AustLit
Oodgeroo (meaning 'paperbark tree') of the Noonuccal people of Stradbroke Island was known as Kath Walker until she returned to her language name in 1988 as a sign of protest against Australia's Bicentenary celebrations and as a symbol of pride in an Aboriginal heritage.
Brought up on North Stradbroke Island east of Brisbane, Oodgeroo Noonuccal was educated at Dunwich State School until the age of thirteen and then became a domestic servant. She joined the army during the war and in 1942 married her childhood friend Bruce Walker, a descendant from the Logan and Albert River peoples near Brisbane. They had two sons, Denis Walker and Vivian Walker, who both later took language names.
From the 1960s Oodgeroo Noonuccal became increasingly involved in civil rights and the Aboriginal activist movements and held several public positions. One of the founding members of the Federal Council for the Advancement of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders, she served as state secretary for ten years and in this capacity she was a leader in the campaign to grant Aboriginal people full citizenship rights in the 1967 referendum. From the 1970s Oodgeroo Noonuccal was chairperson of the National Tribal Council, the Aboriginal Arts Board, the Aboriginal Housing Committee and the Queensland Aboriginal Advancement League.
As a writer, delegate and spokesperson for her people's cause she travelled in China, Europe, the US and Africa, representing Aboriginal Australia. Oodgeroo Noonuccal was awarded honorary doctorates by several universities and received numerous awards. She was made MBE but returned the honour in 1988, as a protest against the government's lack of support for Aboriginal rights.
In addition to her reputation as a poet of national and international recognition, Oodgeroo Noonuccal is also known as a pioneer in Aboriginal education, having opened her home at Moongalba for educational camps for both Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal students. She described herself as an educator, storyteller and poet. As well as writing poetry, Oodgeroo Noonuccal wrote and illustrated children's books, performed in films, and actively supported Black Australian theatre. A film, Shadow Sister, was made about her in 1977 by Frank Heimans.
Oodgeroo Noonuccal was buried with great ceremony on Stradbroke Island.
Lisa Bellear was a Goernpil woman of the Noonuccal people of Minjerribah (Stradbroke Island), Queensland. She was a poet, writer, visual artist, academic and social commentator who was actively involved in Indigenous affairs throughout Australia. She was an executive member of the Black Women's Action in Education Foundation (BWAEF) and was a volunteer broadcaster on 3CR community radio for eleven years on the 'Not Another Koori Show.' She completed a Bachelor of Social Work in 1986 and completed a Master of Arts (Womens Studies) in 1996 from the University of Melbourne.
An avid photographer, Bellear took thousands of photographs over the many years she had spent engaged with Indigenous affairs, both politically and socially. Bellear read at literary festivals, pubs and conferences across Australia and in the USA and was been published nationally in literary journals, newspapers and anthologies.
She died unexpectedly at her home in Melbourne, Victoria.
Wesley Enoch is the eldest son of Doug and Lyn Enoch from Stradbroke Island and is the current [2021] Indigenous Chair in the Creative Industries at QUT. Wesley is a renowned director and writer for the stage. His written body of work includes I Am Eora, The 7 Stages of Grieving (co-written with Deborah Mailman), Little White Dress, A Life of Grace and Piety, Black Medea, The Sunshine Club, Grace and The Story of the Miracle at Cookie's Table, for which he won the 2005 Patrick White Playwright's Award and was short listed for both the New South Wales and Victorian Premier's Literary Award.
After working across several aspects of theatre in Queensland, Wesley became Artistic Director for Kooemba Jdarra Indigenous Performing Arts in 1994, where he directed his own work including Little White Dress (Queensland Performing Arts Centre/Out of the Box Festival), A Life of Grace and Piety (Just Us Theatre Ensemble) and The 7 Stages of Grieving, which toured the London International Festival of Theatre, Melbourne, Tasmania, Adelaide and went on to be re- mounted in Sydney Opera House. Other directing credits include Murri Love (Metro Theatre Brisbane), Changing Time (Salamanca Theatre Company), The Dreamers (Brisbane Festival) and Up the Ladder (Melbourne Workers Theatre, Festival of the Dreaming).
