Albert Namatjira

Hermannsburg, oh Hermannsburg
It was the Lutheran's good deed
Made the children orphans
And dressed them up in white clothes

A watercolour painting
Through melancholy eyes
The ghost gums, dirt dry river beds, the warm rain upon the ground
The assimilation dream

Albert Namatjira
Paintings for the white man
He painted purple mountains in the spirit of his land

There was drinking on the reservation
He was jailed in Alice Springs
He lost the will to paint and live
And he died a solemn death. back to the ground

His seven children died
From respiratory disease
They placed them all in unmarked graves
Somewhere near Alice Springs

And the dogs all chase the desert flies
Near the one drip water tap
The boys, they kick the brown dirt
Their strength is coming back