Oodgeroo Noonuccal

Oodgeroo Noonuccal (born Kathleen Jean Mary Ruskal, later Kath Walker), was a prominent Indigenous Australian poet, political activist, artist and educator. She was the first Aboriginal Australian to publish a book of verse, and went on to publish many books of poetry. In 1988 she adopted a traditional name: Oodgeroo Noonuccal. This same year she returned the MBE that had been awarded her in 1970 in protest of the treatment of Indigenous Australians over the preceding 200 years.