Oodergeroo Noonuccal was born 3rd November 1920 and was an Australian poet, political activist, an artist and an educator. In 1988 she adopted the traditional name ‘Oodergeroo’ which means paperback tree in Aboriginal, she was previously names Kath Walker. In 1972 Kath opened an education and cultural centre called Moongalba (sitting down place) in North Stradbroke Island. As a child Oodergeroo liked to write poems, it was only until when she was around 40 when she was edged on by her book club to try to get the poems published. Oodergeroo was inspired write poems about aboriginal inequality because throughout her lifetime, Aboriginal’s rights were not the same as the white men. Her first book published included her well known poem ‘We are Going’ in 1964, this was also the first book to be published by an Aboriginal woman. She has won many awards throughout her life. She died 1993 aged 72.
The Poem
By Oodergeroo Noonuccal
Context
The context that Oodergeroo Noonuccal used in this poem relates to her past and her strong beliefs that aboriginals should get the same rights as everyone else. Also in this poem she relates to the white men just mining on the aboriginal’s land without any care because the greed for money is driving them. Just like in the poem ‘We are Going’ she talks about how the land was taken from the Aboriginals and was used as a dump. As mining is a big part in Australia, this occurrence of land being taken for mining would not be rare.