Walgett
Black and proud of it
After the bus was run off the road we drove back to Walgett to report the incident to the police.It was nearly midnight when we got back, but it was a hot night, and news soon spread. The bus was parked outside the police station, and as time went by a crowd gathered. On one side of dry, dusty road were the students and Aborigines, on the other side the white townspeople
A series of arguments broke out, and then a young Aboriginal woman addressed the crowd. She had been quiet earlier in the day, but now she was ready to speak her mind:
"I'm black and I'm proud of it and I uphold it too.....You've been walking past them all day criticising your own colour. That's how good the whites are in Walgett - criticising your own colour....Trouble is it's hurting the whites to see other whites fighting for the blacks.You've only got to get out of Walgett to find better white people. Walgett are about the worst class of white people this side of the black stump. It's only because they've got white skin that they hold their head up in the air and get around like they own everthing.
You see some of the whites here in Walgett, they think they own Walgett and rent Coonamble but they've got nothing. They're working, white people in Walgett working just like us blacks.
They can look at me and talk about me as much as they like. I was born in Walgett and I intend to die here and I'll stop here just that long to torment the whites."
