O is for Oodgeroo Noonuccal

     Who? Poet, Educator, Activist, Creative AKA KATH WALKER

Kathleen Jean Mary Ruska was born in November 1920. She was a descendant of the Noonuccal people of Minjerribah. [North Stradbroke Island]. Her totem was Kabool the carpet snake, who could not be eaten by his people.

Kath was strongly influenced by her parents. Mother Lucy was one of the ‘stolen generation’, who was not taught to read or write at the mission, gaining domestic skills instead. Her father, Ted Ruska, was the foreman of a gang of Aboriginal labourers employed by the Queensland Government. Their measley income was supplemented by using the traditional hunter/gatherer skills of the Noonuccal people. 

Lucy was determined her children would read and write. Her father said to her ‘Just ‘cos you’re Aboriginal doesn’t mean you have to be as good as most white children – you have to be better.’

Kath attended Dunwich State School which she left at 13 to become a poorly paid live-in domestic servant. In 1941 she joined the Australian Women’s Army Service. [AWAS]. She was promoted to corporal, worked in switchboard operations and later as a pay clerk.

In 1942 Kath married Bruce Walker – a descendant of the Logan and Albert River Aboriginal people – though a dependence on alcohol led to domestic violence and the complete breakdown of that marriage.

To support herself and young child Kath became a domestic servant for the family of Sir Ralph and Lady Cilento who encouraged Kath to write and taught her to draw and paint.

In 1964 her poetry anthology, “We Are Going”, was the first book to be published by an Aboriginal woman. The title poem ends: 

“The scrubs are gone, the hunting and the laughter.

  The eagle is gone, the emu and the kangaroo are gone from this place. 

   The bora ring is gone The corroboree is gone And we are going.”

“The Dawn is at Hand ” was published in 1966 and the third collection “My People: A Kath Walker Collection,” was published in 1970.

In the 1960’s Oodgeroo fought for Aboriginal rights. In 1963 she met Sir Robert Menzies, the Australian Prime Minister. When he offered her a drink of wine she told him that if he had done that in Queensland he could have been put in gaol. It was not until 1967 that Aboriginal people had the right to vote.

In 1972 Oodgeroo returned to the birthplace of her people – the Noonuccal. She established an education and cultural centre at Moongalba [sitting down place] on Stradbroke Island. By 1987, 26,500 children had experienced sitting down and learning at Moongalba.

In 1988 she adopted a traditional name: Oodgeroo – paperbark tree – and Noonuccal – the name of her people.

Oodgeroo Noonuccal earned many awards:

• 1970 Mary Gilmore Medal

• 1975 Jessie Litchfield Award

• International Acting Award

• Fellowship of Australian Writers’ Award

• Doctor of the University from Griffith University.

In 1970, as Kath Walker, she was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire for services to the community. In 1987 she returned it as a protest against the forthcoming bicentenary celebrations of Australia. She stated, “Next year, 1988, to me marks 200 years of rape and carnage, all these terrible things that the Aboriginal tribes of Australia have suffered without any recognition even of admitted guilt from the parliaments of England…. From the Aboriginal point of view, what is there to celebrate? … I can no longer with a clear conscience accept the English honour of the MBE and will be returning to her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II of England.“

Oodgeroo Noonuccal died in 1993 at the age of 72.

Note:

This is very much an abridged version of a life and I recommend reading:

#A-ZChallenge 2024

Australian Trivia

IWD 2024

Today is International Women’s Day

International Women’s Day is a global day celebrating the social, economic, cultural, and political achievements of women. 

In 1975, the United Nations officially recognised 8th March as International Women’s Day and 1975 to be International Women’s Year. Activists in Australia took this focus on women’s issues as an opportunity to increase awareness of gender inequality in Australia.

I have a favourite story about a group of Australian women from days gone by. They were an ordinary group of women who rose to the occasion during extraordinary times. I’ve shared their story previously but it is one  worth repeating, at least I think so.

