Graeme Dixon is a Noongar poet. He was born in Perth, Western Australia in 1955. His mother is a Noongar from Katanning and his father an English migrant orphan who grew up at

Fairbridge Farm Fairbridge, Western Australia is a former farm school near Pinjarra in Southwest Western Australia. It is now used predominantly for education, school and community camps and tourism purposes. History On 15 April 1912, Kingsley Fairbridge ...

. He is a member of the

Stolen Generation The Stolen Generations (also known as Stolen Children) were the children of Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander descent who were removed from their families by the Australian federal and state government agencies and church miss ...

; he was taken from his family at the age of three and spent several years at

Sister Kate's A sister is a woman or a girl who shares one or more parents with another individual; a female sibling. The male counterpart is a brother. Although the term typically refers to a familial relationship, it is sometimes used endearingly to refer ...

. Between the ages of ten and fourteen years he lived in a

Salvation Army Salvation (from Latin: ''salvatio'', from ''salva'', 'safe, saved') is the state of being saved or protected from harm or a dire situation. In religion and theology, ''salvation'' generally refers to the deliverance of the soul from sin and its c ...

boys' home. From the age of sixteen he spent nine years in Fremantle Prison. During that time he began to write poetry. After his release he stayed out of jail, but fell into problems with

alcohol Alcohol most commonly refers to: * Alcohol (chemistry), an organic compound in which a hydroxyl group is bound to a carbon atom * Alcohol (drug), an intoxicant found in alcoholic drinks Alcohol may also refer to: Chemicals * Ethanol, one of sev ...

and drugs. He then met and married Sharmaine, who encouraged him to publish his poetry and further his education. At the age of 27, Dixon began tertiary studies and completed a course at

Curtin University Curtin University, formerly known as Curtin University of Technology and Western Australian Institute of Technology (WAIT), is an Australian public research university based in Bentley, Perth, Western Australia. It is named after John Curtin, ...

in politics, communications and Aboriginal studies. In 1989 his first published book of poems ''Holocaust Island'' won the inaugural David Unaipon Award, part of the

Queensland Premier's Literary Awards The Queensland Premier's Literary Awards were an Australian suite of literary awards inaugurated in 1999 and disestablished in 2012. It was one of the most generous suites of literary awards within Australia, with $225,000 in prize money across ...

Bibliography

''Holocaust Island'' St Lucia : University of Queensland Press, 1990. ''Holocaust Revisited : Killing Time'' Crawley : School of Indigenous Studies, University of Western Australia, 2003. Contributed to ''Echoes of the Past: Sister Kate’s Home Revisited'', University of Western Australia, 2002.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dixon, Graeme 1955 births Living people 20th-century Australian poets Noongar people Members of the Stolen Generations Australian male poets 20th-century Australian male writers