Introduction: “Municipal Gum” by Oodgeroo Noonuccal
“Municipal Gum” by Oodgeroo Noonuccal first appeared in 1960 in her debut poetry collection We Are Going, a groundbreaking work that marked the first book of verse published by an Aboriginal Australian woman. The poem uses the image of a gum tree, trapped in a city street and surrounded by hard bitumen, as a powerful metaphor for the dislocation, oppression, and cultural alienation experienced by Indigenous Australians under colonization. Through vivid similes, such as likening the tree to a “poor cart-horse / Castrated, broken, a thing wronged” with its “hopelessness” etched in its posture, Noonuccal conveys a deep sense of loss and injustice. The closing lines—“O fellow citizen, / What have they done to us?”—shift the focus from the tree to a shared Aboriginal identity, implicating colonial urbanization in the severing of people from their land and traditions. Its popularity stems from this poignant intertwining of environmental and Indigenous struggles, making it both a political statement and a lyrical lament that continues to resonate in discussions of cultural survival and resistance.
Text: “Municipal Gum” by Oodgeroo Noonuccal
Gumtree in the city street,
Hard bitumen around your feet,
Rather you should be
In the cool world of leafy forest halls
And wild bird calls
Here you seems to me
Like that poor cart-horse
Castrated, broken, a thing wronged,
Strapped and buckled, its hell prolonged,
Whose hung head and listless mien express
Its hopelessness.
Municipal gum, it is dolorous
To see you thus
Set in your black grass of bitumen—
O fellow citizen,
What have they done to us?
Annotations: “Municipal Gum” by Oodgeroo Noonuccal
| Line | Text | Annotation | Literary Devices |
| 1 | Gumtree in the city street, | The poem opens by addressing a gumtree, a native Australian tree, standing in an urban street, highlighting its displacement from its natural environment. The direct address establishes a personal tone, as if the tree is a character. | Personification (addressing the tree as if it can understand), Imagery (vivid picture of a tree in a city street) |
| 2 | Hard bitumen around your feet, | Describes the tree’s roots surrounded by unforgiving bitumen (asphalt), emphasizing the unnatural, restrictive urban setting. “Your feet” suggests the tree is human-like, trapped by the city. | Personification (tree with “feet”), Imagery (hard bitumen creates a tactile and visual contrast to natural soil) |
| 3 | Rather you should be | Expresses a longing for the tree to be in its rightful place, setting up a contrast between the ideal natural environment and the current urban one. The incomplete sentence creates anticipation. | Contrast (urban vs. natural setting), Enjambment (line breaks mid-thought, leading to the next line) |
| 4 | In the cool world of leafy forest halls | Describes the ideal environment for the tree: a cool, shaded forest with abundant foliage, evoking a sense of freedom and natural beauty. “Leafy forest halls” paints a grand, almost sacred image. | Imagery (vivid description of the forest), Metaphor (forest as “halls,” suggesting a grand, natural cathedral) |
| 5 | And wild bird calls | Adds the sound of birds to the forest scene, enhancing the sensory appeal of nature and contrasting with the silent, oppressive city. | Imagery (auditory image of bird calls), Contrast (natural sounds vs. urban silence) |
| 6 | Here you seems to me | The speaker reflects on the tree’s current state, using a personal perspective (“to me”). The word “seems” suggests an empathetic observation, preparing for a comparison. | Subjective Tone (personal perspective), Enjambment (leads into the next line’s comparison) |
| 7 | Like that poor cart-horse | Compares the tree to a cart-horse, an animal overworked and mistreated, introducing a powerful analogy for suffering and exploitation. | Simile (comparing tree to cart-horse with “like”), Symbolism (cart-horse as a symbol of oppression) |
| 8 | Castrated, broken, a thing wronged, | Describes the cart-horse (and by extension, the tree) as mutilated, defeated, and unjustly treated, emphasizing suffering and loss of vitality. The list of adjectives intensifies the tone. | Imagery (vivid description of suffering), Alliteration (“broken,” “thing wronged” for emphasis), Symbolism (castration as loss of natural vitality) |