Back in the 1940’s, Terrigal Beach on the NSW Central Coast was very different to the tourist mecca that we now know, though tourists continue to flock to the area to enjoy the seaside lifestyle to which we Aussies so aspire.

During World War 2, only four men were left to patrol Terrigal and surrounding beaches from the local Surf Club, when 74 men enlisted for overseas service.

The wives, girlfriends, sisters and friends of these servicemen put their hand up to patrol the beaches keeping them safe for families to enjoy. 

Unfortunately, their application to the controlling body to train as lifesavers was dismissed. This however did not deter them. They were trained in surf lifesaving skills by chief instructor Harry Vickery and were assessed by Central Coast Life Saving’s inaugural president Dr E.A. Martin. In two exams some 30 women qualified for the equivalent of the bronze medallion, receiving certificates on Terrigal beach and going on to volunteer to patrol the area over the summer seasons.

These young women, dubbed “The Peaches on the Beaches” by America’s Movietone, undertook their duties with enthusiasm and passion. They even made their own swimming costumes and uniforms out of sheets, curtains and the odd parachute­ despite not having been awarded their bronze medallions.

At the end of the war 70 men returned to the district to take up their life saving duties whilst the women were expected to return to their pre-war duties. 

It wasn’t until 75 years later in 2017 that the women who patrolled the beaches of Terrigal during World War 2 were finally recognised. They were awarded their Bronze Medallions, most posthumously to the families, as well as a special Terrigal Parliamentary Award to acknowledge their contribution to the community.

The Surf Life Saving Association finally admitted women as full members in 1980 and now benefit from more than 80,000 dedicated female members of all ages across Australia contributing in activities from active patrolling, to surf sports, education and everything in between.    

Ordinary women doing extraordinary things in extraordinary times. Amazing women.

Do you have a story to share for IWD?

Add to Must Do List whilst in Canberra.

I’ve previously shared my fascinating visit to MOAD, the Museum of Australian Democracy, in Australia’s capital.

Commencing at a statue across the road from MOAD I followed this adventure by joining a small group on a walking tour to learn about the Badass Women of Canberra – women who had changed not only the landscape of Canberra, but of Australia as a whole. Women who changed Australia’s constitution, including activists, with a spy thrown in for good measure, were covered in detail.

This two hour, three kilometre walk around the Parliamentary Triangle is another Must Do when visiting Canberra. (Fish and chips at The Yacht Club on a balmy Saturday afternoon is hard to beat too).

The information was delivered in a conversational, almost gossipy tone and I’m only sorry that at this stage of the game my ability to retain details is not what it used to be. If it was in book format it is one I most certainly would purchase.

I think my favourite snippet from the tour was that the Coat of Arms on the building of Australia’s High Court does not meet standards. The animals are meant to be holding up, or at least touching, the crest.

Also interesting is that the water feature commemorating the Centenary of Women’s Suffrage in the Rose Gardens of Old Parliament House has been broken for twelve months with no date for restoration. I’m no feminazi but have to wonder how long it would take to rectify a fountain honouring male politicians.

For sheer fun I loved this statue in Reconciliation Square. It represents the Bogong Moth which has been the tucker of the local Indigenous for centuries. On either side it has long talons, one side representing white Australians, the other Indigenous, coming together over a meal. The statue gently vibrates whilst making a gentle sound reminiscent of bogongs in the belfry.

Next Tour : the Maternity Wing of Canberra Hospital. We are having ” Paradox Babies” . ( Gilbert and Sullivan reference).

Trailblazers : The Women’s Land Army

The Covid Lockdowns provided many of us with opportunities. On a personal level it encouraged my interest in promoting the exploits of Australian women, both from the past and the present. Unfortunately, or perhaps fortunately, many others grasped the same opportunity leading to the publication of numerous new books on the subject.

