Doris Pilkington Garimara (born Nugi Garimara; c. 1 July 1937 – 10 April 2014), also known as Doris Pilkington, was an
Australian
Australian(s) may refer to:
Australia
* Australia, a country
* Australians, citizens of the Commonwealth of Australia
** European Australians
** Anglo-Celtic Australians, Australians descended principally from British colonists
** Aboriginal A ...
author.
Garimara wrote ''
Follow the Rabbit-Proof Fence
''Follow the Rabbit-Proof Fence'' is an Australian book by Doris Pilkington, published in 1996. Based on a true story, the book is a personal account of an Indigenous Australian family's experiences as members of the Stolen Generation—the fo ...
'' (1996), a story about the
stolen generation, and based on three
Aboriginal girls, among them Pilkington's mother,
Molly Craig, who escaped from the
Moore River Native Settlement
The Moore River Native Settlement was the name of the now defunct Aboriginal settlement and internment camp located north of Perth and west of Mogumber in Western Australia, near the headwaters of the Moore River.
History
The settlement ...
in
Western Australia
Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to th ...
and travelled 2,414 km (1,500 miles) for nine weeks to return to their family.
Biography
Pilkington was born at
Balfour Downs Station
Balfour Downs Station is a pastoral lease and cattle station located approximately northeast of Newman, east of Roy Hill and southeast of Nullagine in the Pilbara region of Western Australia. At , it is among the largest cattle stations i ...
, near the north
Western Australia
Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to th ...
n settlement of
Jigalong
Jigalong is a remote Aboriginal community of approximately 333 people located in the Pilbara region of Western Australia.
Location
Jigalong is in the Pilbara region of Western Australia, approximately east of the town of Newman in the Shire ...
.
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.
[Stephens, Tony]
All tracks lead to Jigalong
''The Sydney Morning Herald
''The Sydney Morning Herald'' (''SMH'') is a daily compact newspaper published in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, and owned by Nine. Founded in 1831 as the ''Sydney Herald'', the ''Herald'' is the oldest continuously published newspaper ...
'', 7 December 2002. She was taken from her mother to be raised at the Moore River mission when she was three and a half years old.
Her younger sister, Annabelle, was also taken and was told she was an orphan, and over the years distanced herself from her Aboriginal heritage. Doris was reunited with her mother 21 years later.
Writing
Garimara's ''Follow the Rabbit-Proof Fence'' is considered a powerful description of the abuses endured by the Stolen Generations. The book was made into an internationally successful
film in 2002, directed by
Phillip Noyce
Phillip Noyce (born 29 April 1950) is an Australian filmmaker. Since 1977, he has directed over 19 feature films in various genres, including historical drama ('' Newsfront'', '' Rabbit-Proof Fence'', '' The Quiet American''); thrillers (''Dead ...
. Her follow-up book, ''Under the Wintamarra Tree'', details her own life at ''Moore River'' and at the ''Roelands Native Mission'' and how she managed to escape by enrolling in a nursing school. ''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.
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
David Ngunaitponi (28 September 1872 – 7 February 1967), known as David Unaipon, was an Aboriginal Australian man of the Ngarrindjeri people. He was a preacher, inventor and author. Unaipon's contribution to Australian society helped to bre ...
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
The Red Ochre Award is an annual art award for Indigenous Australian artists.
Background and description
The Red Ochre Award was established in 1993 by the Australia Council for the Arts.
It is awarded annually to an outstanding Indigenous Au ...
which is made to an indigenous artist for their outstanding, lifelong contribution to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander arts at home and abroad.
Death
Pilkington Garimara died of
ovarian cancer
Ovarian cancer is a cancerous tumor of an ovary. It may originate from the ovary itself or more commonly from communicating nearby structures such as fallopian tubes or the inner lining of the abdomen. The ovary is made up of three different c ...
at age 76 on 10 April 2014 in
Perth, Western Australia
Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth i ...
.
Awards
Pilkington Garimara was posthumously inducted into the Western Australian Writers Hall of Fame in 2022.
Australia Council for the Arts
The
Australia Council for the Arts arts funding and advisory body for the Government of Australia. Since 1993, it has awarded a
Red Ochre Award
The Red Ochre Award is an annual art award for Indigenous Australian artists.
Background and description
The Red Ochre Award was established in 1993 by the Australia Council for the Arts.
It is awarded annually to an outstanding Indigenous Au ...
. It is presented to an outstanding Indigenous Australian (Aboriginal Australian or Torres Strait Islander) artist for lifetime achievement.
, -
,
2008
File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...
, Herself
, Red Ochre Award
,
, -
Bibliography
* ''Caprice, A Stockman's Daughter'', (UQP, 1991)
* ''
Follow the Rabbit-Proof Fence
''Follow the Rabbit-Proof Fence'' is an Australian book by Doris Pilkington, published in 1996. Based on a true story, the book is a personal account of an Indigenous Australian family's experiences as members of the Stolen Generation—the fo ...
'', (UQP, 1996)
* ''Under the Wintamarra Tree'', (UQP, 2002)
* ''Home to Mother'', (UQP, 2006)
See also
*
Martu (Indigenous Australian)
The Martu (Mardu) are a grouping of several Aboriginal Australian peoples in the Western Desert cultural bloc.
Name
The Martu people were originally speakers of various Wati languages in the Western Desert dialect continuum whose identity c ...
*
Rabbit-Proof Fence
The State Barrier Fence of Western Australia, formerly known as the Rabbit-Proof Fence, the State Vermin Fence, and the Emu Fence, is a pest-exclusion fence constructed between 1901 and 1907 to keep rabbits, and other agricultural pests from th ...
*
Stolen Generation
References
External links
*
ABC Australia biographyIntermix Positive Contribution AwardThe Sydney Morning Herald, 15 January 2004
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pilkington Garimara, Doris
1937 births
2014 deaths
Indigenous Australian writers
Indigenous Australians from Western Australia
Australian women writers
Members of the Order of Australia
Members of the Stolen Generations
People from the Pilbara
Deaths from ovarian cancer
Deaths from cancer in Western Australia
Australian women novelists