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    Photograph of Oodgeroo in Brisbane's King George Square, March 1975, courtesy of University of Queensland.
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Oodgeroo Noonuccal (1920 - 1993)

Born
3 November 1920
North Stradbroke Island, Queensland, Australia
Died
16 September 1993
Occupation
Poet, Political activist, Artist and Educator
Alternative Names
  • Walker, Kathleen Jean Mary

Summary

Oodgeroo Noonuccal was born Kathleen Jean Mary Ruska, on Minjerribah (the Stradbroke Islands). Oodgeroo Noonuccal means Oodgeroo of the tribe Nunuccal; spelling variations include Nunuccal, Noonuckle and Nunukul. In 1970, Oodgeroo Noonuccal (under the name Kathleen Walker) was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire (Civil) for services to the community. She returned it in 1987 in protest against the forthcoming Australian Bicentenary celebrations (1988).

Details

Oodgeroo Noonuccal has written about her life and work in several publications, including a short account in Roberta Sykes's 1993 Murawina: Australian women of high achievement. In addition, extremely numerous publications by and about Oodgeroo Noonuccal are available in most libraries. Janine Little has compiled a bibliography of Oodgeroo's verse, prose and other works, reviews and critical works on her work, obituaries, and audiovisual and performance material featuring Oodgeroo. See 'Oodgeroo: A Selective Checklist' in Oodgeroo: a tribute (Shoemaker (ed), 1994).

Oodgeroo Noonuccal was born Kathleen Jean Mary Ruska on 3 November 1920, on North Stradbroke Island, country of the Noonuccal tribe. She attended Dulwich Primary; left school and became a domestic in Brisbane at the age of 13. As an Aboriginal person, she said, 'there wasn't the slightest possibility of getting "a better job" [even] if you stayed on at school' (Murawina, 1993).

Oodgeroo served in the Australian Women's Army Service (1942-1944). She published her first book of poetry, We Are Going, in 1964, going on to become a trailblazer in published Aboriginal writing in Australia. Oodgeroo was Queensland State Secretary of FCAATSI for ten years in the 1960s and from 1972 was managing director of the Noonuccal-Nughie Education Cultural Centre on Stradboke Island. Throughout her life, she was a renowned and admired campaigner for Aboriginal rights, promoter of Aboriginal cultural survival, educator and environmentalist. She stood as the Australian Labor Party member for the electorate of Greenslopes in the 1969 State election. Although voting rights had only been in place four years, Oodgeroo decided it was time to '[s]how our black faces in parliament.'

Oodgeroo's work has been recognised by numerous awards, including the Mary Gilmore Medal (1970), the Jessie Litchfield Award (1975), the International Acting Award and the Fellowship of Australian Writers' Award. She also held an honourary doctorate of letters (Macquarie University) and was awarded the degree of Doctor of the University from Griffith University. In 1970, Oodgeroo (under the name Kathleen Walker) was appointed as a Member of the Order of the British Empire (Civil) for services to the community. She returned it in 1987 in protest against the forthcoming Australian Bicentenary celebrations (1988). It was around this time that she reclaimed her traditional name, Oodgeroo of the Noonuccal Tribe.

Oodgeroo originally accepted the nomination as MBE after discussing the honour with members of the Brisbane Aboriginal community who felt that acceptance of the honour could 'open doors that were still closed to the Aborigines' ('Why I am now Oodgeroo Noonuccal', Age, 1987). However, Oodgeroo came to reconsider her acceptance. In her own words:

'Since 1970 I have lived in the hope that the parliaments of England and Australia would confer and attempt to rectify the terrible damage done to the Australian Aborigines. The forbidding us our tribal language, the murders, the poisoning, the scalping, the denial of land custodianship, especially our spiritual sacred sites, the destruction of our sacred places especially our Bora Grounds … Next year, 1988, to me marks 200 years of rape and carnage, all these terrible things that the Aboriginal tribes of Australia have suffered without any recognition even of admitted guilt from the parliaments of England … From the Aboriginal point of view, what is there to celebrate?… I have therefore decided that as a protest against what the Bicentenary 'Celebrations' stand for, I can no longer, with a clear conscience, accept the English honour of the MBE and will be returning it to her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II of England, through her representative, the Queensland State Governor, Sir Walter Campbell.'