I do continue to share the stories of Australian women who have achieved and even those that have the propensity to achieve in the future. They do not need to have their names in the history books nor do they need celebrity status. I am motivated purely by women who “do” regardless of their social and cultural background.

Amongst the 150 Australian women already profiled I have three favourites (so far), women who I knew little or nothing about before research yet have won a place in my heart and not for their outstanding intellect nor their courageous acts, but more for being ordinary women during extraordinary times. One is the contingent of women who formed the Australian Women’s Land Army, women who stepped into male roles on a voluntary basis to work on the land to keep the country “fed” whilst the men were at war. Absolutely amazing women. 

See here: https://fb.watch/hSWu279nZ6/

Another positive from Lockdown was the birth of a community theatre group based at the local Museum who create their stage productions from stories stored amongst the farm machinery, military medals, and paraphernalia from bygone years within the museum walls. A production earlier this year was “The Other Diggers“, the story of the Land Army Girls who worked the farms in my local area, born from a Land Army uniform donated years ago and well hidden amongst the museum’s relics.

This afternoon I am excited to be attending a forum about our Land Army Girls, to be held at a nearby hall which used to house the kitchens and amenities where the women’s tent city was erected. Two local 97 year old women who were Land Army will be participating. 

Recently erected monument at Birkdale School of Arts to commemorate the AWLA.

Note : 

My other two favourites? 

1. The nurses from the Vyner Brooke, a hospital ship bombed by the Japanese during WW2. An horrendous tale about brutality and strength and courage and and and….
   

2. It’s a secret.

My Polar Dream by Jade Hameister: Gaia Reading Challenge

I recently read My Polar Dream, the autobiography of Jade Hameister who at 16 years of age became the youngest person in history to pull off the “polar hat-trick”. That is, she skied to the North and South Poles, and across the second largest polar icecap on the planet: Greenland. Hameister travelled over 1,300 km on these three missions, which totalled almost four months on ice.

Originally my interest lay in what made a 14 year old girl from Australia want to undertake such an expedition and what motivated her to commit to two years of rigorous  training in preparation. At 14 I was being screamed at to get out of bed in time to catch the school bus each morning.

This is a rather simplistic read but that’s okay because Hameister admits that her target audience is young women and “trying to shift the focus from how we appear to the possibilities of what we can do.” She includes several lists in bullet point form detailing facts and figures about the environment (such as if just the West Antarctic Ice Sheet melts it is estimated that global sea levels will rise by 5 metres), as well as the logistics of her expeditions.

This was fascinating as everything taken onto the ice must be brought back out. This means all things. I loved a young person’s perspective of what was important to pack for these travels; how many pairs of underpants, how many clothing changes. ( Tip: this is information to avoid with regards to male wardrobe requirements. It will make you run for the shower).

Hameister was awarded the Australian Geographic Society‘s Young Adventurer of the Year for her 2016 North Pole expedition, which was captured in the National Geographic documentary On Thin Ice: Jade’s Polar Dream that aired in 170 countries and included a strong environmental message. In 2019 she was awarded Medal of the Order of Australia for her “service to polar exploration”.

It will be interesting to watch what this courageous young women turns her hand too on the completion of her tertiary studies.

Holiday Brain Fog

My bedside table is laden with books the width of doorstops so with the holiday fuelled brain fog I’m opting instead for light, fluffy reading material. Like who designed the Messerschmitt aeroplane, quantum physics, and 500 ways to cook squash.

Do you know who was named Australian of the Year in 2018? No cheating, no referring to Dr Google please.

No, I didn’t know either. Even without holiday brain fog I was clueless.

So I took this question to the people for a response via the Pub Quiz method. This is the Aussie way of determining the general consensus. You walk into a pub and ask the drinkers for their opinion. Is the Prime Minister doing a decent job? What do you think about the Dow Index? Is Prince Harry really intellectually challenged?