| 9 | Strapped and buckled, its hell prolonged, | Depicts the horse (and tree) as bound and suffering endlessly, with “hell” suggesting extreme torment. The mechanical imagery of straps and buckles contrasts with natural life. | Imagery (straps and buckles evoke restriction), Metaphor (“hell” for ongoing suffering) |
| 10 | Whose hung head and listless mien express | Describes the horse’s drooping head and lifeless demeanor, reflecting despair. This mirrors the tree’s drooping branches, reinforcing the comparison. | Imagery (visual of hung head), Personification (horse’s demeanor “expresses” emotion), Symbolism (hung head as despair) |
| 11 | Its hopelessness. | A single, stark word summarizing the horse’s (and tree’s) emotional state, emphasizing despair and finality. The short line creates a dramatic pause. | Diction (strong word choice for emotional impact), Caesura (pause for emphasis) |
| 12 | Municipal gum, it is dolorous | Directly addresses the tree again, calling it “municipal” (city-owned) and “dolorous” (sorrowful), reinforcing its plight. The formal tone elevates the tree’s suffering. | Personification (tree as sorrowful), Diction (“dolorous” for poignant effect) |
| 13 | To see you thus | Expresses the speaker’s sadness at witnessing the tree’s condition, maintaining a personal and empathetic tone. | Subjective Tone (speaker’s emotional response), Enjambment (flows into the next line) |
Literary And Poetic Devices: “Municipal Gum” by Oodgeroo Noonuccal
| Literary Device | Example from Poem | Explanation |
| 📖 Allusion | “What have they done to us?” (Line 16) | This line alludes to the historical and cultural context of Indigenous displacement and suffering under colonial systems, linking the tree’s plight to the speaker’s, likely an Indigenous person. |
| 🗣️ Apostrophe | “O fellow citizen” (Line 15) | By directly addressing the gumtree as a “fellow citizen,” the speaker treats it as a human entity, fostering empathy and highlighting their shared oppression in the urban environment. |
| 🎶 Assonance | “Cool world of leafy forest halls” (Line 4) | The repeated “o” sound in “cool” and “world” creates a soothing, flowing rhythm, evoking the calm and beauty of the forest, in contrast to the harsh city setting. |
| ⏸️ Caesura | “Its hopelessness.” (Line 11) | The short, standalone line creates an abrupt pause, forcing the reader to dwell on “hopelessness,” amplifying the emotional weight of the tree’s and horse’s despair. |
| 🔉 Consonance | “Strapped and buckled” (Line 9) | The repeated “d” sound in “strapped” and “buckled” reinforces the mechanical imagery of confinement, enhancing the sense of the tree’s and horse’s entrapment. |
| ↔️ Contrast | “Rather you should be / In the cool world of leafy forest halls” (Lines 3-4) | The poem contrasts the tree’s urban setting with its ideal natural environment, highlighting its displacement and the unnatural constraints of the city. |
| 📜 Diction | “Dolorous” (Line 12) | The word “dolorous” (meaning sorrowful) conveys deep sadness with a formal, mournful tone, elevating the tree’s suffering to a tragic, almost poetic level. |
| ➡️ Enjambment | “Here you seems to me / Like that poor cart-horse” (Lines 6-7) | The thought spills over without punctuation, creating urgency and continuity, pulling the reader into the comparison between the tree and the cart-horse. |
| 🖼️ Imagery | “Hard bitumen around your feet” (Line 2) | Vivid sensory details depict the tree’s roots trapped in unyielding asphalt, creating a tactile and visual image that emphasizes its unnatural, restrictive environment. |
| 🤝 Inclusive Pronoun | “What have they done to us?” (Line 16) | The pronoun “us” unites the speaker and the tree, suggesting a shared experience of oppression, possibly reflecting the broader Indigenous struggle. |
| 😏 Irony | “Black grass of bitumen” (Line 14) | Calling bitumen “black grass” is ironic, sarcastically equating lifeless asphalt with natural grass, underscoring the unnatural urban setting imposed on the tree. |
| ⚖️ Juxtaposition | “Gumtree in the city street” (Line 1) | Placing the natural gumtree next to the urban “city street” highlights the stark incompatibility between nature and the man-made environment. |
| 🌌 Metaphor | “Black grass of bitumen” (Line 14) | Bitumen is compared to grass, presenting it as a false, lifeless substitute for the tree’s natural environment, reinforcing themes of displacement and loss. |