Sources used to compile this entry: Draper, W J (ed.), Who's who in Australia 1980, 23 edn, The Herald and Weekly Times, Melbourne, 1908, 928 pp; Fryer Library with research by Yorick Smaal, Worth Fighting For!, University of Queensland, 2008, http://www.library.uq.edu.au/fryer/worth_fighting/; Horton, David (ed.), The Encyclopaedia of Aboriginal Australia : Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander history, society and culture, Aboriginal Studies Press for AIATSIS, Canberra, 1994, 2 v. (xxxiii, 1340 p.) pp; Lofthouse, Andrea (ed.), Who's who of Australian women, Methuen Australia, North Ryde (NSW), 1982, 504 pp; Roberta Sykes ; photography by Sandy Edwards, Murawina : Australian women of high achievement, Doubleday, Sydney, 1993, 185 pp; 'Kath Walker makes a stand in the sitting-down place', Good Weekend 28 February 1987; Sykes 1993.

Related entries

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Related Exhibitions

  • Women in Australia's Working History (2002 - )

    The life of Oodgeroo Noonuccal features as one of the case studies in the exhibition A Lot On Her Hands, the first stage of the Women in Australian's Working History project being undertaken at the Australian Workers Heritage Centre.

Archival resources

Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies (AIATSIS)

  • The Aussie image : the language of the image makers, 1980, KIT N531.48/A1; Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies (AIATSIS). Details

Fryer Library and Department of Special Collections, University of Queensland

  • Kath Walker interviewed [sound recording], 1970s - , PR8279.A43 Z463 197*; Fryer Library and Department of Special Collections, University of Queensland. Details
  • Papers of Noonuccal, Oodgeroo, 1920-1993, 1940s - c. 1985, UQFL84; Fryer Library and Department of Special Collections, University of Queensland. Details
  • Papers related to the publishing of The Spirit of Australia [Oodgeroo Nunuccal and Paul Cliff], 1988? - 1989, F3217; Fryer Library and Department of Special Collections, University of Queensland. Details
  • Papers relating to Oodgeroo Noonuccal, 1991 - 1994, UQFL286; Fryer Library and Department of Special Collections, University of Queensland. Details
  • Poems [Noonuccal, Oodgeroo, 1920-1993.], F3135; Fryer Library and Department of Special Collections, University of Queensland. Details

Mitchell and Dixson Libraries Manuscripts Collection, State Library of New South Wales

  • Aboriginal National Theatre Trust Limited - files, 1902-1991, 1902 - 1991, MLMSS 6254/4-24; Mitchell and Dixson Libraries Manuscripts Collection, State Library of New South Wales. Details

National Library of Australia Manuscript Collection

  • Papers of Frank Hardy, MS 4887; National Library of Australia Manuscript Collection. Details

National Library of Australia Newspaper Microcopy Reading Room

  • Biographical cuttings on Oodgeroo Noonuccal, poet, conservationist and Aboriginal community worker.; National Library of Australia Newspaper Microcopy Reading Room. Details

National Library of Australia Oral History Collection

  • Conversation with Kath Walker, 1976; National Library of Australia Oral History Collection. Details

Special Collections, Academy Library, UNSW@ADFA, Australian Defence Force Academy

  • Craig Powell manuscript collection, 1960 - 1970, MS 152; Special Collections, Academy Library, UNSW@ADFA, Australian Defence Force Academy. Details

