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Notes
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Dedication:
This book is dedicated to the ultimate woman, Cheryl Buchanan (Branfield), and to a staunch brother, Gary Foley and to Kuwingi (Don Brady) the old man who struggled and gave out everything and inspired me to great heights and to my children Narjic, Nefertiti, Nyarula, Kargun (Moojidi).
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Foreword by Gary Foley September 1982
Contents
- Tired of Writingi"A long time since I picked up a pen", single work poetry (p. 1)
- Shields Strong, Nulla Nullas Alivei"Morning dawning stems that core", single work poetry (p. 2)
- Surrendered in Spiritnessi"Looking back at Mook's past brings you to knowing", single work poetry (p. 3-4)
- Old as Secondsi"Great plains shifted around", single work poetry (p. 5-6)
- Compensatei"restrictive reserves empowered the government", single work poetry (p. 7-8)
- Conversation of Lovei"Throwing back in time sometimes we forget", single work poetry (p. 9)
- All Hidden : Try Not To Bei"Pimps hide inside brigalows hiding shrubs", single work poetry (p. 11-12)
- Decorative Rasp, Weaved Rootsi"If I am not a race then what am I", single work poetry (p. 13-15)
- The Worker Who, The Human Who, The Abo Whoi"Hardware formed relationship from just creating", single work poetry (p. 17-19)
- Zone Caught Me at a Stand Stilli"Madness reveal madness", single work poetry (p. 20)
- Tuesday : Plight in Need of Attentioni"Sap sap wrong tap", single work poetry (p. 21)
- In Transformationi"A deed for a person that said", single work poetry (p. 23)
- At Home : To : Musgrave Park Peoplei"Bludging no-hoper this dopey blackfella", single work poetry (p. 24-26)
- Mosquitoes My People are Sweetened Airi"Mid air absolute outstretched persuasion submerged", single work poetry (p. 27-28)
- Hilltop Aboi"Mutiny arrived yearly on schools", single work poetry (p. 29-30)
- Message on the Windi"LISTEN", single work poetry (p. 31)
- Sadness in Childreni"Two of you living here", single work poetry (p. 33)
- Abo Womeni"Tired from sundown benches", single work poetry (p. 35-36)
- Magpiesi"From every gully magpies fetched sounds", single work poetry (p. 37)
- Red Lighti"You gotta hot light", single work poetry (p. 39-40)
Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of
Works about this Work
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“Mabo Decision Was …” : Reading Mabo Through the Poetry of Lionel Fogarty
2024
single work
criticism
— Appears in: JASAL , 4 November vol. 23 no. 2 2024;'Thirty years after it was decided, the Mabo vs. Queensland case is remembered as a singularly defining landmark in the Aboriginal land rights movement and Australian political history. Ken Gelder and Jane Jacobs posited in 1995 that we live in a “post-Mabo Australia” of “unsettlement,” a “moment of decolonization, [where] what is 'ours' is also potentially, or even always already, 'theirs’” (171-172). In this article, I reconsider Mabo’s historical legacy through the writings of Lionel Fogarty, who has kinship connections to Wakka Wakka, Yoogum, and Mununjali peoples. Fogarty is rarely studied in the Mabo turn in Australian literature, perhaps in the view that his poetry is located within the ‘protest poetry’ of a pre-Mabo Australia. Born more than a decade before the 1967 referendum, Fogarty writes continuously about land rights through a poetic oeuvre spanning forty years, often from the perspective of his close personal involvement in activism. Fogarty unsettles the commemorative ethos with which Mabo is remembered, while inextricably tied to its memory. Fogarty’s resistance to monumentalisation can also be read as a guide to reading the poet’s own literary achievements in the decades before and after Mabo. By disrupting the commemorative impulse at the heart of Mabo, Fogarty renews the eventfulness and potential of another Mabo (and perhaps, another Fogarty): one that is always in-progress or unsettled, ‘a courtesy sustained’ and a ‘wave to turn.’' (Publication abstract)
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The Poetry of Politics : Australian Aboriginal Verse
1989
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Black Words, White Page : Aboriginal Literature 1929-1988 1989; (p. 179-229) In this chapter the broad range of Aboriginal verse is examined to illustrate the diversity and talent of contemporary Black Australian poets. Shoemaker argues that any dismissal of Aboriginal poetry as simply propaganda is inaccurate and unfair. Aboriginal poetry ranges from the overtly political to celebrations of nature. The political stance of the writers is considered as well as the particular social conditions in which the writers live - and which they often address in their work. The works of Aboriginal poets Jack Davis, Kevin Gilbert, Colin Johnson, Lionel Fogarty and Aileen Corpus are examined. To emphasise the distinctive elements of writing produced by Aboriginal poets, Shoemaker provides a brief comparison to the work of selected white poets, Les Murray and Bruce Dawe. He also demonstrates the Fourth World dimension and increasingly oral predisposition of Australian Aboriginal verse by contrasting it with the poetry of contemporary Canadian Indian writers.
-
The Poetry of Politics : Australian Aboriginal Verse
1989
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Black Words, White Page : Aboriginal Literature 1929-1988 1989; (p. 179-229) In this chapter the broad range of Aboriginal verse is examined to illustrate the diversity and talent of contemporary Black Australian poets. Shoemaker argues that any dismissal of Aboriginal poetry as simply propaganda is inaccurate and unfair. Aboriginal poetry ranges from the overtly political to celebrations of nature. The political stance of the writers is considered as well as the particular social conditions in which the writers live - and which they often address in their work. The works of Aboriginal poets Jack Davis, Kevin Gilbert, Colin Johnson, Lionel Fogarty and Aileen Corpus are examined. To emphasise the distinctive elements of writing produced by Aboriginal poets, Shoemaker provides a brief comparison to the work of selected white poets, Les Murray and Bruce Dawe. He also demonstrates the Fourth World dimension and increasingly oral predisposition of Australian Aboriginal verse by contrasting it with the poetry of contemporary Canadian Indian writers. -
“Mabo Decision Was …” : Reading Mabo Through the Poetry of Lionel Fogarty
2024
single work
criticism
— Appears in: JASAL , 4 November vol. 23 no. 2 2024;'Thirty years after it was decided, the Mabo vs. Queensland case is remembered as a singularly defining landmark in the Aboriginal land rights movement and Australian political history. Ken Gelder and Jane Jacobs posited in 1995 that we live in a “post-Mabo Australia” of “unsettlement,” a “moment of decolonization, [where] what is 'ours' is also potentially, or even always already, 'theirs’” (171-172). In this article, I reconsider Mabo’s historical legacy through the writings of Lionel Fogarty, who has kinship connections to Wakka Wakka, Yoogum, and Mununjali peoples. Fogarty is rarely studied in the Mabo turn in Australian literature, perhaps in the view that his poetry is located within the ‘protest poetry’ of a pre-Mabo Australia. Born more than a decade before the 1967 referendum, Fogarty writes continuously about land rights through a poetic oeuvre spanning forty years, often from the perspective of his close personal involvement in activism. Fogarty unsettles the commemorative ethos with which Mabo is remembered, while inextricably tied to its memory. Fogarty’s resistance to monumentalisation can also be read as a guide to reading the poet’s own literary achievements in the decades before and after Mabo. By disrupting the commemorative impulse at the heart of Mabo, Fogarty renews the eventfulness and potential of another Mabo (and perhaps, another Fogarty): one that is always in-progress or unsettled, ‘a courtesy sustained’ and a ‘wave to turn.’' (Publication abstract)
