Where was oodgeroo noonuccal born

Aboriginal Australian poet, artist, teacher and campaigner for Indigenous rights

Oodgeroo Noonuccal (Kath Walker)
Oodgeroo Noonuccal at Brisbane's King George Square, March
Born	Kathleen Jean Mary Ruska ()3 November Minjerribah, Queensland, Australia
Died	16 September () (aged&#;72) Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
Nationality	Australian
Other&#;names	Kath Walker, Kathleen Ruska
Education	Bookkeeping, typing, shorthand
Occupation(s)	Army officer, writer, teacher, poet
Employer(s)	Australian Women's Army Service, Noonuccal-Nughie Education Cultural Centre
Known&#;for	Poetry, acting, writing, Aboriginal rights activism
Political party	Communist Party of Australia Australian Labor Party Australian Democrats
Board member&#;of	Federal Council for the Advancement of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders (FCAATSI)
Spouse	Bruce Walker
Children	Denis Walker Vivian Walker
Parent(s)	Ted and Lucy Ruska
* Mary Gilmore Medal () * Jessie Litchfield Award () * International Acting Award * Fellowship of Australian Writers' Award * Member of the Order of the British Empire * Honorary Doctorate (Queensland University of Technology) * Honorary Doctorate (Macquarie University) * Doctorate (Griffith University)[1]

Oodgeroo Noonuccal (UUD-gə-roo NOO-nə-kəl; born Kathleen Jean Mary Ruska, later Kath Walker (3 November &#;&#; 16 September ) was an Aboriginal Australian political activist, artist and educator, who campaigned for Aboriginal rights.^[1] Noonuccal was best known for her poetry, and was the first Aboriginal Australian to publish a book of verse.^[2]

Art and activism

Oodgeroo Noonuccal joined the Australian Women's Army Service in , after her two brothers were captured by the Japanese at the fall of Singapore.

Serving as a signaller in Brisbane she met many black American soldiers, as well as European Australians. These contacts helped to lay the foundations for her later advocacy of Aboriginal rights.^[3] During the s, she joined the Communist Party of Australia because it was the only party which opposed the White Australia policy.^[4][5]

During the s Walker emerged as a prominent political activist and writer.

She was Queensland state secretary of the Federal Council for the Advancement of Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders (FCAATSI),^[6] and was involved in a number of other political organisations. She was a key figure in the campaign for the reform of the Australian constitution to allow Aboriginal people full citizenship, lobbying Prime MinisterRobert Menzies in , and his successor Harold Holt in ^[7] At one deputation in , she taught Robert Menzies a lesson in the realities of Aboriginal life.

Kath walker biography sample format

Oodgeroo Noonuccal (Kath Walker) (–), black rights activist, poet, environmentalist, and educator, was born Kathleen Jean Mary Ruska on 3 November at Bulimba, Brisbane, second youngest of seven children of Edward (Ted) Ruska, labourer, and his wife Lucy, née McCullough.

After the Prime Minister offered the deputation an alcoholic drink, he was startled to learn from her that in Queensland he could be jailed for this.^[8]

She wrote many books, beginning with We Are Going (), the first book to be published by an Aboriginal woman.^[9] The title poem concludes:

The scrubs are gone, the hunting and the laughter.
The eagle is gone, the emu and the kangaroo are gone from this place.
The bora ring is gone.
The corroboree is gone.
And we are going.

This first book of poetry was extraordinarily successful, selling out in several editions, and setting Oodgeroo well on the way to be Australia's highest-selling poet alongside C. J. Dennis.^[10] Critics' responses were mixed, with some questioning whether Oodgeroo, as an Aboriginal person, could really have written it herself.

Others were disturbed by the activism of the poems, and found that they were "propaganda" rather than what they considered to be real poetry.^[11] Oodgeroo embraced the idea of her poetry as propaganda, and described her own style as "sloganistic, civil-writerish, plain and simple."^[12] She wanted to convey pride in her Aboriginality to the broadest possible audience, and to popularise equality and Aboriginal rights through her writing.^[13]

Walker was inaugural president of the committee of the Aboriginal Publications Foundation, which published the magazine Identity in the s.^[14]

In she bought a property on North Stradbroke Island (also known as Minjerribah) which she called Moongalba ("sitting-down place"), and established the Noonuccal-Nughie Education and Cultural Centre.^[1] And in , a documentary about her, called Shadow Sister, was released.

It was directed and produced by Frank Heimans and photographed by Geoff Burton. It describes her return to Moongalba and her life there.^[15] In a interview, she described her education program at Moongalba, saying that over "the last seventeen years I've had 26, children on the island. White kids as well as black.

And if there were green ones, I'd like them too I'm colour blind, you see. I teach them about Aboriginal culture. I teach them about the balance of nature."^[16] Oodgeroo was committed to education at all levels, and collaborated with universities in creating programs for teacher education that would lead to better teaching in Australian schools.^[17]

On 13 June , Noonuccal (as Kathleen Jean Mary Walker) received the award of Member of the Order of the British Empire (Civil) (MBE) for her services to the community.^[18]

In Noonuccal was aboard a British Airways flight that was hijacked by terrorists campaigning for Palestinian liberation.

The hijackers shot a crew member and a passenger and forced the plane to fly to several different African destinations. During her three days in captivity, she used a blunt pencil and an airline sickbag from the seat pocket to write two poems, "Commonplace" and "Yusuf (Hijacker)".^[19][20][21]

In , Noonuccal announced she would stand as an independent candidate for the Senate in Queensland at the federal election.

She unsuccessfully attempted to recruit Senator Neville Bonner to join her on a pro-Aboriginal ticket, following his resignation from the Liberal Party. She subsequently withdrew her candidacy, stating she and Bonner were likely to split the vote.^[22][23] Later in the year Noonuccal ran in the Queensland state election for the Australian Democrats political party in the seat of Redlands.

