The trees flew by outside the window. The three of us were stuffed together on the backseat of the car, and the unknown white man was in the front seat. Every few minutes the man would look back at us, as if to check that we were still there. We were there physically, but mentally we were far away. Mentally we were back in Jigalong, playing games in the bushes, laughing and smiling and enjoying the hot sun on our skin.
As the car jolted to a stop, Gracie and Daisy anxiously grabbed my hand. The white man looked expectantly back at us, eyeing us. We didn't even move. He opened the door in my side of the car and moved his hand, to indicate that we should follow him. As my bare feet stepped on the warm ground, I started to feel cold inside. This was far away from home. Too far. And this was not where we belonged.
My eyes searched the area for something familiar, but I couldn't find anything - everything had a touch of white people. We were greeted by a woman dressed completely in white. She scared me. "Hello girls, and welcome to Moore River Native Settlement. While you are here, you need to follow our rules. You will not speak your own language - you are here to learn to live like a white man, therefore you will be punished if you speak anything other than English. And don't even try to run away, because you will not succeed. Now, follow me." Her voice sounded loud through the air. My feelings about her were right - she was, indeed, scary. We followed her through the small settlement. Small houses were placed neatly around the area, each with a sign saying what was in there. Everything about this place screamed "white people" and "Christian".
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