Biography of Oodgeroo Noonuccal

Oodgeroo of the Noonuccal people of Minjerribah (also known as North Stradbroke Island in Australia) was a celebrated poet, writer, artist, environmentalist, educator, and indigenous rights activist. The poet's reclaimed traditional name, "Oodgeroo," means 'paperbark tree,' referring to her role as an artist and writer. Her work focuses on the history of settler colonialism in Australia, the ongoing effects of colonization, her heritage and experience as an indigenous person, and the relationship between humans and the earth. She was the first Aboriginal Australian to publish a book of verse with her 1964 collection We Are Going. For Noonuccal, "The past is all about us and within": a living force that exists in the present ("The Past" Line 2). As a political rights activist, she campaigned for the 1967 referendum on the Australian Constitution in order to recognize Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island peoples as part of the Australian population. In 1972 Noonuccal returned to Minjerribah and established the Noonuccal-Nughie Education and Cultural Centre, which she called Moongalba ("sitting-down place"). There, she developed an education program that taught children about Aboriginal culture and connection with nature.

In 1987, Noonuccal returned her 1970 Member of the British Empire award in protest of the treatment of Aboriginal people. It was around this time that she changed her name from Kath (Kathleen) Walker to Oodgeroo Noonuccal. During her lifetime, she won several literary awards such as the Mary Gilmore Medal in 1970, the Jessie Litchfield Award in 1975, and the Fellowship of Australian Writer's Award. She has also received honorary doctorates from various universities for her contributions to literature and education. Noonuccal's politics and poetics were intertwined, always with the commitment to express the voices of her people and to improve their lives.