Oodgeroo of the Tribe Noonuccal
Oodgeroo of the Tribe Noonuccal, born Kathleen Jean Mary Ruska on November 3, 1920, is renowned as one of Australia’s most significant Indigenous poets and social activists. Growing up on North Stradbroke Island, she was deeply connected to her Aboriginal ancestry, which influenced her lifelong advocacy for Indigenous rights. After leaving school at a young age, Oodgeroo enlisted in the Australian Women's Army Service during World War II, where she honed her leadership skills. In the mid-20th century, she became active in the Communist Party, the only political organization at that time that welcomed non-white members, and fought for constitutional amendments to grant civil rights to Aboriginal Australians.
Her poetry emerged in the 1960s, notably with her groundbreaking collection "We Are Going," which marked the first published poetry by an Indigenous Australian. Oodgeroo's work poignantly addressed themes of dispossession and cultural identity, gaining national acclaim and playing a pivotal role in the 1967 referendum for Indigenous rights. In her later years, she established Moongalba, a cultural center on Stradbroke Island dedicated to Aboriginal education and history. In 1987, she adopted her tribal name, Oodgeroo, and renounced her MBE in protest against the Australian bicentenary celebrations. Her legacy continues to resonate, as she is celebrated for her contributions to literature and Indigenous advocacy until her passing on September 16, 1993.
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Subject Terms
Oodgeroo of the Tribe Noonuccal
Poet
- Born: November 3, 1920
- Place of Birth: North Stradbroke Island in Moreton Bay, near Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
- Died: September 16, 1993
Biography
Kathleen Jean Mary Ruska was born November 3, 1920, on North Stradbroke Island in Moreton Bay near Brisbane, Australia. She grew up aware of her Aboriginal ancestry—Stradbroke Island was long the hunting and fishing grounds of her tribal clan, the Noonuccal. Her father worked for Aborigine labor rights and instilled in his daughter not only pride in her identity but also a passion for activism. Unhappy in school, Kath Ruska left at thirteen when, traditionally, Aborigine girls assumed menial positions as domestic servants. Kath did just that.
The advent of World War II, however, gave her the opportunity to enlist in the Australian Women’s Army Service where she received invaluable training in secretarial skills. When she left the service in 1943 (she had experienced hearing loss from an infection), she was a corporal and, more importantly, had tested her own leadership skills. In the mid-1940s, Kath Walker (she had married in 1942 but would divorce in 1952) became involved with the Communist Party as it was the only Australian political party that accepted non-white membership. For much of the 1950s, however, Walker became involved with the efforts to amend the national constitution to secure civil rights for Aborigines, her charisma and gift for passionate rhetoric making her a national figure.
By 1962, Walker, who had written poetry in her childhood, returned to that medium, citing the lack of any Aboriginal literature. No one was quite ready for the impact of Walker’s 1964 collection We Are Going, the first book of poetry published by an Indigenous Australian. Not surprisingly criticized by the white press as undecorated propaganda, the poetry voiced with strident cadences the anxieties and aspirations of the Australian Indigenous. The book was an immediate national best seller, making its author a much-requested speaker. Indeed, her uncompromising, tireless campaigning was critical in securing the 1967 referendum that granted civil rights to native Australians.
Her two following collections voiced similar themes: the plight of the dispossessed, the difficult choice of assimilation, and the irrevocable loss of tribal identities. She accepted on behalf of all indigenous Australians the honor of Member of the Order of the British Empire in 1970.
Retiring from active politics in the early 1970s, she devoted the rest of her life to establishing a center for Aboriginal culture on tribal lands on Stradbroke Island. Called Moongalba (or the “sitting down place”), the center was dedicated to teaching children diversity and, in turn, securing a place for Aboriginal history and culture in Australian education. In 1987, during the lavish year-long Australian bicentenary celebration, Walker, citing the insult it paid to native peoples, not only resigned her MBE but adopted her tribal name: Oodgeroo (meaning “paperbark”).
When she died, on September 16, 1993, she was an internationally recognized poet and social activist. Her verse, with uncomplicated directness and deep passion, spoke of cultural pride and social identity for her people and by extension for the preservation and celebration of all minority cultures.
Queensland University of Technology renamed its Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Support Unit the Oodgeroo Unit in 2006. She was the subject of a 2009 play by Sam Watson. Oodgeroo—Bloodline to Country tells her story while relating her experience in 1974 when she was on an aircraft hijacked by Palestinian terrorists in Tunisia.
Abbey, Sue. "Oodgeroo Noonuccal (1920-1993)." Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, ia.anu.edu.au/biography/noonuccal-oodgeroo-18057. Accessed 3 Oct. 2024.
"Oodgeroo Noonuccal Story." Queensland University of Technology, 4 Aug. 2020, www.qut.edu.au/about/oodgeroo/oodgeroo-noonuccal. Accessed 3 Oct. 2024.
Whittaker, Jason. "Oodgeroo—Bloodline to Country/La Boite Theatre Company." Australian Stage, 6 July 2009, australianstage.com.au/200907062684/reviews/brisbane/oodgeroo-bloodline-to-country-%7C-la-boite-theatre-company.html. Accessed 3 Oct. 2024.
Zanoletti, Margherita. "The Translation Character of Stradbroke Dreamtime by Oodgeroo Noonuccal." Translation Matters, vol. 6, no. 1, 2024, ojs.letras.up.pt/index.php/tm/article/view/13954. Accessed 3 Oct. 2024.