In 1998, Wesley became Associate Artist for Queensland Theatre Company, for which he directed Radiance, Black-ed Up, The Sunshine Club and Fountains Beyond. His other credits in that time include The 7 Stages of Grieving, which toured the Swiss International Theatre Festival, Stolen (Playbox Theatre) and Romeo and Juliet (Bell Shakespeare). He became the Resident Director at Sydney Theatre Company in 2000 and directed Black Medea, The Sunshine Club, Black-ed Up, The Cherry Pickers (2002 UK Tour), and Stolen (Adelaide, Sydney, Tasmania and UK Tour) and remounted The 7 Stages of Grieving.
Following his term at Sydney Theatre Company, Wesley became Artistic Director of the Ilbijerri Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Theatre Co-operative in 2003 for which he directed Shrunken Iris and Rainbow's End, and remained on the Board until 2007. In this time, Wesley directed some of the most successful and prolific works in Australian theatre. For Company B, Wesley directed several productions including The Dreamers, Conversations with the Dead, Black Medea (with Malthouse Theatre), and The Sapphires, with Melbourne Theatre Company and which went on to win the Helpmann Award for Best Production and Best New Australian Work and was remounted at the 2005 Sydney Festival.
Wesley also directed the Helpmann Award nominated outdoor event Eora Crossing (Legs on the Wall/Museum of Sydney/Sydney Festival) and Riverland for Windmill Performing Arts, staged at the Adelaide, Perth and Brisbane International Festivals. Wesley's play The Story of the Miracles at Cookie's Table was directed by Marion Potts and staged at Hothouse Theatre Melbourne and the Griffin Theatre in Sydney to critical acclaim.
As Associate Artist at Company B from 2006-2008, Wesley directed Capricornia, Paul, Parramatta Girls (nominated for 2007 Helpmann Award for Best Direction and Best Production), and Yibiyung (with Malthouse Theatre). His more recent work includes Nargun and the Stars (Performing Lines), The Man From Mukinupin (Company B/Melbourne Theatre Company), One Night, the Moon (Malthouse Theatre) and a revival of The Sapphires (Company B/Black Swan Theatre Company).
Over several years, Wesley worked with Tom Wright in the development of a play about Indigenous soldiers of World War I. Black Diggers premiered at the Sydney Opera House in 2014, with an all-Indigenous male cast and was a triumphantly received.
He directed the Indigenous section of the 2006 Commonwealth Games Opening Ceremony, is a member of the Hothouse Theatre Artistic Directorate, a Trustee of Sydney Opera House, a member for the New South Wales Government Arts Advisory Council and numerous other Committees. In 2008 Enoch was the Artistic Director for the Australian delegation to the Festival of Pacific Arts (FOPA) and in June 2010 he was appointed as the Artistic Director for the Queensland Theatre Company. In 2015, he left Queensland Theatre Company to become director of the Sydney Festival; his last festival was in 2021.
In 2018, he gave the Nick Enright Address at the National Playwrighting Festival.
In March 2021, he was appointed Indigenous Chair in the Creative Industries (a new role) at QUT.
'Stephen Page is a descendant of the Nunukul, Munaldjali and Yugambeh people of south-east Queensland, and one of a trinity of talented brothers David and Russell. With an international reputation as a leading artistic director and choreographer, he is a former dancer for the Sydney Dance Company, and has been the Artistic Director of Bangarra Dance Theatre since 1991. Bangarra's unique productions merge traditional and contemporary dance, oral traditions and social history, and have been acclaimed on the national and international touring circuits. His achievements include the Sidney Myer Individual Award as Artistic Director of the Adelaide Bank Festival of the Arts in 2004; the Matilda Award for Contribution to the Arts in Queensland in 2002; and two Helpmann Awards: Best Choreography for "Corroboree" in 2001, and Best New Australian Work and Best Dance Work for "Skin" in 2000.'