| 😔 Mood | “Municipal gum, it is dolorous” (Line 12) | The poem establishes a mournful, melancholic mood through words like “dolorous” and imagery of suffering, evoking sympathy for the tree’s plight. |
| 🌳 Personification | “Gumtree in the city street” (Line 1) | The tree is addressed as if human, with “feet” and the capacity to suffer, fostering empathy and emphasizing its victimization by urban forces. |
| ❓ Rhetorical Question | “What have they done to us?” (Line 16) | This question prompts reflection on the shared oppression of the tree and speaker, implicating colonial or urban forces without expecting an answer. |
| ⭐ Symbolism | “Like that poor cart-horse” (Line 7) | The cart-horse symbolizes oppression and exploitation, mirroring the tree’s displacement and the broader suffering of Indigenous people under colonial systems. |
| 🧠 Subjective Tone | “Here you seems to me” (Line 6) | The phrase “seems to me” reflects the speaker’s personal, empathetic perspective, inviting readers to share their emotional response to the tree’s plight. |
| 🔄 Syntax | “Rather you should be” (Line 3) | The inverted syntax prioritizes “rather,” emphasizing the speaker’s longing for the tree’s natural environment, creating a poignant, reflective tone. |
Themes: “Municipal Gum” by Oodgeroo Noonuccal
🌿 Theme 1: Displacement and Loss of Natural Habitat: “Municipal Gum” by Oodgeroo Noonuccal vividly captures the theme of displacement through the image of a gum tree, unnaturally confined to a city street. The poet laments, “Hard bitumen around your feet, / Rather you should be / In the cool world of leafy forest halls”, evoking the tree’s rightful place in the wild, surrounded by bird calls and natural beauty. This juxtaposition between the tree’s current entrapment and its ideal environment mirrors the forced removal of Aboriginal people from their ancestral lands. The title itself, Municipal Gum, underscores the irony of an Indigenous tree subjected to urban authority, reflecting the broader alienation of nature—and by extension, Indigenous culture—under colonial urban expansion.
🐎 Theme 2: Oppression and Dehumanization: “Municipal Gum” by Oodgeroo Noonuccal draws a stark parallel between the tree’s plight and that of a “poor cart-horse / Castrated, broken, a thing wronged”. This metaphor not only humanizes the tree but also underscores the cruelty of stripping a being—human or animal—of its freedom and dignity. By describing the horse’s “hung head and listless mien”, Noonuccal evokes an image of total subjugation, suggesting that urbanization does not merely displace but also inflicts ongoing suffering. This analogy deepens the political resonance of the poem, presenting the gum tree as a symbol for Aboriginal people subjected to systemic control and cultural castration under colonial governance.
🖤 Theme 3: Shared Suffering and Indigenous Solidarity: “Municipal Gum” by Oodgeroo Noonuccal bridges the gap between the natural and human worlds by addressing the tree directly as a “fellow citizen”. This kinship signifies a deep Indigenous worldview in which land, plants, and people are interconnected. The closing question—“What have they done to us?”—shifts the poem’s focus from the singular plight of the tree to a collective Aboriginal experience of oppression. The pronoun “us” establishes solidarity, uniting the speaker, the tree, and the broader Indigenous community as mutual victims of dispossession. In doing so, Noonuccal transforms the gum tree from a passive urban fixture into a silent witness to, and participant in, the enduring struggle for Aboriginal rights and cultural survival.
🌏 Theme 4: Environmental and Cultural Critique of Urbanization: “Municipal Gum” by Oodgeroo Noonuccal serves as both an environmental lament and a cultural critique of modern urban development. The phrase “black grass of bitumen” starkly contrasts with the natural soil and vegetation of the gum tree’s original habitat, symbolizing how industrial progress replaces organic life with lifeless infrastructure. This imagery reflects how colonial urban planning not only damages the environment but also erodes Indigenous traditions tied to the land. By embedding the gum tree in a cityscape, Noonuccal critiques the prioritization of economic and municipal growth over ecological balance and cultural continuity, aligning environmental degradation with the erasure of Indigenous heritage.