Her campaign focused around policies promoting the environment and Aboriginal rights.^[24] Receiving % of the primary vote, she was not elected.

In she played the part of Eva in Bruce Beresford's film, The Fringe Dwellers.^[25][26]

In December , she announced she would return her MBE in protest over the Australian Government's intention to celebrate the Australian Bicentenary which she described as " years of sheer unadulterated humiliation" of Aboriginal people.

She also announced she would change her name to Oodgeroo Noonuccal, with Oodgeroo meaning "paperbark tree" and Noonuccal (also spelt Nunukul) being her people's name.^[27][28]

Personal life and family

Noonuccal was born Kathleen Jean Mary Ruska on 3 November on North Stradbroke Island.^[1] She attended Dunwich State School and then became a domestic servant.^[29][5]

On 8 May she married childhood friend and Brisbane waterside worker Bruce Walker at the Methodist Church, West End, Brisbane.

The couple had one son Denis, but they later separated.^[4][5][30]

She worked for Raphael and Phyllis Cilento^[31] and had a second son, Vivian Charles Walker, with the Cilentos' son Raphael junior, born in Brisbane in In Vivian won the first Aboriginal scholarship to attend the National Institute of Dramatic Art, and worked in the performing and visual arts.^[32] He lived and worked abroad for many years before returning to Australia, where his talent was fostered by the Aboriginal National Theatre Trust, which was established in ^[33] In he adopted the Indigenous name Kabul Oodgeroo Noonuccal,^[31]kabul meaning carpet snake,^[4][29] and in the same year co-authored The Rainbow Serpent with his mother, for Expo ^[32] In March he directed the world premiere of Munjong, by Richard Walley, at the Victorian Arts Centre.^[34] He died on 20 February ^[32][35]

Oodgeroo Noonuccal died from cancer on 16 September at the Repatriation General Hospital at Greenslopes, Brisbane, aged 72 years and was buried at Moongalba on North Stradbroke Island.^{[1][4][29][36]}

In culture

A play has been written by Sam Watson entitled Oodgeroo: Bloodline to Country, based on Oodgeroo Noonuccal's real-life experience as an Aboriginal woman on board a flight hijacked by Palestinian terrorists on her way home from a committee meeting in Nigeria for the World Black and African Festival of Arts and Culture^[37]

Noonuccal's poetry has been set to music by numerous composers, including Christopher Gordon, Clare Maclean, Stephen Leek, Andrew Ford, Paul Stanhope, Mary Mageau, and Joseph Twist.^[38]

Recognition

Oodgeroo won several literary awards, including the Mary Gilmore Medal (), the Jessie Litchfield Award (),^[39] and the FAW Patricia Weickhardt Award to an Aboriginal Writer ().^[40][41]

She received an honorary Doctorate of Letters from Macquarie University for her contribution to Australian literature in ^[42][43] She was also made an honorary Doctor of the University by Griffith University in ,^[44] and was awarded a further honorary Doctor of Letters degree in by Monash University.^[45] In , Oodgeroo Noonuccal received an honorary Doctorate from the Faculty of Education Queensland University of Technology for both her contribution to literature and in recognition of her work in the field of education.^[39]

In , she was awarded the Sixth Annual Oscar at the Micheaux Awards Ceremony, hosted by the US Black Filmmakers Hall of Fame and in the same year received the International Acting Award for the film Shadow Sisters.^[46]

She was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire in , but returned the award in in protest at the Australian Bicentenary celebrations in order to make a political statement about the condition of her people.^[28][1]

In , she was named Aboriginal of the Year, by the National Aborigines Day Observance Committee (NADOC, now NAIDOC), an honour bestowed by Indigenous people.^[36][47]

In , the commemorative plaque with her name on it was one of the first installed on Sydney Writers Walk.^[48]

In Queensland University of Technology (QUT) awarded her an honorary doctorate from the Faculty of Education recognising her contributions to literature and education.

In the university renamed their Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Support Unit as the Oodgeroo Unit in her honour.^[39] The university also has the Oodgeroo Scholarship Program which provides undergraduate and postgraduate scholarships for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students.^[49]

In as part of the Q celebrations, she was announced as one of the Q Icons of Queensland for her role as an "Influential Artist".^[48]

In the Queensland Poetry Festival introduced an Indigenous program which included the inaugural Oodgeroo Noonuccal Indigenous Poetry Prize.^[50]

The electoral district of Oodgeroo created in the Queensland state electoral redistribution was named after her.^[51]

Bibliography

Poetry

• Son of Mine (To Dennis) ()
• Municipal Gum ()
• "A Song of Hope" ()
• We are Going: Poems ()
• The Dawn is at Hand: Poems ()
• Ballad of the Totebrush ()
• The Past ()
• White Australia ()
• All One Race ()
• Freedom ()
• Then and Now ()
• Last of His Tribe ()
• My People: A Kath Walker collection ()
• No More Boomerang ()
• Then and now ()
• Kath Walker in China ()
• The Unhappy Race (
• The Colour Bar ()
• Let Us Not Be Bitter ()
• Oodgeroo ()

For children

• Stradbroke Dreamtime ()
• Father Sky and Mother Earth ()
• Little Fella ()
• The Rainbow Serpent ()

Non fiction

• Towards a Global Village in the Southern Hemisphere ()
• The Spirit of Australia ()
• Australian Legends And Landscapes ()
• Australia's Unwritten History: More legends of our land ()
• Oodgeroo of the tribe Nunukul in The Republicanism Debate ()

Notes

References

Secondary sources

External links