I wasn’t anywhere near a pub so resorted to asking the question during a group discussion on Zoom during which at least two of us had a glass of wine in our hands which is pretty much the same thing, I guess.

No one was able to name the Aussie of the Year for 2018, though footballer Adam Goodes – the 2014 Winner – was one suggestion.

Michelle Yvonne Simmons and her team created the world’s first transistor made from a single atom and the world’s thinnest wire in 2012.

Professor Simmons, AO FRS FAA FRSN FTSE , has twice been an Australian Research Council Federation Fellow and is an Australian Research Council Laureate Fellow. She is the Director of the Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Quantum Computation & Communication Technology and is recognised internationally as the creator of the field of atomic electronics.

In 2018 she was named the Australian of the Year for her work and dedication to quantum information science. In 2019, she was appointed an Officer of the Order of Australia (AO) in recognition of her “distinguished service to science education as a leader in quantum and atomic electronics and as a role model.”

Isn’t there something dreadfully wrong when we can remember when Pat Rafter, tennis player, Steve Waugh, cricketer, and John Farnham, entertainer, were all recipients of this annual award but the name of a quantum scientist totally baffles us?

On to recipe Number 6 for my home grown squash. Squash in Tomato, Onion and Basil Sauce. Only another 494 to go. Who knew squash were such prolific producers?

Caroline Jones, Journo, & a Book Review

Winter temperatures in Queensland are at their lowest for over a hundred years and we are only twelve days in! Actually, I don’t mind it. You can get a lot done when you’re not a wet slimy mess as is the case in summer. Achieving heaps but at a relaxed pace. Even my reading is less frenzied.

Late last month Australian journalist, Caroline Jones died at age 84. One of the obituaries stated that Jones was a “groundbreaking Australian journalist and champion of women in media…who paved the way for women and became a passionate and generous mentor to young rural and regional reporters”.

Which led me down a rabbit hole, of course……

Essentially, Jones joined the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) in 1963 becoming the first female reporter on the daily current affairs program, This Day Tonight. She went on to become the first female presenter on Four Corners, a hard-hitting news program, followed by a stint presenting a spirituality-focused radio program on ABC Radio National. This morphed into Jones hosting the much loved Australian Story from 1996 until her retirement from the ABC in 2016.

In addition, Jones also worked alongside Aboriginal broadcasters at Central Australian Aboriginal Media Association in Alice Springs as they produced their first cultural and current affairs programs for television and was appointed an Ambassador for Reconciliation by the Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation. She was a foundation member of the Australian Council for the Arts, formed in 1973, as well as a foundation member of the Australian Classification Review Board, formed in 1970. Jones was also co-patron of Women In Media, and in 2017 the annual Caroline Jones Women in Media Young Journalist’s Award was launched. 

Among the many awards she received were the Order of Australia in 1988 and being voted as an Australian Living Treasure by The National Trust in 1997. This is a woman who hung tuff amongst the corridors of testosterone.

I’ve just finished reading Jones’ 2009 book, Through A Glass Darkly : A Joy Of Love And Grief With My Father,  a personal account of her father’s death and how she manages the grief over several years. 

Of course it’s not that simple. Loss and Grief and Love and Family and Responsibility are all big subjects and so I’ve been dipping in and out of this book slowly, like dropping a spoon into a can of Milo and licking the grains aways at a pace that allows you to enjoy every single malty morsel. 

Written in four parts, Jones initially provides a landscape painting of her father’s life. This resonated with me as it would with many whose parent’s lived through a Depression and World War. It’s a delightful read with it’s remembrances of times past : the weekly ritual of polishing shoes, back gardens laden with fruit trees, listening to the football on the radio.

Part two deals with her father’s illness and ultimate passing after an operation. This is brutal reading, with all the patient’s suffering, the medic’s attempts to play God, and the daughter’s inner rage, though again is so beautifully written. Maybe ” the medic’s attempts to play God” is poorly phrased, but you can guess, this resonated with me as well.

