25 Facts About Oodgeroo Noonuccal

Oodgeroo Noonuccal joined the Australian Women's Army Service in 1942, after her two brothers were captured by the Japanese at the fall of Singapore.

Oodgeroo Noonuccal was Queensland state secretary of the Federal Council for the Advancement of Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders, and was involved in a number of other political organisations.

Oodgeroo Noonuccal was a key figure in the campaign for the reform of the Australian constitution to allow Aboriginal people full citizenship, lobbying Prime Minister Robert Menzies in 1965, and his successor Harold Holt in 1966.

Oodgeroo Noonuccal wrote many books, beginning with We Are Going, the first book to be published by an Aboriginal woman.

On 13 June 1970, Oodgeroo Noonuccal received the award of Member of the Order of the British Empire for her services to the community.

In 1974 Oodgeroo Noonuccal was aboard a British Airways flight that was hijacked by terrorists campaigning for Palestinian liberation.

In 1983, Oodgeroo Noonuccal announced she would stand as an independent candidate for the Senate in Queensland at the 1983 federal election.

Oodgeroo Noonuccal unsuccessfully attempted to recruit Senator Neville Bonner to join her on a pro-Aboriginal ticket, following his resignation from the Liberal Party.

Oodgeroo Noonuccal subsequently withdrew her candidacy, stating she and Bonner were likely to split the vote.

Later in the year Oodgeroo Noonuccal ran in the 1983 Queensland state election for the Australian Democrats political party in the seat of Redlands.

Oodgeroo Noonuccal's campaign focused around policies promoting the environment and Aboriginal rights.

Oodgeroo Noonuccal announced she would change her name to Oodgeroo Noonuccal, with Oodgeroo meaning "paperbark tree" and Noonuccal being her people's name.

Oodgeroo Noonuccal was born Kathleen Jean Mary Ruska on 3 November 1920 on North Stradbroke Island.

Oodgeroo Noonuccal attended Dunwich State School and then became a domestic servant.

Oodgeroo Noonuccal worked for Raphael and Phyllis Cilento and had a second son, Vivian Charles Walker, with the Cilentos' son Raphael junior, born in Brisbane in 1953.

Oodgeroo Noonuccal lived and worked abroad for many years before returning to Australia, where his talent was fostered by the Aboriginal National Theatre Trust, which was established in 1988.

In 1988 he adopted the Indigenous name Kabul Oodgeroo Noonuccal, kabul meaning carpet snake, and in the same year co-authored The Rainbow Serpent with his mother, for Expo 88.

Oodgeroo Noonuccal died from cancer on 16 September 1993 at the Repatriation General Hospital at Greenslopes, Brisbane, aged 72 years and was buried at Moongalba on North Stradbroke Island.

Oodgeroo Noonuccal's poetry has been set to music by numerous composers, including Christopher Gordon, Clare Maclean, Stephen Leek, Andrew Ford, Paul Stanhope, Mary Mageau, and Joseph Twist.

Oodgeroo Noonuccal won several literary awards, including the Mary Gilmore Medal, the Jessie Litchfield Award, and the FAW Patricia Weickhardt Award to an Aboriginal Writer.

Oodgeroo Noonuccal received an honorary Doctorate of Letters from Macquarie University for her contribution to Australian literature in 1988.

Oodgeroo Noonuccal was made an honorary Doctor of the university by Griffith University in 1989, and was awarded a further honorary Doctor of Letters degree in 1991 by Monash University.

In 1992, Oodgeroo Noonuccal received an honorary Doctorate from the Faculty of Education Queensland University of Technology for both her contribution to literature and in recognition of her work in the field of education.

Oodgeroo Noonuccal was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire in 1970, but returned the award in 1987 in protest at the Australian Bicentenary celebrations in order to make a political statement about the condition of her people.

The electoral district of Oodgeroo Noonuccal created in the 2017 Queensland state electoral redistribution was named after her.