Ania Walwicz: Poem Analysis

Australia, our wide brown land, a place where acceptance and opportunities are possible. Where we are renowned for welcoming all cultures and ethnicities from around the world. It certainly sounds good on paper, or does it? "Nope, nope, nope" our prime minister declares, as he deters another decrepit vessel full of the wretched and needy desperately seeking asylum. We may proudly call ourselves a tolerant and accepting but migrants’ experiences tell a different tale. The migrant experience is often hidden away from public view and this silencing of our minority groups keeps the illusion of egalitarianism alive. However, delve a little deeper and you will find the stories in literature and art. Poet, Ania Walwicz is one such migrant voice.
Arriving from Poland in the 1970s she experienced first-hand the brash brutality of ignorant, intolerant and racist attitudes of the majority. Her poem, ‘Australia’ is a brutal recollection of her first impressions of her new home.
Ania persistently uses repetition of “you” directing her criticism towards Australia, emphasising her point of view. Deceived by the false reality, she foregrounds a different perspective of Australia that is usually conveyed. “You’re not friendly” Australia places an image in all our heads convincing people no matter where you’re from, you will be welcomed with opened arms celebrating your arrival in a new country. Her first experience was “ugly” side of Australia where the people she met, head on the negative stereotype that is allowed to flourish in Australian cities and townships. Ania was exluded and
That big welcoming Australia was essentially a false deception. “You want everyone to be the same realistically she was surrounded in a white dominant culture while other minority groups were prejudiced and not tolerated, infact they were excluded until they conform. “You never accept me for your own”