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“Nobody asked the children before they took them away.” p53..the end of the story …And in the morning before they left, John Jagamarra gathered handfuls of ashes and black charcoal from the fire, and rubbed it into his skin and the flesh of his young son. He rubbed it in as deep as he could, so that it might become part of them and never wash out again. Not now. Not so long as they lived. Task: to create an ending from this point in the story, one that:
Minimum 80 words The following endings to the story have been created by Yr 6 students at Pulteney Grammar School in Adelaide South Australia.
© Andrew aged 12 In the morning John Jagamarra woke and looked at the remains of Dryborough Station. The wind was slowly gaining power till a storm began. As he watched the storm, John Jagamarra’s mind began to wander back to the ancestral spirits and the Rainbow Serpent creator of all. Slowly as the storm began to clear a man appeared in the distance and began to walk towards them. He ran over to the man and asked him if he knew what had happened to the station, but the man just smiled. He handed him a small card with an address on it. John Jagamarra read the card slowly and then lifted his head to see that the had had gone. However John Jagamarra could have sworn he had seen the flicker of a rainbow coloured tail. The storm had cleared up when John got back to his son and as he saw the rainbow in the sky he knew there was hope.
© Darius aged 12 John Jagamarra and his son walked along the river in the hope they might find some other Aboriginal people. They reached a village but they found no-one. While they were leaving they saw a crowd singing and dancing. They approached the group hoping they would be Aboriginal people. To their pleasant surprise there were people of different coloured skin. A white child came close to John Jagamarra’s son and invited him to dance. Another person came and offered food and water to them. John and his son were very happy that they did not have to worry about the colour of their skin anymore. Soon after the dance they jumped into the river and washed off the ash because they now felt comfortable with their skin colour. On their way back to the village a group of women and children who had been dancing were passing by. Suddenly one of the women approached: “My son!”
© Declan aged 12 As John and his young son drove he looked in the rear mirror to see his true home one last time and saw some Aboriginal people coming in from the east. In astonishment he turned the car around and started to drive back to the camp. As he got out of the car a lady in the crowd had noticed who it was. She pushed and shoved her way through the crowd. John has also noticed who this lady was. As mother and son ran towards each other John noticed tears in her eyes but he also was crying for all those years they had been separated. He was glad to be back and to also feel the soft touch of his mother’s skin.
© Helena aged 11 John Jagamarra and his son, Albert, rubbed two sticks together to make a fire at the campsite sadly left abandoned by his mother’s group. This is exactly what John had feared would happen; the mob had moved on and had left no trace that would reveal where they were going. It was dark and late at night as they sat there beside the burning fire and John decided to tell Albert the story of his life and the terrible incident, the reason behind why Albert never knew his grandmother. The next morning they awoke still by the fire. John had realised what he must do. He had to go and find his mother and the mob to learn all the things he had missed out on when he was a young boy. He had to teach these things to his son. John began to look for tracks but it was to no avail until he saw a drag mark of a stick and lots of bare shoeless footprints. This was excellent news; it possibly meant that the mob had only just left. This was the start of a journey for him and his son, a journey in search of a dedicated mother and grandmother. Two weeks had passed and John and his son Albert successfully arrived at an Aboriginal sacred site. So John and Albert, in their most respectful way, approached the mob. John had studied their language and could communicate with them fluently. Hesitantly they agreed to let John and Albert stay for a while. After a month or so of learning their Aboriginal ways John felt like he had been living this way for his entire life. As if nothing could get any better John’s mother came to the campsite after visiting a neighbouring mob. John was over-joyed to see his mother and Albert was excited to find his grandmother. All were happy and no white man could ever break their bond or tear them apart ever again.
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