Kath walker biography sample

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‘Performance for the People.’ In Oodgeroo: A Tribute, edited by Adam Shoemaker.

When the Second World War broke out in 1939 two of Walker’s brothers, Eric and Eddie, enlisted for service in the army. She settled in Brisbane with her husband, and their first son, Denis, was born two years later.

Both Eric and Eddie survived the war and returned home to Australia. This is a place that honors famous Australian writers.

In 2006, the Queensland University of Technology (QUT) renamed their Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Support Unit the Oodgeroo Unit.

They had one son, Denis. She was evacuated again to 2 Australian Women's Hospital on 29 October 1943 and was taken back on strength at DOA on 30 November 1943. She was the Queensland secretary for the Federal Council for the Advancement of Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders (FCAATSI). Kath remained in the AWAS until early January 1944.

She left home for Brisbane to work as a domestic for board and lodging, and less pay than white domestics received, but armed with the ability to read and a talent for writing.

In World War II, after her brothers Edward and Eric were captured by the Japanese at the fall of Singapore in February 1942, Ruska enlisted in the Australian Women’s Army Service on 28 July.

She also worked with universities to create better teaching programs for Australian schools.

Important Moments

On 13 June 1970, Oodgeroo received an award called Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE). Eddie, who had been a promising sportsman, had lost his right leg during his imprisonment. In 1963, she even taught Prime Minister Menzies a lesson.

The family, like many enduring the Depression, could not afford the nurses’ training her older sister had received. After initial training as a signaller, she undertook administrative duties and was promoted to lance corporal in April 1943. London’s 1969 World Council of Churches consultation on racism was the first of many international invitations, which over the years would take her to Fiji, Malaysia, Nigeria, the Soviet Union, and the United States of America. My People (1970), a collection combining her two previous books, would be her last poetry for a decade and a half.

Aged fifty, in 1971, suffering ill health and facing challenges for power from younger Aboriginal leaders, Walker returned to Minjerribah.

She said her style was "sloganistic, civil-writerish, plain and simple." She wanted her writing to make people proud of their Aboriginal heritage. Oodgeroo means "paperbark tree" and Noonuccal is the name of her people.

Personal Life and Family

Oodgeroo Noonuccal was born Kathleen Jean Mary Ruska on 3 November 1920. She had gingivitis and a serious ear infection which led to a partial hearing loss.

Her poetry and stories continue to inspire. The Matriarchs: Twelve Australian Women Talk About Their Lives to Susan Mitchell.