“We Are Going” is a poem by the Aboriginal Australian poet Oodgeroo Noonuccal, who was a leader in the struggle for Aboriginal rights in Australia. Australia was once a British colony—in fact, it is still part of the Commonwealth—and the poem examines the impact of British conquest on Aboriginal Australians, their way of life, and the natural world. Ultimately, the poem shows the profound destructiveness of colonialism, while also powerfully asserting the beauty of Aboriginal culture and identity. “We Are Going” was published in Noonuccal’s 1964 collection of the same name, the first book of poetry to be published by an Aboriginal Australian poet.

• Read the full text of “We Are Going”

• “We Are Going” Summary

• “We Are Going” Themes

  • 

    The Destructive Nature of Colonialism

    Where this theme appears in the poem:

    • Lines 1-7
    • Lines 19-25
  • 

    Aboriginal Australian Identity and Experience

    Where this theme appears in the poem:

    • Lines 1-25

• Line-by-Line Explanation & Analysis of “We Are Going”

  • Lines 1-3

    They came in ...
    ... of their tribe.

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 4-7

    They came here ...
    ... old bora ring.

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 8-9

    'We are as ...
    ... the old ways.

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 10-13

    We are the ...
    ... wandering camp fires.

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 14-17

    We are the ...
    ... the dark lagoon.

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 18-20

    We are the ...
    ... now and scattered.

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 21-22

    The scrubs are ...
    ... from this place.

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 23-25

    The bora ring ...
    ... we are going.'

    

    

    

    

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• “We Are Going” Symbols

  • 

    Rubbish

    Where this symbol appears in the poem:

    • Lines 6-7: “Notice of the estate agent reads: 'Rubbish May Be Tipped Here'. / Now it half covers the traces of the old bora ring.”

• “We Are Going” Poetic Devices & Figurative Language

  • Allusion

    

    

    

    

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    Where allusion appears in the poem:

    • Line 4: “They came here to the place of their old bora ground”
    • Line 7: “Now it half covers the traces of the old bora ring.”
    • Line 10: “We are the corroboree and the bora ground,”
    • Line 12: “We are the wonder tales of Dream Time,”
    • Line 14: “We are the lightening bolt over Gaphembah Hill”
    • Lines 23-24: “The bora ring is gone. / The corroboree is gone.”

  • Simile

    

    

    

    

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    Where simile appears in the poem:

    • Line 5: “Where now the many white men hurry about like ants.”
    • Line 8: “'We are as strangers here now, but the white tribe are the strangers.”

  • Anaphora

    

    

    

    

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    Where anaphora appears in the poem:

    • Line 1: “They came”
    • Line 4: “They came”
    • Line 8: “We are”
    • Line 10: “We are”
    • Line 11: “We are”
    • Line 12: “We are”
    • Line 13: “We are”
    • Line 14: “We are”
    • Line 17: “We are”
    • Line 18: “We are”
    • Line 19: “We are”
    • Line 21: “The,” “the”
    • Line 22: “The,” “the ”
    • Line 23: “The”
    • Line 24: “The”

  • Repetition

    

    

    

    

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    Where repetition appears in the poem:

    • Line 3: “tribe.”
    • Line 4: “bora ground”
    • Line 7: “bora ring.”
    • Line 8: “strangers,” “tribe,” “strangers.”
    • Line 9: “old ways.”
    • Line 10: “corroboree,” “bora ground,”
    • Line 11: “old”
    • Line 13: “past,”
    • Line 19: “past,” “old ways”
    • Line 20: “Gone”
    • Line 21: “are gone”
    • Line 22: “is gone,” “are gone”
    • Lines 23-25: “The bora ring is gone. / The corroboree is gone. / And we are going.'”

  • Polyptoton

    

    

    

    

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    Where polyptoton appears in the poem:

    • Line 13: “the hunts and the laughing games”
    • Line 21: “gone,” “the hunting and the laughter.”
    • Line 22: “gone,” “gone”
    • Line 23: “gone.”
    • Line 24: “gone.”
    • Line 25: “going.'”

  • Asyndeton

    

    

    

    

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    Where asyndeton appears in the poem:

    • Line 9: “We belong here, we are of the old ways.”
    • Lines 11-12: “We are the old ceremonies, the laws of the elders. / We are the wonder tales of Dream Time, the tribal legends told.”
    • Line 13: “We are the past, the hunts and the laughing games, the wandering camp fires.”
    • Line 19: “We are nature and the past, all the old ways”
    • Lines 21-22: “The scrubs are gone, the hunting and the laughter. / The eagle is gone, the emu and the kangaroo are gone from this place.”

  • Imagery

    

    

    

    

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    Where imagery appears in the poem:

    • Lines 1-2
    • Lines 4-7
    • Line 10
    • Lines 13-18
    • Lines 21-25

  • Metaphor

    

    

    

    

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    Where metaphor appears in the poem:

    • Lines 10-20: “We are the corroboree and the bora ground, / We are the old ceremonies, the laws of the elders. / We are the wonder tales of Dream Time, the tribal legends told. / We are the past, the hunts and the laughing games, the wandering camp fires. / We are the lightening bolt over Gaphembah Hill / Quick and terrible, / And the Thunderer after him, that loud fellow. / We are the quiet daybreak paling the dark lagoon. / We are the shadow-ghosts creeping back as the camp fires burn low. / We are nature and the past, all the old ways / Gone now and scattered.”

