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y separately published work icon My People : A Kath Walker Collection selected work   poetry   essay  
Issue Details: First known date: 1970... 1970 My People : A Kath Walker Collection
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AbstractHistoryArchive Description

'Oodgeroo's writing is often a provocative and passionate plea for justice. My People is a collection of poetry and prose and a reminder of Oodgeroo's contribution to indigenous culture and the journey to reconciliation.' (Source: Reading Australia website)

Exhibitions

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Notes

  • Includes all poems from Oodgeroo's previous two collections, We Are Going and The Dawn Is at Hand, plus a number of new pieces in the second and third editions.

Contents

* Contents derived from the Milton, Milton - Toowong area, Brisbane - North West, Brisbane, Queensland,:Jacaranda Press , 1970 version. Please note that other versions/publications may contain different contents. See the Publication Details.
Let Us Not Be Bitteri"Away with bitterness, my own dark people", Oodgeroo Noonuccal , single work poetry (p. 2)
An Appeali"Statesmen, who make the nation's laws,", Oodgeroo Noonuccal , single work poetry (p. 3)
The Curlew Criedi"Three nights they heard the curlew cry.", Oodgeroo Noonuccal , single work poetry (p. 4)
Sounds Assail Mei"Something obscene", Oodgeroo Noonuccal , single work poetry (p. 5)
Tree Gravei"When our lost one left us", Oodgeroo Noonuccal , single work poetry (p. 6)
Dawn Wail for the Deadi"Dim light of daybreak now", Oodgeroo Noonuccal , single work poetry (p. 7)
Dark Unmarried Mothersi"All about the country,", Oodgeroo Noonuccal , single work poetry (p. 8)
Not My Stylei"Not my style?", Oodgeroo Noonuccal , single work poetry (p. 10-11)
Last of His Tribei"Change is the law. The new must oust the old.", Oodgeroo Noonuccal , single work poetry (p. 12)
The Child Wifei"They gave me to an old man,", Oodgeroo Noonuccal , single work poetry (p. 13)
Deklica Wanda "Medtem ko je mlela nardu z zenami," The Young Girl Wandai"Crooning her own girl thoughts and dreams", Oodgeroo Noonuccal , Unknown (translator) single work poetry (p. 14)
Whynot Streeti"Officiously they hawked about", Oodgeroo Noonuccal , single work poetry (p. 16)
White Australiai"Since God's good world began,", Oodgeroo Noonuccal , single work poetry (p. 17)
Acacia Ridgei"White men, turn quickly the earth of Acacia Ridge,", Oodgeroo Noonuccal , single work poetry (p. 18)
The Unhappy Race : The Myall Speaksi"White fellow, you are the unhappy race.", Oodgeroo Noonuccal , single work poetry (p. 19)
Corroboreei"Hot day dies, cook time comes.", Oodgeroo Noonuccal , single work poetry (p. 20)
Stone Agei"White man, only time is between us.", Oodgeroo Noonuccal , single work poetry (p. 21)
Assimilation - No!i"Pour your pitcher of wine into the wide river", Oodgeroo Noonuccal , single work poetry (p. 22)
Integration - Yes!i"Gratefully we learn from you,", Oodgeroo Noonuccal , single work poetry (p. 23)
Ballad of the Totemsi"My father was Noonuccal man and kept old tribal way,", Oodgeroo Noonuccal , single work poetry humour (p. 24-25)

Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of

    • Milton, Milton - Toowong area, Brisbane - North West, Brisbane, Queensland,: Jacaranda Press , 1970 .
      image of person or book cover 599060518474839545.jpg
      This image has been sourced from online.
      Extent: 96p.
      Description: illus.
      Reprinted: 1972 , 1976 , 1978
      Note/s:
      • Dedication: Dedicated to the Brisbane Aboriginal and Island Council, whose policy is self-determination
      ISBN: 701603569
    • Brisbane, Queensland,: Jacaranda Press , 1981 .
      Extent: 96p.
      Edition info: 2nd ed.
      Description: illus.
      Reprinted: 1985 , 1988 , 1986 , 1989
      Note/s:
      • This revised second edition contains all of the items of the first edition except for the essay (paper) 'Integration and Queensland Society'. It includes a biography (p. 96) and a new contribution listed below:
      • Dedication: Dedicated to the many people, both black and white, who are fighting for a Makarrata (Aboriginal land treaty)
      • Previously ed. : Milton, Qld: Jacaranda 1970.
      ISBN: 0701614498
    • Milton, Milton - Toowong area, Brisbane - North West, Brisbane, Queensland,: John Wiley and Sons , 2007 .
      image of person or book cover 5492932293099260435.png
      This image has been sourced from online.
      Extent: viii, 112p.
      Edition info: 4th ed.
      Note/s:
      • Previous edition (3rd) published by Jacaranda Press, 1990, and this was the first edition to bear the name Oodgeroo. The first two editions were published under the name Kath Walker.
      • Dedication: Dedicated to my son Kabul of the tribe Noonuccal, Custodian of the land Minjerribah (Vivian Charles Walker)
      ISBN: 9780731407408 (pbk.), 0731407407 (pbk.)
    • Milton, Milton - Toowong area, Brisbane - North West, Brisbane, Queensland,: John Wiley and Sons , 2020 .
      image of person or book cover 2295152651907488521.jpg
      Cover image courtesy of publisher.
      Extent: 131p.p.
      Edition info: 5th edition
      Note/s:
      • Published October 2020.
      • Dedication: Dedicated to my son Kabul of the tribe Noonuccal, Custodian of the land Minjerribah (Vivian Charles Walker)
      ISBN: 9780730391081 (pbk), 9780730391098 (ebk)

Other Formats

  • Also sound recording and braille.

Works about this Work

'Let No One Say the Past Is Dead' : History Wars and the Poetry of Oodgeroo Noonuccal and Sonia Sanchez Ameer Chasib Furaih , 2018 single work criticism
— Appears in: Queensland Review , June vol. 25 no. 1 2018; (p. 163-176)

'The histories of Australian Aboriginal and African American peoples have been disregarded for more than two centuries. In the 1960s, Aboriginal and African American civil rights activists addressed this neglect. Each endeavoured to write a critical version of history that included their people(s). This article highlights the role of Aboriginal Australian poet Oodgeroo Noonuccal (formerly Kath Walker) (1920–93) and African American poet Sonia Sanchez (born 1934) in reviving their peoples’ history. Using Deleuze and Guattari's concept of ‘minor literature’, the essay shows how these poets deterritorialise the English language and English poetry and exploit their own poetries as counter-histories to record milestone events in the history of their peoples. It will also highlight the importance of these accounts in this ‘history war’. It examines selected poems from Oodgeroo's My People: A Kath Walker Collection and Sanchez's Home Coming and We A BaddDDD People to demonstrate that similarities in their poetic themes are the result of a common awareness of a global movement of black resistance. This shared awareness is significant despite the fact that the poets have different ethnicities and little direct literary impact upon each other.'

Source: Abstract.

The Absent-Presence of the Ghosts in Aboriginal Poetry Devaleena Das , 2012 single work criticism
— Appears in: IJAS , no. 5 2012; (p. 70-83)
History, Nation, Identity : Interracial Issues in Kath Walker's Poetry Kanwar Dinesh Singh , 2012 single work criticism
— Appears in: IJAS , no. 5 2012; (p. 59-69)
'Back to Nature' : Oodgeroo's Return to Stradbroke William Hatherell , 2012 single work column
— Appears in: Fryer Folios , July vol. 7 no. 1 2012; (p. 3-5)
Beyond Beaches, Bushes and Backwoods : Issues of National Identity and Representation in Modern Australian Poetry Kanwar Dinesh Singh , 2010 single work criticism
— Appears in: Explorations In Australian Poetry 2010; (p. 41-57)
In this essay, Singh discusses 'how Australian poets show a detour from the elaborate descriptions of the Australian landscape to its representation as a new nation with plurality of peoples and cultures - a multicultural nation..' (vi.)
Review ... Poetry Ann-Marie Bennett , 1973 single work review
— Appears in: In Print : The Magazine of the Townsville Writers' Group , Summer vol. 1 no. 2 1973; (p. 32)

— Review of My People : A Kath Walker Collection Kath Walker , 1970 selected work poetry essay
Untitled 1971 single work review
— Appears in: The Courier-Mail , 20 February 1971; (p. 9)