Caroline then exams her grief and questions her faith, even seeking out spiritual  guidance from a psychic. Been there, done that. Seven years after losing her Dad Caroline concludes having  coming to terms with the loss she experienced.

This is Caroline’s personal journey but it is a journey we all share in one form or other. The grim topic is made bearable because of its authenticity and it is so beautifully written. I’m sorry not to have paid her more attention whilst she was still with us.

“The reality is that you will grieve forever. You will not ‘get over’ the loss of a loved one; you’ll learn to live with it. You will heal and you will rebuild yourself around the loss you have suffered. You will be whole again but you will never be the same. Nor should you be the same nor would you want to.”

      – Elizabeth Kubler-Ross and David Kessler

NOTE:

Please be aware that I have not recently suffered any loss and am not in mourning. I was simply intrigued by Jones’ career path and wanted to learn more about what made the woman tick. I’m so glad I did.

I will admit that something else about Caroline did resonate. Her mother died when Caroline was a young though there was no time for mourning as her father, a returned serviceman, was from that stiff upper lip generation. But the time does come, often years later, and when it does it ain’t pretty.

Next book will be fun and fluffy : decapitations, poisonings, nuclear war, genocide. Promise.

Zelda D’Aprano – 1928 – 2018

Zelda D’Aprano (nee Orloff) grew up in a two-bedroom house in Carlton, Victoria, in an Orthodox Jewish household, with two siblings and working class, migrant parents.

She left school before she was 14 to work in various factories to support her family. Married at 16 to Charlie D’Aprano, who left her 21 years later, Zelda had a daughter at 17. In 1961 she fully qualified as a dental nurse and completed her Leaving Certificate in 1965, at the same time as her daughter. She attended night school for two years graduating in 1967 as a qualified chiropodist.

It was whilst employed in factory jobs that Zelda first started to notice the inequalities that female workers faced, especially related to the pay gap. 

Whilst working at a Psychiatric Hospital as a dental nurse Zelda joined the Hospital Employees’ Federation No.2 Branch, where she was made shop steward in charge of all female dental nurses, though she had little support due to her gender. In 1969 she went to join the Australasian Meat Industry Employees’ Union (AMIEU), to work in a clerical position where she was appalled by the conditions in the office, and even more so after discovering that there was nowhere to air her grievances.

During that year the AMIEU was being used as a test case for the Equal Pay Case  and Zelda and several other women waited as the case was being decided in the Arbitration Court. In October 1969, after the case failed, she chained herself to the doors of the Commonwealth Building alongside women who worked in the building supporting her, eventually being cut free by police. Ten days later, she was joined by Alva Geikie and Thelma Solomon, and they chained themselves to the doors of the Arbitration Court, the one which had dismissed the Equal Pay Case. For this activism Zelda was dismissed from the AMIEU.

The next year, these three women founded the Women’s Action Committee to jump start the Women’s Liberation Movement in Melbourne, encouraging women to become more involved in activism.

Zelda said “we had passed the stage of caring about a “lady-like” image because women had for too long been polite and ladylike and were still being ignored”.

This led the women to take more militant action on their path to equal pay. The Women’s Action Committee continued to grow and Zelda travelled around Melbourne paying only 75% of the fares, because women were only given 75% of the wage of men at the time. Because women weren’t allowed to drink in bars, only in lounges, they did pub crawls across Melbourne.

In 1972 the Commonwealth Conciliation and Arbitration Commission finally extended the equal pay concept to ‘equal pay for work of equal value’, and subsequent revisions have made sure that women in Victoria retain this hard-won right.

Zelda was awarded a degree in Law honoris causa by Macquarie University in 2000, and was inducted into the Victorian Honour Roll of Women in 2001. She was awarded the Order of Australia in 2004.

……………….We owe much to women such as Zelda, Alva and Thelma for their courage and perseverance.

