This poem
"Half Caste Girl" byis about a mixed-race girl who has died. The afterlife for this
girl, who was half Aboriginal, half white, is a purgatory for the Aboriginal side of the girl
who wants to stand on the hill and beat with a waddy on the bright moon like a gong.
Even in death, the girl does not belong to the white afterlife or the Aboriginal
afterlife. Although she belongs to some aspects of both cultures, this ghost girl just wants to
stand on the hill "And beat with a waddy on the bright moon like a gong / Across the hills,
the hills that belong to no people / And so to none are foreign.
One textual
analysis of this poem seems to ponder whether the mourning spirit will sever her ties with the
dead (a race that is dying out, being killed) and finally join the living (for more on this, see
the book The Unknown Judith Wright ). As during her half-caste life, I
think that her soul, too, is in limbo because a decision must be made about which direction
to...
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