing glistening pearls –-- their beauty and lustre
desired by the eye of the beholder linking, creating
and weaving narratives of lives made and lost,
the fading Spanish Filipino names in the old gravesite
testify presence from old times.

From the temporary abode of camping hovels by the shore,
men awaiting boats coming in and out,
new vegetable gardens sprang inland.
Criss-crossing patterns drawn on the sand,
Manilamen and Aboriginal women’s lives interlinked,
producing generations of descendants.

Reverberating echoes of the past,
three big waves rolled in from the north to the great Southland,
stories merging old and new inscribed on ancient land,
of children removed from their mothers’ arms,
of dedicated Beagle Bay carers mothering the young,
nurturing their flight to unknown destiny.

New birds have flown anew, new waves keep rolling in.
Eagles glide from the sky traversing timelines, listening...
listening to the eternal sound of the waves: the unfolding stories
of Manilamen, Aboriginal women and Broome –--
then and now.

Deborah Ruiz Wall

The following notes help explain the symbolic representation that I used in my poem.

• Eagles – representing the diplomats from the Philippines • Pearl of the orient – reference to the Philippines ( Perlas ng Silanganan) • Manilamen – how Filipinos were called in Broome in the late 19th and early 20th centuries who were recruited in Singapore and Hong Kong ports to work in the pearling industry as divers. • Three big waves – referring to immigration of Filipinos to Australia (First wave, divers; Second wave – Filipino women marrying Australians; Third wave – 457 visa holders from the 1990s). • ‘Children removed from their mothers’ arms’ refers to the state policy of ‘Protection’ – removal of mixed race children of Aboriginal mothers to missions or reserves. • Beagle Bay carers – St John of God nuns who looked after mixed race Aboriginal- Filipino children in the Beagle Bay mission. This order of nuns from Ireland arrived in Australia in 1907. • New birds – new immigrants from the Philippines.

Deborah Ruiz Wall is a member of ICA Australia