Whose Hand
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Whose Hand (original version)
Words and music: ©Ian Hills 1962 It was late one Friday afternoon They call it Black Friday The prison boat came silently down Stayed a little out of town The purpose they would learn too soon. Whose hand is this They came upon them after dark On that Black Friday Pack your bags the orders rang We'll take your leaders child and man And not a dog had time to bark. Whose hand is this Two policemen chained at head and toe On that Black Friday The reason why no one could tell Before the dawn they knew quite well And women and children were next to go. Whose hand is this Their houses burnt or taken down On that Black Friday To the government ship like a cattle herd Songs and tears within them stirred With a last look at their former town. Whose hand is this They protest with fear and woe About that Black Friday Have they no rights no race no land? They are people you understand Have they no say in where they go? Whose hand? Whose land? Whose land is this ______________________________ Whose Hand (Union Singers version) Words (c) Ian Hills (1962) Music (c) Kitamura (1964) It was late one Friday afternoon Whose hand? The prison boat came silently down Stayed a little out of town The purpose they would learn too soon. They came upon them after dark Whose hand? Pack your bags the orders rang We'll take your leaders child and man And not a dog had time to bark. Two policemen chained at head and toe Whose hand? The reason why no one could tell Before the dawn they knew quite well And women and children were next to go. Their houses burnt or taken down Whose hand? To the government ship like a cattle herd Songs and tears within them stirred With a last look at their former town. They protest with fear and woe Whose hand? "Have we no rights no race no land? We are people you understand Have we no say in where we go?" Whose hand? Whose hand? |
I wrote this song after hearing a talk from Mrs Jean Jimmy, an Aboriginal woman who had taken a great risk to leave Bamaga without permission in order to tell the 1964 Federal Council of Aboriginal Advancement conference how the Mapoon people had been forcibly removed from their land to make way for a bauxite mine.
I was deeply moved by the story and the song seemed to write itself very quickly in the tea break as she was chatting and with the audience. I was able to hand the words of the song to her as she was being rushed out of the conference room. More than a year later I discovered that the song had been distributed and eventually made its way to the Union Singers as they were looking for material to put on the flip side of the 'Ballad of Women'. Margaret had written new music for it and Union singers were told about my authorship by my friend, John Tomlinson, who previewed the recording just in time for my name to be included on the label. I titled the song 'Black Friday' (because this land clearance took place on a Friday) with the tag line "Whose Land" but the folk process (and my poor handwriting) resulted in it becoming "Whose Hand" along with a few other improvements. This audio was recorded in 1983 at Alice Springs nearly 20 years after I wrote the song. I was impressed by how powerful Margaret Kitamura's version of the last verse sounds and I decided to copy her phrasing. To my embarrassment the recording now sounds as if I am singing the last verse from an Aboriginal perspective. The quotes around 'Have we no rights...' of course are not apparent on a recording. I apologise for this mistake and I have tried to fix it by returning the written words to the original form. Unfortunately the mistake in the audio remains and I am no longer able to sing sufficiently well to correct it. I am deeply sorry for any offence this causes. Publication Details
Recorded in 1964 by Union Singers on LP 'The Ballad of Women" with music by Margaret Kitamura. (Click this link to see the site) Recorded in 1968 by Phil Lobl on LP 'Dark Eyed Daughter'. (Click this link to see the site) Recorded at the University of Sydney in 1967 by Jeannie Lewis see https://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/musicshow/jeannie-lewis-fiona-hill/13639488 Recorded in 1968 by Phil Vinnecombe on W&G 7" "Dark Eyed Daughter". (Click this link to see the site) Recorded in 1983 by Ian Hills with original music by Ian Hills on cassette 'Chains Freedom and the Land'. |