Thinkers Timeline

Oodgeroo Noonuccal was an Aboriginal Australian poet, activist, teacher, and artist. She was the first Aboriginal Australian to publish a book of poetry. Her work helped shape modern Aboriginal political and cultural identity. She was born in 1920 on Stradbroke Island, off the coast of Queensland in eastern Australia. The island is called Minjerribah in her language. Her birth name was Kathleen Jean Mary Ruska. In 1988, the year of Australia's bicentennial, she changed her name to Oodgeroo Noonuccal. 'Oodgeroo' is the Noonuccal word for 'paperbark', a tree common on her island. 'Noonuccal' is the name of her people. The name change was a public political act. She wanted a name that came from her own land, not from English colonisers. She grew up in poverty under harsh laws that controlled Aboriginal lives. Aboriginal Australians could not vote, marry without permission, or move freely. Her family lived on government rations. She left school at 13 to work as a domestic servant in white households. During World War II she joined the Australian Women's Army Service, one of the first Aboriginal women to do so. In 1964 she published her first poetry book, We Are Going. It sold out quickly. She became a major activist for Aboriginal rights. She helped lead the campaign for the 1967 referendum that finally allowed Aboriginal Australians to be counted as citizens. She wrote books for children, painted, and ran a cultural centre on her island. She died in 1993, aged 72. Her son Vivian taught and worked alongside her.