My People

2026 Hall of Fame Honouree of The Luminas national honours program (presented by Diversity Arts Australia and Media Diversity Australia)

Oodgeroo’s writing has a unique place in Australian literature. When her poetry was first published in the 1960s, Kath Walker, as she was known then, provided a brave new voice for marginalised Aboriginal Australians. For the first time, an Aboriginal Australian was analysing and judging white Australians as well as her own people. She often made provocative and passionate pleas for justice:

We want hope, not racialism,
Brotherhood, not ostracism,
Black advance, not white ascendance:
Make us equals, not dependants.

This collection of poetry and prose is a reminder of Oodgeroo’s contribution to Indigenous culture and the journey toward reconciliation. All Australians should be proud of this poet who dedicated her life to her people and her land.

Author, poet and illustrator Oodgeroo, of the tribe Noonuccal, was born in 1920 on North Stradbroke Island in Queensland. Formerly known as Kath Walker, she lived and worked for most of her life, working tirelessly on behalf of Aboriginal people. She died in 1993.