Oodgeroo’s landmark publication was first published in 1972, and re-published in this 1993 edition with Bronwyn Bancroft’s luminous artwork which gave further testimony to the significance of the text. Twenty-seven short stories contain traditional Aboriginal tales woven together with stories of Oodgeroo’s childhood growing up on Stradbroke Island in South-East Queensland.
The first part contains her memories in thirteen stories, and the second contains fourteen traditional Aboriginal tales from Stradbroke Island, the Tamborine Mountain, and from ‘the Old and New Dreamtime’. Her family’s pride in their heritage imbues this deeply-felt, very personal text.
Kath Walker (née Kathleen Jean Mary Ruska) was later known as Oodgeroo of the people Noonuccal, custodian of the land Minjerribah after many years of advocating for rights for Aboriginal people. Bronwyn Bancroft is a Djanbun clan member of the Bundjalung Nation. This work is a unique collaboration and remains one of Australia’s classic works of literature.