Colin Thomas Johnson, better known by his nom de plume Mudrooroo, was an Australian novelist, poet, essayist and playwright.
11 Facts About Mudrooroo
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Mudrooroo turned to burglary and served two stints in Fremantle Prison, where he began writing literature.
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Mudrooroo then spent periods living in India and the United States, where he finished his novel Long Live Sandawara about the Bunuba resistance hero Jandamarra.
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Mudrooroo was head of Aboriginal Studies at Murdoch University in Perth.
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Mudrooroo won the FAW Patricia Weickhardt Award to an Aboriginal Writer in 1979.
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Mudrooroo means paperbark in the Bibbulmun language group spoken by the Noongar.
7.
In early 1996, a member of the Nyoongah community questioning Mudrooroo's Aboriginality approached journalist Victoria Laurie.
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Mudrooroo had said of Morgan's book My Place that it made Aboriginality acceptable so long as you were "young, gifted and not very black".
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Award-winning Indigenous author Graeme Dixon called on Mudrooroo to come forward and tell the truth, stressing that it was important to "out" pretenders and reclaim Aboriginal culture.
10.
Several authors see evidence in his writings that Mudrooroo deliberately assumed an Aboriginal identity to legitimise his work when in his early 20s, although it remains possible he was unaware.
11.
Mudrooroo later replied to his critics, stating that his dark skin meant he was always treated as Aboriginal by society, therefore his life experience was that of an Aborigine.