  • End-Stopped Line

    

    

    

    

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    Where end-stopped line appears in the poem:

    • Lines 1-3
    • Lines 6-13
    • Lines 15-18
    • Lines 20-25

  • Enjambment

    

    

    

    

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    Where enjambment appears in the poem:

    • Lines 4-5: “ground / Where”
    • Lines 14-15: “Hill / Quick”
    • Lines 19-20: “ways / Gone”

  • Alliteration

    

    

    

    

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    Where alliteration appears in the poem:

    • Line 2: “semi,” “subdued,” “silent”
    • Line 12: “We,” “wonder,” “tales,” “Time,” “tribal,” “told”
    • Line 17: “daybreak,” “dark”
    • Line 18: “creeping,” “camp”
    • Line 20: “scattered”
    • Line 21: “scrubs”
    • Line 22: “eagle,” “emu”

  • Consonance

    

    

    

    

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    Where consonance appears in the poem:

    • Line 1: “to,” “little town”
    • Line 2: “semi,” “band,” “subdued,” “silent”
    • Line 5: “hurry”
    • Line 6: “reads:,” “Rubbish”
    • Line 7: “traces,” “bora,” “ring.”
    • Line 8: “strangers,” “white tribe,” “strangers”
    • Line 10: “corroboree,” “bora ground”
    • Line 11: “old,” “laws,” “elders”
    • Line 12: “We,” “wonder,” “tales,” “Dream,” “Time,” “tribal legends told”
    • Line 13: “past,” “hunts”
    • Line 14: “lightening,” “bolt,” “Gaphembah,” “Hill”
    • Line 15: “terrible”
    • Line 16: “loud,” “fellow.”
    • Line 17: “quiet daybreak,” “paling,” “dark,” “lagoon.”
    • Line 18: “creeping,” “camp”
    • Line 20: “scattered”
    • Line 21: “scrubs,” “hunting,” “laughter”
    • Line 22: “gone,” “kangaroo,” “gone”

  • Assonance

    

    

    

    

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    Where assonance appears in the poem:

    • Line 1: “came,” “in,” “little,” “town”
    • Line 2: “naked”
    • Line 3: “remained”
    • Line 4: “came,” “place,” “ground”
    • Line 5: “now,” “many,” “hurry,” “about”
    • Line 6: “estate agent”
    • Line 7: “traces”
    • Line 8: “strangers,” “white tribe,” “strangers”
    • Line 9: “ways”
    • Line 12: “Time,” “tribal”
    • Line 14: “Hill”
    • Line 15: “Quick,” “terrible”
    • Line 17: “daybreak paling”
    • Line 18: “shadow,” “back”
    • Line 19: “past”
    • Line 20: “scattered”
    • Line 22: “eagle,” “emu,” “kangaroo”

• “We Are Going” Vocabulary

  Select any word below to get its definition in the context of the poem. The words are listed in the order in which they appear in the poem.

  • Band
  • Subdued
  • Bora Ground
  • Traces
  • Bora Ring
  • Corroboree
  • Dream Time
  • Gaphembah Hill
  • Lagoon
  • Scrubs
  • Emu
  • (Location in poem: Line 2: “A semi-naked band subdued and silent”)

• Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme of “We Are Going”

  • Form

  • Meter

  • Rhyme Scheme

• “We Are Going” Speaker

• “We Are Going” Setting

• Literary and Historical Context of “We Are Going”

• More “We Are Going” Resources

  • External Resources

    • The Poem Out Loud — Listen to Oodgeroo Noonuccal read "We Are Going" in this 1986 audio recording. Interestingly, in this reading, the text of the poem is slightly different, including a longer transition between the opening scene and the collective "We" beginning to speak. 

    • British Colonialism in Australia — Learn more about British colonialism in Australia, and the impact on Aboriginal and Indigenous peoples, in this article from Australians Together. The article describes the brutal history of colonialism in Australia, beginning with the arrival of the first fleet of British ships in 1788.

    • Biography of Oodgeroo Noonuccal — Read more about Oodgeroo Noonuccal's life and work in this article at the Australian Poetry Library.

    • Interview with Oodgeroo Noonuccal — In this interview originally conducted in 1981, Oodgeroo Noonuccal talks about why change in Australia will come with the younger generation, and what she hoped to achieve through opening an educational center on her home island of Minjerribah (Stradbroke Island). 

    • The White Australia Policy — Learn more about the White Australia Policy, the set of governmental policies that established and maintained white supremacy in Australia. Oodgeroo Noonuccal and other Aboriginal activists struggled against the White Australia Policy to obtain civil rights for Aboriginal Australians. This article discusses the history of the policy, as well as how it still impacts Australian culture today.

    • Photograph of Oodgeroo Noonuccal at Moongalba — View a 1982 photograph of Oodgeroo Noonuccal at Moongalba, the educational center she opened on her home island of Minjerribah. 

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