Literary Theories and “Municipal Gum” by Oodgeroo Noonuccal
| Literary Theory | Explanation | References from Poem |
| 🌍 Postcolonial Theory | Postcolonial theory examines the effects of colonization on cultures and societies, focusing on issues of identity, displacement, and resistance. In “Municipal Gum,” the gumtree’s displacement from its natural forest to the urban street mirrors the dispossession and marginalization of Indigenous Australians under colonial rule. The speaker’s identification with the tree as a “fellow citizen” and the question “What have they done to us?” suggest a shared experience of oppression, reflecting the loss of land and culture for Indigenous peoples. | “Gumtree in the city street” (Line 1), “O fellow citizen, / What have they done to us?” (Lines 15-16) |
| 🌿 Ecocriticism | Ecocriticism explores the relationship between literature and the natural environment, often highlighting human exploitation of nature. The poem portrays the gumtree as a victim of urbanization, trapped in “hard bitumen” and separated from its natural “leafy forest halls.” This reflects the environmental cost of urban development and critiques humanity’s domination of nature, aligning the tree’s suffering with broader ecological harm. | “Hard bitumen around your feet” (Line 2), “In the cool world of leafy forest halls / And wild bird calls” (Lines 4-5) |
| 👩 Feminist Theory | Feminist theory analyzes gender dynamics and power structures, often focusing on marginalized voices. While the poem does not explicitly address gender, Oodgeroo Noonuccal, an Indigenous woman, uses the tree’s suffering to voice resistance against oppression. The personification of the tree as a “fellow citizen” and the emotive language (“dolorous,” “hopelessness”) can be read as a feminine-coded expression of empathy and nurturing, challenging the patriarchal, colonial forces that harm both nature and Indigenous communities. | “Municipal gum, it is dolorous” (Line 12), “O fellow citizen” (Line 15) |
| ⚙️ Marxist Theory | Marxist theory examines class struggle and the exploitation of labor and resources by capitalist systems. The gumtree, likened to a “poor cart-horse” that is “castrated, broken, a thing wronged,” symbolizes the exploitation of natural resources and Indigenous peoples by urban, capitalist systems. The “municipal” label suggests ownership by a city authority, reflecting how capitalism commodifies and controls both nature and marginalized groups for profit. | “Like that poor cart-horse / Castrated, broken, a thing wronged” (Lines 7-8), “Municipal gum” (Line 12) |
Critical Questions about “Municipal Gum” by Oodgeroo Noonuccal
1. How does the poem use the gumtree as a symbol to reflect the experiences of Indigenous Australians?
Municipal Gum by Oodgeroo Noonuccal employs the gumtree as a powerful symbol of displacement and oppression, mirroring the experiences of Indigenous Australians under colonial rule. The poem opens with the image of the “Gumtree in the city street, / Hard bitumen around your feet,” immediately establishing the tree’s unnatural placement in an urban environment, far from its rightful “cool world of leafy forest halls / And wild bird calls.” This displacement parallels the forced removal of Indigenous peoples from their ancestral lands to urban or marginalized spaces due to colonization. The speaker’s empathetic address to the tree as “O fellow citizen” and the rhetorical question “What have they done to us?” forge a direct connection between the tree’s suffering and the speaker’s, likely an Indigenous person, suggesting a shared experience of loss and subjugation. The comparison to a “poor cart-horse / Castrated, broken, a thing wronged” further symbolizes the emasculation and dehumanization of Indigenous communities, stripped of their cultural vitality and autonomy. Through these vivid images and emotional appeals, Noonuccal uses the gumtree to reflect the broader historical and cultural trauma of Indigenous Australians, highlighting their resilience and shared struggle against colonial oppression.
2. In what ways does the poem critique the impact of urbanization on the natural environment?
Municipal Gum by Oodgeroo Noonuccal serves as a poignant critique of urbanization’s destructive impact on the natural environment, using the gumtree’s plight to illustrate the harm caused by human development. The poem vividly contrasts the tree’s current state, trapped in “Hard bitumen around your feet,” with its ideal habitat in the “cool world of leafy forest halls / And wild bird calls.” This stark juxtaposition underscores how urban environments replace natural ecosystems with artificial, lifeless materials like bitumen, described sarcastically as “black grass.” The tree’s personified suffering, evident in the speaker’s lament that it is “dolorous” and akin to a “cart-horse / Castrated, broken, a thing wronged,” emphasizes the violence of urbanization, which not only displaces natural elements but also subjects them to prolonged degradation. By labeling the tree “municipal,” Noonuccal critiques the commodification of nature by city authorities, suggesting that urban systems prioritize control and profit over ecological harmony. This critique resonates with broader environmental concerns, positioning the poem as a call to recognize and resist the ecological devastation wrought by unchecked urban expansion.
3. How does the poem’s use of personification and apostrophe enhance its emotional impact?
Municipal Gum by Oodgeroo Noonuccal leverages personification and apostrophe to deepen the poem’s emotional resonance, fostering a sense of empathy and shared suffering between the speaker and the gumtree. By personifying the tree with human attributes, such as “your feet” in “Hard bitumen around your feet” and addressing it directly as “O fellow citizen,” Noonuccal transforms the tree into a sentient being capable of experiencing pain and loss, akin to a human. This anthropomorphism is intensified through the comparison to a “poor cart-horse / Castrated, broken, a thing wronged,” whose “hung head and listless mien express / Its hopelessness,” evoking a vivid image of despair that mirrors human suffering. The use of apostrophe, particularly in lines like “Municipal gum, it is dolorous / To see you thus,” creates an intimate dialogue between the speaker and the tree, drawing readers into their shared plight. These techniques amplify the poem’s emotional impact by humanizing the tree’s suffering, encouraging readers to empathize not only with the natural world but also with the marginalized communities, such as Indigenous Australians, whose struggles the tree symbolizes.
