Oodgeroo Noonuccal: Aboriginal Australian poet, artist, teacher and campaigner for Indigenous rights

She was best known for her poetry, and was the first Aboriginal Australian to publish a book of verse. Oodgeroo Noonuccal is a traditional Quandamooka name that she adopted for herself in 1988 (Oodgeroo refers to the paperbark tree, and Noonuccal is the name of her tribe).

Oodgeroo Noonuccal
Photo of Oodgeroo Noonuccal (centre)
Born	Kathleen Jean Mary Ruska 3 November 1920 Stradbroke Island, Queensland, Australia
Died	16 September 1993(1993-09-16) (aged 72) Altona Meadows, Victoria, Australia
Nationality	Australian
Other names	Kath Walker; Kathleen Ruska
Education	book keeping, typing, & shorthand
Occupation(s)	domestic servant, corporal, writer, educator, poet
Known for	poetry, acting, writing, Aboriginal rights activism
Political party	Communist Party of Australia
Spouse	Bruce Walker
Children	Dennis Walker, Vivian Walker
Parent(s)	Ted and Lucy Ruska

Oodgeroo campaigned strongly for Aboriginal rights. She was one of the main people behind the campaign for the changes to the Australian constitution in 1967. These changes gave Aboriginal people full citizenship. She also campaigned for Prime Minister Robert Menzies and his successor Harold Holt.

She wrote many books, beginning with We Are Going (1964), the first book to be published by an Aboriginal woman. This first book of poetry was very successful, and Oodgeroo became one of Australia's best-selling poets. Her writing contained strong political messages. Oodgeroo described her own style as "sloganistic". She wanted to show how proud she was of being an Aboriginal. She wanted her writing to make people support equality and Aboriginal rights. Oodgeroo won several literary awards, including the Mary Gilmore Medal (1970), the Jessie Litchfield Award (1975), and the Fellowship of Australian Writers' Award.

In 1972 she opened an educational centre in her hometown of Moongalba, on North Stradbroke Island. The centre taught children about nature and Aboriginal culture.

Oodgeroo was made a member of the Order of the British Empire in 1970. She returned it in 1987 to protest the Australian bicentenary celebrations and to make a political statement about social inequality in Australia.

• Cochrane, Kathie; Wright, Judith (1994), Oodgeroo, St Lucia, Queensland: University of Queensland Press, ISBN 0-7022-2621-1
• Mitchell, Susan (1987), The matriarchs : twelve Australian women talk about their lives to Susan Mitchell, Ringwood, Victoria: Penguin Australia, ISBN 0-14-008659-5

• "Oodgeroo Noonuccal Kath Walker 1920–1993" Archived 2014-09-10 at Pandora Archive, online exhibition by the University of Queensland
• Biographical entry at the National Foundation for Australian Women
• Listen to a recording of Oodgeroo Noonuccal reading her poem 'We Are Going' on Australian Screen Online