NOTE

That concludes the #A-Z Challenge. Thank you so much for your patience and for sticking with me during this time. I hope you have enjoyed meeting some of Australia’s amazing and courageous women past and present.

Simone Young (1961 – )

Simone Young studied composition, piano and conducting at the Conservation of Music in Sydney. Commencing in 1983, she worked at Opera Australia gaining experience from accomplished conductors and in 1985 started her operatic conducting career at the Sydney Opera House. 

In 1986 Simone was the first woman and youngest person to be appointed a resident conductor with Opera Australia and was named Young Australian of the Year.

She travelled overseas as an assistant to well known conductors at both the Cologne Opera and the Berlin State Opera and from 1998 until 2002 was principal conductor of the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra in Norway.

Young was the first female conductor at the Vienna State Opera in 1993 and in 2005 was the first female conductor to conduct the Vienna Philharmonic. In March 2016, Young was appointed a member of the board of the European Academy of Music Theatre. In December 2019, the Sydney Symphony Orchestra announced the appointment of Young as its next chief conductor, effective in 2022, with an initial contract of 3 years, its first female conductor.

This is a woman who certainly knows her music……

AWARDS

-Appointed a Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres of France. 

-2001 Young was inducted into the Victorian Honour Roll of Women 

-2004 in the Australia Day Honours, Young was named a Member of the Order of Australia “for service to the arts as a conductor with major opera companies and orchestras in Australia and internationally”. 

-2011 recipient of the Sir Bernard Heinze Memorial Award 

-2021 Young was named the Advance Awards Global Icon.

Celebrating the women from our past to the present who have helped shape Australia.
#AtoZChallenge

Nancy Wake (1912- 2011)

AKA -The White Mouse

Born in New Zealand Nancy relocated to Sydney, Australia, as a child along with the rest of her family. She trained as a nurse and a journalist and moved to Paris in the 1930’s.

When World War 2 commenced she was living in Marseille with her French husband. When France fell to Nazi Germany in 1940, Wake became a courier for an established escape network where she helped Allied airmen evade capture by the Germans and escape to Spain which was neutral. She herself fled to Spain in 1943 and continued on to the United Kingdom when the Germans became aware of her activities, calling her The White Mouse. Her husband was captured and executed.

In Britain, Wake joined the Special Operations Executive (SOE) under the code name”Helene”. In April 1944 as a member of a three-person SOE team code-named “Freelance”, she parachuted into occupied France to liaise between the SOE and several Maquis groups, participating in a battle between the Maquis and a large German force weeks later. At the aftermath of the battle, a defeat for the maquis, she claimed to have bicycled 500 kilometers to send a situation report to SOE in London.

Immediately after the war, Wake was awarded the George Medal,[36] the United States Medal of Freedom, the Médaille de la Résistance, and thrice, the Croix de Guerre. She worked for the intelligence department at the British Air Ministry, attached to embassies in Paris and Prague.

It was not until February 2004 that Wake was made a Companion of the Order of Australia.In April 2006, she was awarded the Royal New Zealand Returned and Services’ Association‘s highest honour, the RSA Badge in Gold. Wake’s medals are on display in the Second World War gallery at the Australian War Memorial in Canberra.

Wake remarried in 1957 and returned to Australia with her husband.

Her autobiography is a fascinating read and numerous other books have been written ( as well as movie scripts) about her courageous deeds.

“I don’t see why we women should just wave our men a proud goodbye and then knit them balaclavas.” – Nancy Wake

Celebrating the women from our past to the present who have helped shape Australia.
#AtoZChallenge

NOTE:

When my daughters were in Primary School all those years ago there was an occasion where they celebrated famous Australians. Each child had to do a presentation about their favourite Australian.

There were talks about pop stars, cricket players – especially Shane Warne, and celebrities such as Steve Irwin, Wildlife Warrior.

When it was Pocahontas’ turn she did a flawless presentation on The White Mouse. God love her……

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