4. What role does the rhetorical question in the final line play in the poem’s overall message?
Municipal Gum by Oodgeroo Noonuccal concludes with the powerful rhetorical question “What have they done tohou us?” which encapsulates the poem’s central themes of oppression and shared suffering, broadening its message to a universal level. This question, addressed to the personified gumtree, unites the speaker and the tree as victims of an unspecified “they,” likely referring to colonial or urban authorities responsible for their displacement and harm. By using “us,” Noonuccal includes herself, and by extension Indigenous Australians, in the tree’s plight, suggesting a collective experience of loss and injustice. The rhetorical nature of the question, which demands no direct answer, invites readers to reflect on the historical and ongoing impacts of colonization and urbanization, as seen in earlier images like the tree’s “hard bitumen around your feet” and its comparison to a “cart-horse / Castrated, broken.” This open-ended query amplifies the poem’s emotional and political weight, urging readers to consider their own complicity in these systems and to recognize the interconnectedness of human and environmental exploitation, making it a poignant call for awareness and change.
Literary Works Similar to “Municipal Gum” by Oodgeroo Noonuccal
- 🌿 “The City Tree” by Judith Wright – Like “Municipal Gum,” this poem contrasts a tree’s natural setting with its confinement in an urban environment, symbolizing human disconnection from nature.
- 🐎 “The Horses” by Edwin Muir – Shares with “Municipal Gum,” a sense of loss and post-industrial alienation, using animals as symbols of a more harmonious past disrupted by human progress.
- 🖤 “We Are Going” by Oodgeroo Noonuccal – From the same poet, it parallels Municipal Gum in its exploration of Aboriginal displacement and cultural loss through the personification of nature.
- 🌏 “God’s Grandeur” by Gerard Manley Hopkins – Echoes Municipal Gum in its critique of industrialization’s damage to nature, contrasting the beauty of creation with the scarring effects of human exploitation.
- 🌊 “The Waste Land” (opening section) by T.S. Eliot – Shares Municipal Gum’s imagery of barrenness and unnatural landscapes to represent cultural decay and alienation from the natural world.
Representative Quotations of “Municipal Gum” by Oodgeroo Noonuccal
| Quotation and Line Number | Context | Theoretical Interpretations |
| “Gumtree in the city street” (Line 1) | This opening line introduces the central image of a native Australian gumtree misplaced in an urban environment, setting the stage for themes of displacement and alienation. | Postcolonial: The gumtree symbolizes Indigenous Australians displaced by colonial urbanization, reflecting loss of land and identity. Ecocritical: Highlights the unnatural imposition of urban spaces on nature, critiquing environmental disruption. Feminist: As a work by an Indigenous woman, the tree’s placement may reflect marginalized voices challenging dominant urban narratives. Marxist: Represents the commodification of nature by capitalist urban systems, stripping it of its natural context. |
| “Hard bitumen around your feet” (Line 2) | Describes the tree’s roots trapped in asphalt, emphasizing its confinement and unnatural surroundings. | Postcolonial: Mirrors the entrapment of Indigenous peoples in colonial systems, unable to thrive in their natural state. Ecocritical: Critiques urbanization’s replacement of natural soil with lifeless bitumen, harming ecosystems. Feminist: The tree’s “feet” personify it as a vulnerable entity, akin to marginalized groups under patriarchal control. Marxist: Suggests capitalist exploitation of natural resources, with bitumen symbolizing industrial dominance. |
| “Rather you should be” (Line 3) | Expresses the speaker’s longing for the tree to be in its natural forest habitat, contrasting with its current urban setting. | Postcolonial: Reflects Indigenous desire to return to pre-colonial harmony with land, disrupted by colonization. Ecocritical: Advocates for the restoration of natural environments over urban sprawl. Feminist: The nurturing tone aligns with feminine-coded empathy, resisting urban oppression. Marxist: Critiques the capitalist systems that prioritize urban development over natural preservation. |
