This production, along with two short films, was created over 14 days in July 2019. It is an outcome of a unique, collaborative creative process with Desert Pea Media artists, local Indigenous young people, community members, Elders, and local health and community services.
The Bwlcgolman Mob was nominated as a finalist in the 2020 National Indigenous Music Awards in the Community Music Clip category.
Verse one
Munbara Bwlcgolman burra Gubbal the carpet python
Head is magnetic, Body is Palm island
Fine line between captain and crook
Join the crew take a tour round the history book
Since my great grandfather was brought here in chains
1914, slavery with no wage
Big shame - 1918 became a mission
PI became a prison punishment by definition
Nuh ya can’t look forward if ya can’t look back
Gotta know the difference between lies and fact
The truth is beautiful, it’s back and it’s black
Like the PI boys now we’re ready to react
The act rewind to 1939 we think about home
And family left behind as we rhyme
My words flow west across the sea-line
Connect to ancestors and the lessons of the dreamtime
Hook
(Scratches) Only time will tell
We no longer living under the bell
(Scratches) maybe change gonna come
Like the morning sun the Bwlcgolman rise as one
Verse two
2004 they were kicking down the door
Marshall squad held pregnant women to the floor
Elders, kids, and all, what for?
Telling lies in the court and the coroners report
It’s been a hundred years of trauma and fear
But the truth is the Bwlcgolman warriors are still here
Kicking back with another track, get it clear
Speak out it’ll make the pain disappear
We love this island we sick of the silence
We can’t change history with crime and violence
We love this island - you can try to divide us
Can’t separate 40 plus tribes united
Respect goes out to uncle Lex and the clan
The Bwlcgolman people and the Doomadgee fam
The Tall Man got nothing on Munbara land
Eeya lah the Palm Island People taking a stand
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