The University of Melbourne, Baillieu Library Special Collections

  • Aboriginal charter of rights, 1966, SpC/MCL f ABOR; The University of Melbourne, Baillieu Library Special Collections. Details

Published resources

The Australian Women's Register Exhibitions

Books

  • De Vries, Susanna, The Complete Book of Great Australian Women: Thirty-six women who changed the course of Australia, HarperCollins, Sydney, 2003. Details
  • Ellen Stuart; Theresa Remedio; Awaye, Oodgeroo of the Noonuccal, custodian of the land Minjerribah [sound recording; broadcast on 3/1/1994], ABC Radio National, Sydney, 1994. Details
  • Frank Heimans; Geoff Burton; Jenny Baird Nussinov, Shadow sister [motion picture], Cinetel Productions, Sydney, 1977. Details
  • Kath Walker [Oodgeroo Noonuccal], We are going, Jacaranda Press, Brisbane, 1964, 43 pp. Details
  • Kath Walker [Oodgeroo Noonuccal], The dawn is at hand : poems, Jacaranda Press, Brisbane, 1966, 49 pp. Details
  • Kath Walker [Oodgeroo Noonuccal], Father Sky and Mother Earth, Jacaranda Wiley, Milton, Qld., 1981, 44 pp. Details
  • Kath Walker [Oodgeroo Nunuccal], Aboriginal betrayal poster : land rights (makarrata) [Poster], Queensland, 1981. Details
  • Oodgeroo Noonuccal, Towards a global village in the southern hemisphere, Institute for Cultural Policy, Division of Humanities, Griffith University, Nathan, Qld., 1989, 6 pp. Details
  • Oodgeroo Noonuccal, The spirit of Australia, Golden Press, Silverwater, N.S.W., 1989, 128 pp. Details
  • Oodgeroo Noonuccal, My people, 3 edn, Jacaranda, Milton, QLD, 1990, 120 pp. Details
  • Oodgeroo Noonuccal, Stradbroke dreamtime, Rev. ed. edn, Angus & Robertson, Pymble, N.S.W., 1993, 95 pp. Details
  • Oodgeroo Noonuccal, Legends of our land, Harcourt Brace Jovanovic, Marrickville, N.S.W., c1990. Details
  • Oodgeroo Noonuccal, Australia's unwritten history : more legends of our land, Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, Sydney, c1992, 56 pp. Details
  • Oodgeroo Noonuccal and Kabul Oodgeroo Noonuccal, The Rainbow serpent, Australian Government Publishing Service, Canberra, c1988. Details
  • Ulli Beier, Quandamooka, the art of Kath Walker, Robert Brown & Associates in association with the Aboriginal Artists Agency, Bathurst, N.S.W., 1985, 70 pp. Details

Book Sections

  • Barwick, Diane, 'Outsiders: Aboriginal women', in Rigg, J. (ed.), In her own right: women in Australia, Thomas Nelson, Melbourne, 1969, pp. 85-97. Details
  • Candida Baker, 'Kath Walker. -An Aboriginal writer: interview by Candida Baker-', in Yacker 2 : Australian writers talk about their work, Pan, Sydney, 1987, pp. 280-301. Details
  • Oodgeroo Noonuccal; Gerry Turcotte, ''Recording the cries of the people': an interview with Oodgeroo (Kath Walker). -Edited version of an interview conducted 28 Jan 1988-', in Aboriginal culture today, Dangaroo Press, Sydney, N.S.W., 1988, pp. 16-30. Details
  • Oodgeroo Nunuccal, 'Oodgeroo Noonuccal: writer, poet and educator', in Liz Thompson (ed.), Aboriginal voices : contemporary Aboriginal artists, writers and performers, Simon and Schuster, Brookvale, N.S.W, 1990. Details
  • Walker, Kath [Oodgeroo Noonuccal], 'Recollections', in Curthoys, A., Martin, A.W., Rowse, Tim (ed.), Australians from 1939, Fairfax, Syme & Weldon Associates, Broadway, N.S.W., 1987. Details