| “In the cool world of leafy forest halls” (Line 4) | Depicts an idealized natural environment, evoking a serene, untouched forest, contrasting with the urban setting. | Postcolonial: Evokes pre-colonial Indigenous lands, free from colonial interference. Ecocritical: Celebrates nature’s beauty, critiquing its destruction by urban development. Feminist: The nurturing imagery reflects a feminine connection to nature, opposing patriarchal urban control. Marxist: Contrasts the freedom of nature with the commodified urban landscape, highlighting capitalist exploitation. |
| “Like that poor cart-horse” (Line 7) | Compares the gumtree to an overworked, mistreated cart-horse, introducing a simile of suffering and exploitation. | Postcolonial: The horse symbolizes Indigenous peoples, oppressed and dehumanized by colonial systems. Ecocritical: Equates the tree’s suffering with nature’s exploitation by human systems. Feminist: The empathetic comparison reflects a feminine-coded resistance to oppressive structures. Marxist: Represents labor exploitation under capitalism, with the horse and tree as victims of systemic abuse. |
| “Castrated, broken, a thing wronged” (Line 8) | Describes the cart-horse (and tree) as mutilated and defeated, emphasizing profound suffering and injustice. | Postcolonial: Reflects the emasculation and cultural destruction of Indigenous communities under colonialism. Ecocritical: Highlights nature’s degradation by human intervention, reducing it to a “thing wronged.” Feminist: The language of violation suggests a gendered critique of patriarchal harm to both nature and marginalized groups. Marxist: Symbolizes the dehumanization of labor and nature under capitalist systems, stripped of vitality for profit. |
| “Its hopelessness” (Line 11) | A stark, single-word line capturing the despair of the horse and tree, creating a dramatic pause. | Postcolonial: Encapsulates the despair of Indigenous peoples facing ongoing colonial oppression. Ecocritical: Reflects the bleak fate of nature trapped in urban environments. Feminist: The emotional weight aligns with feminine expressions of empathy and loss, resisting stoic patriarchal norms. Marxist: Represents the hopelessness of exploited classes and resources under capitalist domination. |
| “Municipal gum, it is dolorous” (Line 12) | Directly addresses the tree as “municipal,” highlighting its ownership by the city, and describes its sorrowful state. | Postcolonial: The term “municipal” suggests colonial control over Indigenous land and symbols. Ecocritical: Critiques urban systems for imposing ownership on nature, causing its suffering. Feminist: The term “dolorous” reflects a feminine-coded emotional response, emphasizing care for the oppressed. Marxist: “Municipal” indicates capitalist commodification of nature, reducing it to city property. |
| “Black grass of bitumen” (Line 14) | Sarcastically describes the asphalt as “black grass,” highlighting the unnatural replacement of nature with urban materials. | Postcolonial: Symbolizes the erasure of Indigenous landscapes by colonial urban development. Ecocritical: Critiques the replacement of natural ecosystems with lifeless urban materials. Feminist: The ironic tone reflects a subversive, feminine-coded critique of patriarchal urban dominance. Marxist: Represents capitalism’s transformation of natural resources into artificial, profit-driven constructs. |
| “What have they done to us?” (Line 16) | The final rhetorical question unites the speaker and tree, implicating an oppressive “they” in their shared suffering. | Postcolonial: Alludes to colonial oppression, linking the tree’s and Indigenous peoples’ shared plight. Ecocritical: Questions humanity’s role in environmental destruction, uniting human and natural suffering. Feminist: The inclusive “us” reflects a collective, empathetic resistance to patriarchal and colonial forces. Marxist: Critiques capitalist systems for exploiting both nature and marginalized groups, fostering solidarity in their shared harm. |
Suggested Readings: “Municipal Gum” by Oodgeroo Noonuccal
- Javidshad, Mahdi, and Amirhossein Nemati. “Hybridity in Australia: a postcolonial reading of Oodgeroo Noonuccal’s selected poems.” Critical Literary Studies 2.1 (2020): 39-56.
- Pustarfi, Laura. “Interstice: Eucalyptus.” The Wisdom of Trees: Thinking Through Arboreality, edited by Laura Pustarfi and David Macauley, State University of New York Press, 2025, pp. 369–70. JSTOR, https://doi.org/10.2307/jj.29248382.27. Accessed 15 Aug. 2025.
- Davies, Margaret. “The Consciousness of Trees.” Law and Literature, vol. 27, no. 2, 2015, pp. 217–35. JSTOR, https://www.jstor.org/stable/26770750. Accessed 15 Aug. 2025.