Source: apt5.asiapacifictriennial.com (Sighted 28/09/2007).
Bejam Kunmunara Jarlow Nunukel Kabool, formerly known as Denis Walker is the eldest son of highly respected Aboriginal campaigner and writer, Oodgeroo Noonuccal. Kabool played a key role in the formation of the National Tribal Council in 1970. The organisation was established to assert Aboriginal self determination nationally. In 1972, Kabool formed an Australian version of the Black Panther Party. Since the 1970s, Bejam Kunmunara Jarlow Nunukel Kabool has worked towards the development of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander services and the improvement of relations between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians.
David Page, singer, composer, actor and a senior collaborator with Bangarra Dance Theatre, was a descendant of the Nunkul people and the Munaldjali clan of the Yugambeh tribe of south east Queensland. Page had studied saxophone, voice, composition and song at the Centre for Aboriginal Studies in Music at the Adelaide University, and since 1992 composed music for many of the Bangarra Dance Theatre's major works.
Stephen Page, David's brother had been the Artistic Director of Bangarra Dance Theatre since the late 1980s. His brother, Russell had also been an acclaimed dancer and choreographer for the Bangarra Dance Theatre.
Megan Cope is a Quandamooka woman from North Stradbroke Island in S.E. Queensland.
She has exhibited in Australia and abroad, including the Gallery of Modern Art in Brisbane, PARAsite Gallery in Hong Kong, and City Gallery, Wellington in New Zealand and Washington DC in the USA. Cope’s work is included in the NEWflames Anne Gamble Myer collection and she has completed public commissions for the Mater Hospital, Moreton Bay Regional Council, Gold Coast University Hospital Art Collection and the Museum of Brisbane. In 2015 The Blaktism won the Western Australian Indigenous Art Award.
In 2013, Cope was commissioned to create a major site-specific work for the My Country, I Still Call Australia Home exhibition in the Gallery of Modern Art, Brisbane and Next Wave Festival in Melbourne. Cope has also had work commissioned for public collections including the Mater Hospital, Moreton Bay Regional Council, Gold Coast University Hospital Art Collection and the Museum of Brisbane. Cope’s work is included in the NEWflames Anne Gamble Myer collection.
Additionally, Cope has managed and curated several art spaces and projects including tinygold, Desperate Spaces, and the artist handbook So You Want To Be An Artist, published by Artworkers Alliance. She was the Creative Director of the Brisbane Artist Run Initiatives (BARI) Festival in 2009-10.
Cope is a member of the Brisbane based Aboriginal Art Collective proppaNOW.
Sources:
Courting Blakness website, hosted by AustLit.
Kaleenah Edwards is an actor. She is the great granddaughter of Oodgeroo Noonuccal .
Avril Quaill completed studies at the Sydney College of the Arts in New South Wales. During her studies, Quaill worked as an assistant on murals around Sydney. Quaill also spent three years doing unpaid work for Boomalli Aboriginal Artists' Cooperative before taking a break for a few years. When Quail returned to the art world, it was to undertake curatorship training at the National Gallery of Australia. After her training she obtained the position of Senior Assistant Curator, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Arts.
Avril Quaill was appointed Artistic Director of Cairns Indigenous Art Fair (CIAF) for 2011.
Since the mid 1990s singer, dancer, and Yuggera Elder Shannon Ruska was a member of the internationally acclaimed Nunukul Yuggera Dance Troupe. He was also involved with 'WE CARE', a community-based organisation aimed at providing respite care for aged and disabled Indigenous people.
Source: BrisbaneBlacksMonthly website
Russell Page was an acclaimed dancer, choreographer for the Bangarra Dance theatre and one of a trinity of talented brothers, David and Stephen.
Valerie Cooms is from the Nunukul people of Minjeeriba, also known as North Stradbroke Island. Cooms has worked in the Australian Public Service and has three children.
As a Doctoral candidate at Queensland University of Technology, Cooms has researched State and Commonwealth Indigenous policies in Queensland from 1965 to 1975.