Journals

  • Adam Shoemaker (ed.), 'Oodgeroo, a tribute', Australian Literary Studies, vol. 16, no. 4, 1994, 190 pp. Details

Journal Articles

  • 'Kath turns to painting. -Poet Kath Walker-', Panorama, no. 35 (Apr/ May), 1985, pp. 45-46. Details
  • Beier,Ulli, 'Oodgeroo as friend and artist', Australian Literary Studies, vol. 16, no. 4, 1994, pp. (28)-34. Details
  • Cochrane, Kathleen J., 'Oodgeroo Noonuccal/Kath Walker 1920/ 1993. [Obituary]', Australian Aboriginal Studies (Canberra), vol. 2, 1993, pp. 129- 130. Details
  • Collins, John, 'Obituary: Oodgeroo of the tribe Noonuccal', Aboriginal History, vol. 18, no. 1-2, 1994, pp. 1-4. Details
  • Davidson, Jim, 'Interview: Kath Walker', Meanjin (Melbourne), vol. 36, Dec, 1977, pp. 428-441. Details
  • Hogan, Christine, 'Kath Walker: an extraordinary life. -An interview by Christine Hogan-', Portfolio, vol. 3, no. 9 (July), 1987, pp. 14-16. Details
  • Janine Little, 'Oodgeroo: A Selective Checklist', Australian Literary Studies, vol. 16, no. 4, 1994. Details
  • Lake, Marilyn, 'Citizenship as Non-discrimination: Acceptance or Assimilation? Political Logic and Emotional Investment in Campaigns for Indigenous Rights in Australia, 1940 TO 1970', Gender and History, vol. 13, no. 3, 2001, pp. 566-592. Details
  • Nicholas Jose, 'Oodgeroo in China', Australian Literary Studies, vol. 16, no. 4, 1994, pp. (42)-54. Details
  • Oodgeroo Noonuccal, 'The role of teachers in the Year of Indigenous People: Oodgeroo of the tribe Noonuccal (Kath Walker) interviewed by Rhonda Craven', Journal (Aboriginal Studies Association), vol. 3, 1994, pp. 55-57.. Details
  • Page, Geoff; Mudrooroo, 'The poetry of Oodgeroo. -With poem "Mudrooroo Remembers Oodgeroo"-', Island (Sandy Bay, Tas), vol. 57, Summer, 1993, pp. 3-5. Details
  • Walker, Kath [Oodgeroo Nunuccal], 'A look at the seventies', Identity, vol. 3, Nov-Dec, 1979, pp. 6-7,20-23. Details
  • Walker, Kath [Oodgeroo Nunuccal], 'Where are my first born?: Aboriginal education. - Transcript of the Charles Joseph La Trobe Memorial Lecture for 1983-', Polycom, no. 38 (Oct), 1984, pp. 6-11. Details
  • Walker, Kath [Oodgeroo Nunuccal], 'Looking at Australia from both sides of the fence. - Article based on an address given to an "Action for Aboriginal Rights" meeting in Melbourne-', Habitat Australia, vol. 13, no. 2, 1985, pp. 29-31. Details
  • Walker, Kath [Oodgeroo Nunuccal], 'Harmony in education. -Excerpts from an address to Action for Aboriginal Rights-', Disarming Times: journal of Pax Christie, vol. 10, no. 1 (Jan/ Mar), 1985, pp. 7,14-16. Details
  • Walker, Kath [Oodgeroo Nunuccal], 'I used my art for sanity's sake. -Comments on the author's drawings-', Aspect, no. 34 (Aug), 1986, pp. 52-57. Details

Newspaper Articles

  • Errey, Howard, 'Born to be a poet: 1982 James McAuley Memorial Lecture: Kath Walker. - Interview-', Togatus, 2 June, pp. 10-11. Details
  • Oodgeroo Nunuccal, 'Why I am now Oodgeroo Noonuccal', Age, 30 December, p. 11. Details
  • Roberts, Greg, 'Poet swaps name in protest', Sydney Morning Herald, 16 December. Details

