Jack Davis: A Life-Story

WEST AUSTRALIANA

Biography of playwright and poet Jack Davis.  ix, 211 p. ; 22 cm. #0721/140923/260224

Davis, Jack, 1917-2000. | Authors, Australian — 20th century — Biography. | Literature and stories – Authors – Drama. | Literature and stories – Authors – Poetry. | History – Biographies – Indigenous. | Moore River (SW WA SH50-14) | Yarloop (SW WA SI50-02) | Brookton (SW WA SI50-02, SI50-03

Jack Leonard Davis AM, BEM (11 March 1917 – 17 March 2000) was an Australian 20th-century Aboriginal playwright, poet and Aboriginal Australian activist.^[1] Academic Adam Shoemaker, who has covered much of Jack Davis‘ work and Aboriginal literature, has claimed he was one of “Australia’s most influential Aboriginal authors”.^[2] He was born in Perth, Western Australia, where he spent most of his life and later died.^[1] He identified with the Western Australian Noongar people, and he included some of this language into his plays.^[1][3] His work incorporates themes of Aboriginality and identity.^[4][5]

While known for his literary work, Davis did not focus on writing until his fifties.^[6] His writing centred around the Aboriginal experience in relation to the settlement of white Australians.^[4] His collection of poems The First Born was his first work to be published and also made him the second Aboriginal to have published poetry by 1970, after Kath Walker, also known by her Aboriginal name Oodgeroo Noonuccal.^[4][7] He later focused his writing on plays, starting with Kullark, which was first performed in 1979.^[4] His plays were recognised internationally and were performed in Canada and England.^[5] His work and contribution was later recognised by the Order of the British Empire (BEM) in 1976, the Order of Australia Award in 1985 and two honorary doctorates from the University of Western Australia and Murdoch University.^[8][3] His work today is now included in many Australian school syllabuses for children to read and discuss.^[9]

The first five years of Davis’ life were spent on a farm in Waroona, Western Australia with his ten siblings.^[1] His family then moved to Yarloop in 1923 after a bushfire destroyed their farm. Davis and his family were members of the Bibbulmun and Nyoongar people and spoke the Nyoongar language.^[1]