— Review of My People : A Kath Walker Collection Kath Walker , 1970 selected work poetry essay
Crying Mercy for 50,000 R. Hall , 1971 single work review
— Appears in: The Australian , 24 April 1971; (p. 20)

— Review of The First-Born and Other Poems Jack Davis , 1970 selected work poetry ; My People : A Kath Walker Collection Kath Walker , 1970 selected work poetry essay
Old Verse S. E. Lee , 1971 single work review
— Appears in: Southerly , vol. 31 no. 3 1971; (p. 227-240)

— Review of The Book of Bligh J. M. Couper , 1969 selected work poetry ; Rodney Hall Reads 'Romulus and Remus' Rodney Hall , 1970 selected work poetry ; Rosemary Dobson Reads from Her Own Work Rosemary Dobson , 1970 selected work poetry ; Altjeringa and Other Aboriginal Poems Roland Robinson , 1970 selected work poetry ; Findings and Keepings : Selected Poems, 1939-1969 Geoffrey Dutton , 1970 selected work poetry ; My People : A Kath Walker Collection Kath Walker , 1970 selected work poetry essay ; The Branch of Dodona and Other Poems: 1969-1970 David Campbell , 1970 selected work poetry ; Dunciad Minor A. D. Hope , 1970 sequence poetry ; James McAuley Reads from His Own Work James McAuley , 1970 selected work poetry ; The First-Born and Other Poems Jack Davis , 1970 selected work poetry ; Op 8 : Poems 1961-69 J. S. Manifold , 1971 selected work poetry
Poetry of Anger Roland Robinson , 1971 single work review
— Appears in: Makar , May vol. 7 no. 1 1971; (p. 7-9)

— Review of My People : A Kath Walker Collection Kath Walker , 1970 selected work poetry essay
'Why, White Man, Why?' : White Australia as the Addressee of Apostrophe in Contemporary Aboriginal Writing Russell West-Pavlov , 2002 single work criticism
— Appears in: Zeitschrift fur Anglistik und Amerikanistik , vol. 50 no. 2 2002; (p. 166-178)

— Appears in: Imaginary Antipodes : Essays on Contemporary Australian Literature and Culture 2011; (p. 23-36)
'Contemporary Australian indigenous literature is characterised by a remarkably prevalent use of apostrophic address directed at the white reader. This mode of direct address in black literary texts draws attention to the political dynamics moulding reader-writer relations in contemporary Australia. The article examines numerous examples of this direct mode of address in prose, poetry and drama, and argues that this direct mode of address is a central element in the message of black writers. The use of apostrophe implies the active 'positioning' of the white reader on the part of the indigenous speaker; only by virtue of this positioning is the reading process made possible. The direct mode of address in these texts thus demands that the reader take up a stance characterised by a readiness to listen attentively to black literary voices.' (Author's abstract)
Oodgeroo's 'Polluting Memories' : Technologies of the Intersubjective Contact Zone Katherine Russo , 2005 single work criticism
— Appears in: New Literatures Review , April no. 43 2005; (p. 99-113)
Russo utilises Ghassan Hage's phrase 'polluting memory' in her reading of the poetry of Oodgeroo Noonuccal to draw attention to the intersubjective and reciprocal act of wrting/reading, and to suggest that Oodgeroo's writing contributes to 'a new logic of co-habitation' (109) between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians.
Thoughts on Aboriginal Literature Jim Kable , 1985 single work criticism
— Appears in: The Aboriginal Child at School , February/March vol. 13 no. 1 1985; (p. 31-52)
Beyond Beaches, Bushes and Backwoods : Issues of National Identity and Representation in Modern Australian Poetry Kanwar Dinesh Singh , 2010 single work criticism
— Appears in: Explorations In Australian Poetry 2010; (p. 41-57)
In this essay, Singh discusses 'how Australian poets show a detour from the elaborate descriptions of the Australian landscape to its representation as a new nation with plurality of peoples and cultures - a multicultural nation..' (vi.)
'Back to Nature' : Oodgeroo's Return to Stradbroke William Hatherell , 2012 single work column
— Appears in: Fryer Folios , July vol. 7 no. 1 2012; (p. 3-5)
Last amended 23 Oct 2023 13:54:25
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