Doris Pilkington Garimara

From Infogalactic: the planetary knowledge core
Jump to: navigation, search
Doris Pilkington Garimara
Born Nugi Garimara
c. 1 July 1937
Balfour Downs Station, Western Australia
Died Script error: The function "death_date_and_age" does not exist.
Perth, Western Australia
Cause of death Ovarian cancer
Other names Doris Pilkington
Occupation Indigenous Australian writer and nurse

Doris Pilkington Garimara AM (born Nugi Garimara; c. 1 July 1937 – 10 April 2014), also known as Doris Pilkington, was an Australian author. She was best known for her 1996 book Follow the Rabbit-Proof Fence, a story of three Aboriginal girls, among them Pilkington's mother, Molly Craig, who escaped from the Moore River Native Settlement in Western Australia and travelled for nine weeks to return to their family.

Biography

Pilkington was born at Balfour Downs Station, near the north Western Australian settlement of Jigalong.[1] Her mother, Molly, named her Nugi Garimara, but she was called Doris after Molly's employer at the station, Mary Dunnet, who thought Nugi was "a stupid name". As her birth was unregistered, her birth date was recorded as 1 July 1937 by the Department of Native Affairs.[2] She was taken from her mother to be raised at the Moore River mission when she was three and a half years old.[1] Her sister, Annabelle, was also taken when she was 3 years old, but has not acknowledged Craig or Pilkington since she was abducted.[3]

Writing

Follow the Rabbit-Proof Fence is considered a powerful example of the mistreatments endured by the Stolen Generations. Her follow-up book, Under the Wintamarra Tree, details her own escape from Moore River. Home to Mother is her children's edition of Follow the Rabbit Proof Fence. In the four books, Caprice, a Stockman's Daughter, Follow the Rabbit-proof Fence, Home to Mother, and Under the Wintamarra Tree, Pilkington documented three generations of women in her family.[4] The book was made into an internationally successful film in 2002, directed by Phillip Noyce.[5]

In 1990 Pilkington's book Caprice: A Stockman's Daughter the first of the trilogy, won the Queensland Premier's Literary Awards, Unpublished Indigenous Writer – The David Unaipon Award. She was appointed co-patron of Australia's State and Federal Sorry Day committee’s Journey of Healing in 2002. In May 2008 she was awarded the $50,000 Red Ochre Award which is made to an indigenous artist for their outstanding, lifelong contribution to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander arts at home and abroad.[6]

Death

Doris Pilkington Garimara died of ovarian cancer at age 76 on 10 April 2014 in Perth, Western Australia.[7]

Bibliography

See also

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  2. ↑ Stephens, Tony: All tracks lead to Jigalong, The Sydney Morning Herald, 7 December 2002.
  3. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  4. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  5. ↑ Review of Rabbit-proof Fence (film); accessed 15 July 2007
  6. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  7. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.

External links

Retrieved from "https://infogalactic.com/w/index.php?title=Doris_Pilkington_Garimara&oldid=3966825"