Online Resources

See also

  • 'Papers of Frank Hardy (1917-1994)', National Library of Australia, http://www.nla.gov.au/ms/findaids/4887.html. Details
  • 'Honours for Aborigines', Identity, 01 Oct, p. 15. Details
  • Kath Walker: This is your life. Series 6 ; ep. 1 [videorecording], Lifetime Association, Sydney, 1980. Details
  • 'OODGEROO NOONUCCAL (Kath Walker)', in Australians, Behind the News, Australian Broadcasting Corporation, Australian Broadcasting Corporation, 2002, http://www.abc.net.au/btn/australians/noonucca.htm. Details
  • Adelaide, Debra, Australian women writers : a bibliographic guide, Pandora Press, London ; Sydney, 1988, 208 pp. Details
  • Barnes, Mick, 'Kath Walker and the bridge to the Dreamtime', Woman's Day and Woman's World, 13 Aug, pp. 58-59. Details
  • Beeson, Margaret J (compiled by), Some Aboriginal women pathfinders : their difficulties and their achievements, Woman's Christian Temperance Union of Australia, Adelaide, [1980], 80 pp. Details
  • Beston, John, 'The Aboriginal poets in English: Kath Walker, Jack Davis, and Kevin Gilbert', Meanjin (Melbourne), vol. 36, Dec, 1977, pp. 446-462. Details
  • Beston, John B., 'Aboriginal Writers in Australia', Identity, 01 Jul, pp. 9,14-15. Details
  • Broadbent, David, 'Utopia Australia [Series of six parts] Part 6: A republic in which we all share. -Interview with Kath Walker-', Age, 2 Feb, p. 11. Details
  • Bruce Bereford; Oodgeroo Nunuccal [actor and script consultant], Fringe Dwellers, Film adaption of Nene Gare novel., Fringe Dwellers Productions, Jolimont, Vic., 1986. Details
  • Conference on Aboriginal Affairs (8th : 1965 : Canberra, A.C.T.) (ed.), Reports and resolutions, Canberra, 1965, 51 pp. Details
  • Darling, Elaine, 'They spoke out pretty good: the leadership of women in the Brisbane Aboriginal rights movement, 1958/ 1962', Melbourne Historical Journal, vol. 24, 1996, pp. (87)-103. Details
  • Draper, W J (ed.), Who's who in Australia 1980, 23 edn, The Herald and Weekly Times, Melbourne, 1908, 928 pp. Details
  • Eva Rask Knudsen, 'From Kath Walker to Oodgeroo Noonuccal?: ambiguity and assurance in My People', Australian Literary Studies, vol. 16, no. 4, 1994, pp. (105)-118. Details
  • Fryer Library with research by Yorick Smaal, Worth Fighting For!, University of Queensland, 2008, http://www.library.uq.edu.au/fryer/worth_fighting/. Details
  • Hall, Robert A., The black Diggers : Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders in the Second World War, Aboriginal Studies Press, Canberra, 1997, 228 pp. Details
  • Horner, Jack, 'Details of pioneers in Aboriginal movement.', Identity, 01 Jan, pp. 10-11. Details
  • Horton, David (ed.), The Encyclopaedia of Aboriginal Australia : Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander history, society and culture, Aboriginal Studies Press for AIATSIS, Canberra, 1994, 2 v. (xxxiii, 1340 p.) pp. Details
  • Howard, Ann, You'll be sorry!, Tarka, Sydney, 1990, 193 pp. Details
  • Joanna Penglase; Don Featherstone, Dream Time Machine Time [videorecording], Don Featherstone Productions, Bondi Junction, N. S. W., 1987. Details
  • K. Diehm, 'Guide to the Papers of Craig Powell', Australian Defence Force Academy, 2000, http://www.lib.adfa.edu.au:85/web/speccoll/finding_aids/powell.html. Details
