My People: A Kath Walker Collection

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]

In 1972 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 1977, 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.[14] In a 1987 interview, she described her education program at Moongalba, saying that over “the last seventeen years I’ve had 26,500 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.”[15] 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.[16]

On 13 June 1970, 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.[17]

In 1974 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)”.[18][19][20]

In 1983 Noonuccal ran in the Queensland state election for the Australian Democrats political party in the Electoral district of Redlands. Her campaign focused around policies promoting the environment and Aboriginal rights.[21] Receiving 6.4% of the primary vote, she was not elected.

In 1986 she played the part of Eva in Bruce Beresford’s film, The Fringe Dwellers.[22][23]

In December 1987, she announced she would return her MBE in protest over the Australian Government’s intention to celebrate the Australian Bicentenary which she described as “200 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.[24][25]

Noonuccal was born Kathleen Jean Mary Ruska on 3 November 1920 on North Stradbroke Island.[1] She attended Dunwich State School and then became a domestic servant.[26][5]

On 8 May 1943 she married childhood friend and Brisbane waterside worker Bruce Walker at the Methodist Church, West End, Brisbane.[4][5][27] The couple had one son Denis, but the couple later separated. She worked for Raphael and Phyllis Cilento and had a second son Vivian with the Cilentos’ son Ralph junior. Denis later adopted the Indigenous name Bejam Kunmunara Jarlow Nunukel Kabool, and Vivian adopted the Indigenous name Kabul Noonuccal, Kabul meaning carpet snake.[4][26]

She died from cancer on 16 September 1993 at the Repatriation General Hospital at Greenslopes, Brisbane aged 72 years and was buried at Moongalba on North Stradbroke Island.[1][4][26][28]

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[29]