Riding the Black Cockatoo & Company Sin Representation Essay
Representations Seminar
“Riding the Black Cockatoo” and “Company Sin” Matthew Magin
“The land is my mother, my mother is the land. Land is the starting point to where it all began.” (S. Knight)
Words are powerful tools that can be used to represent people and shape opinions about others. In a similar way, certain actions and our treatment of other cultures demonstrate our understandings and acceptance of, different beliefs and cultures. Two texts that support these statements and include representations of Indigenous Australian culture and beliefs are: ‘Riding the Black Cockatoo’ by John Danalis and ‘Company Sin’ by John Butler Trio.
John Danalis wrote a captivating novel about his journey towards righting the wrongs his family committed, by returning an Indigenous skull that was kept on his family’s mantelpiece. Throughout his writing, John portrays the sense of oneness towards the land of the Indigenous community and his need to come to terms with all the connections he never knew existed.
‘Company Sin’ symbolises a young man’s ignorance and indifference towards the Indigenous culture. Ben naively participates in a mining company’s desecration of an Indigenous Australian burial site. The words in the song portray his struggle with dreams and what these dreams actually embody.
Symbolic use of words and language creates vivid images of the song and novel in the audience’s minds. Through representations in the text readers have been positioned to perceive qualities of Indigenous Australian’s heritage, spirituality and their relationship with mother earth.
In ‘Riding the Black Cockatoo’, words and language are used purposefully to demonstrate the significance of returning Indigenous Australian’s bones to the tribal elders for burial.
Danalis realises through his journey of reconciliation that for Indigenous Australians, the disturbance or non-burial of bones means that a soul remains in a state of unrest. Current generations know that it
“Riding the Black Cockatoo” and “Company Sin” Matthew Magin
“The land is my mother, my mother is the land. Land is the starting point to where it all began.” (S. Knight)
Words are powerful tools that can be used to represent people and shape opinions about others. In a similar way, certain actions and our treatment of other cultures demonstrate our understandings and acceptance of, different beliefs and cultures. Two texts that support these statements and include representations of Indigenous Australian culture and beliefs are: ‘Riding the Black Cockatoo’ by John Danalis and ‘Company Sin’ by John Butler Trio.
John Danalis wrote a captivating novel about his journey towards righting the wrongs his family committed, by returning an Indigenous skull that was kept on his family’s mantelpiece. Throughout his writing, John portrays the sense of oneness towards the land of the Indigenous community and his need to come to terms with all the connections he never knew existed.
‘Company Sin’ symbolises a young man’s ignorance and indifference towards the Indigenous culture. Ben naively participates in a mining company’s desecration of an Indigenous Australian burial site. The words in the song portray his struggle with dreams and what these dreams actually embody.
Symbolic use of words and language creates vivid images of the song and novel in the audience’s minds. Through representations in the text readers have been positioned to perceive qualities of Indigenous Australian’s heritage, spirituality and their relationship with mother earth.
In ‘Riding the Black Cockatoo’, words and language are used purposefully to demonstrate the significance of returning Indigenous Australian’s bones to the tribal elders for burial.
Danalis realises through his journey of reconciliation that for Indigenous Australians, the disturbance or non-burial of bones means that a soul remains in a state of unrest. Current generations know that it