  • Langto, Marcia; Barry, Kristen, 'Aboriginal women and economic ingenuity [Changing white perceptions of Aboriginal culture and the role of women in that culture]', in Caine, Barbara (ed.), Australian Feminism: A Companion, Oxford University Press, Melbourne, 1998. Details
  • Lauer, Margaret Read, 'Kath Walker at Moongalba: making the new dreamtime', World Literature Written in English, vol. 17, Apr, 1978, pp. 83-95. Details
  • Lofthouse, Andrea (ed.), Who's who of Australian women, Methuen Australia, North Ryde (NSW), 1982, 504 pp. Details
  • McLaren, John, Australian literature : an historical introduction, Longman Cheshire, Melbourne, 1989, 272 pp. Details
  • Mitchell, Susan, The matriarchs: twelve Australian women talk about their lives to Susan Mitchell., Penguin Books, Ringwood, Vic., 1987. Details
  • Moreton-Robinson, Aileen, Talkin' up to the white woman : Aboriginal women and feminism, University of Queensland Press, St Lucia, 2000, xxv, 234 pp. Details
  • Neller, Shelley, 'Kath Walker, activist, artist finds a new medium for her cause. - playing the old woman in the film The Fringe Dwellers', Bulletin (Sydney), 3 Dec, pp. 88-90. Details
  • Richards, Michaela, 'Aboriginal women', in The Australian people, Angus & Robertson, North Ryde, N.S.W., 1988, pp. 255-259. Details
  • Roberta Sykes ; photography by Sandy Edwards, Murawina : Australian women of high achievement, Doubleday, Sydney, 1993, 185 pp. Details
  • Roberts, G., 'Kath Walker makes a stand in the sitting-down place [Oodgeroo Nunucccal]', Sydney Morning Herald Good Weekend, 28 February. Details
  • Roberts, Greg, 'It's 'bloody minded revenge', says Kath Walker. - Queensland State Lands Administration refuses to alter tenure of land on Moongalba Reserve-', Sydney Morning Herald, 10 May, p. 16. Details
  • Roberts, Greg, 'The struggle goes on. -In death as in life, controversy continues to surround Oodgeroo Noonuccal-', Bulletin (Sydney), 5 Oct, pp. 32-35. Details
  • Shiels, Rosa; Leimbach, Claire, 'Stradbroke dreamtime and beyond: conversations with Kath Walker at Moongalba', Simply Living, no. 17, 1981, pp. 21-24,62-63. Details
  • Stokes, Charles, 'Neville Bonner takes on the role of elder', Bulletin (Sydney), 19 Oct, p. 30,32. Details
  • Tweedie, Penny, 'A showpiece for what?: the Commonwealth Games', Identity, vol. 4, June, 1982, pp. 15-21. Details

Digital resources

Title
Photograph of Oodgeroo in Brisbane's King George Square, March 1975
Type
Image
Date
1975
Publisher
University of Queensland

Details

Clare Land

Created: 26 August 2002, Last modified: 9 June 2010

Comments

Im very inspired by this lovely old lady and i look up to her.

Rushby Mafeds - 2 June 2010, 10:35 AM EST

What is it in particular that inspires you?

AWAP Administrator - 4 June 2010, 11:32 AM EST

I am so inspired by how she fought for Aborignal rights and equality. She is an inspiration to us all.

reporter - 26 June 2010, 1:03 PM EST

i have to do a story about her and does anyone know what she was sick with in 1944

zayne - 31 May 2011, 2:45 PM EST

Zayne, Perhaps someone who reads you comment can help.

AWAP Administrator - 9 June 2011, 2:31 PM EST

Great article. Fantastically wriiten. loved reading it.

KathFan123 - 3 October 2011, 1:17 PM EST

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