by Cheryl O'Brien

Created on: September 06, 2008

The Bottle Aint the Answer
(an Australian Problem)

They tried to kill you all by gun or sword or disease
They tried to breed you out and hang you all from trees
They tried to outlaw your customs and take away your Dreamtime
They tried to steal all your children and in the bloody meantime
You took to the bottle and learned to drink and fight
You're drowning out your heritage in martyrdom and spite
If your children don't learn your culture from you today
Then you can bet your little booty they will learn another way
In another hundred years from now for bloody goodness sake
Not a single Piccaninny will have heard of the Rainbow Snake
And beautiful Dot Art paintings will be a historical kind of art
Only seen in distant galleries in some far-off foreign part.
So take a look around you and begin to notice how
Your culture is dying and not many know it now
And before you lift that bottle and press it to your mouth
Gaze all around you to the east and west and north and south
See what is happening in your communities and in town
Ask yourself if you are going to let that bottle keep you down!

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