At night when I sleep I dream of home When the day has been long and I feel so alone A day of petty stress and wear When I close my eyes you're always there Home is a place of land and sea There is nowhere else I feel more free The faces of the Lardil elders dance in my head Singing to me as I rest in my bed
I arrive and family is already there to greet So cheerful and joyous to once again meet Cuz Joelene, Dad Frank and Mandy Moo too So many blood relatives, thats only to name a fair few All your beaming smiles are the sun shining bright That's how I know all will be alright
Natural beauty spreads far and wide The people and the land peacefully coincide Vibrant and blissful, the water is crystal Turtle, dugong, croc & shark swim down below You know that's where the saltwater cowboys will go
Berradkiah is our homeland of mangroves, oysters and mud crab Hand on the fishing line, patiently wait for the Warragud to nab The feel of the sand between my toes, these grains and sacred story places are ancient This is our home, I am calm and complacent
Suddenly my grandfathers singing gets stronger I realise I can not be here much longer You are Nungkari healer, songman and dancer You sing so loud but I can not answer
That is when all the dancers appear standing upright Individual rock body paint glows like bright moonlight You sing Biela Biela the way it has been for a thousand generations The dancers shake a leg to your famous clapsticks and move around me with uplifting sensation
And there you are Standing tall and proud, with your cowboy hat on and white hairs intertwined For you to sing to me in spirit is so nostalgically devine You tell me these words as you did once before When we were not in this realm When we had been on the shore... "We are the saltwater people who live by the sea, We are the white dove, We are Bunbajee"
As I arise from my slumber, I now know...no matter who, what, when or where...
Home is in my heart and home will always be there.
unceded sovereign lands. where my grandfather was born under a tree in the bush.