Ruby Langford Ginibi (26 January 1934 – 1 October 2011) was an acclaimed Bundjalung author, historian and lecturer on Aboriginal history, culture and politics.

Names

According to Langford's memoir, ''Don't Take Your Love to Town'', her parents married in September 1934, eight months after her birth, and she was originally named Ruby Maude Anderson. Langford was her husband's surname, and Ginibi is a Bundjalung honorific.

Life and career

Born at the Box Ridge

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, Coraki on

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's northern coast, Langford was raised at

Bonalbo Bonalbo, a rural village in the Northern Rivers region of New South Wales, Australia, is located north of Sydney central business district, Sydney. In the , Bonalbo and the surrounding area had a population of 371. The town's name derives from ...

and attended high school in

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. At 15, she moved to Sydney where she qualified as a clothing machinist. She had nine children by various relationships, but only legally married once, to Peter Langford, whose surname she took as her own. Three of Langford's children predeceased her. Graphic designer

Nikita Ridgeway Nikita Ridgeway (born 1986) is a Bundjalung/Biripi tattoo artist and graphic designer from Australia, who was awarded the a BBC 100 Women Award in 2015 in recognition of her entrepreneurial work and advocacy for Aboriginal graphic design. Biogr ...

is one of her grandchildren. Her best-known book was the autobiographical ''Don't Take Your Love to Town'', published in 1988, which won the Australian

Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission The Australian Human Rights Commission is the national human rights institution of Australia, established in 1986 as the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission (HREOC) and renamed in 2008. It is a statutory body funded by, but oper ...

Human Rights Award for Literature. She wrote non-fiction books, essays, poems and short stories.

Death

Langford had been suffering kidney problems and high blood pressure before her death at Fairfield Hospital, Sydney, aged 77, on 1 October 2011.

Recognition

She received an inaugural History Fellowship from the NSW Ministry for the Arts in 1994, an inaugural honorary fellowship from the

National Museum of Australia The National Museum of Australia, in the national capital Canberra, preserves and interprets Australia's social history, exploring the key issues, people and events that have shaped the nation. It was formally established by the ''National Muse ...

, Canberra, in 1995, and an inaugural doctorate of letters (Honors Causia) from

La Trobe University La Trobe University is a public research university based in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Its main campus is located in the suburb of Bundoora. The university was established in 1964, becoming the third university in the state of Victoria a ...

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada * Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory * Victoria, Seychelle ...

in 1998. In 2005 she was awarded the

New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards The New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards, also known as the NSW Premier's Literary Awards, were first awarded in 1979. They are among the richest literary awards in Australia. Notable prizes include the Christina Stead Prize for Fiction, t ...

Special Award. Her works are studied in Australian high schools and universities. In 2006, she won the Australia Council for the Arts Writers' Emeritus Award. She received the award with its prize of $50,000 at a ceremony during the Sydney Writers' Festival. The award recognises the achievements of writers over the age of 65. In 2008, Ginibi was a Don't DIS my ABILITY ambassador. In 2020, a

river-class ferry The River Class is a ferry type operated by Transdev Sydney Ferries on Sydney Harbour. History In September 2017, Transport for NSW called for expressions of interest for four new ferries for Parramatta River ferry services. However, after the ...

on the Sydney Ferries network was named in her honour.

Bibliography

* ''Don't Take Your Love to Town'' (Penguin, 1988); * ''Real Deadly'' (Angus & Robertson, 1992); * ''My Bundjalung People'' (UQP, 1994); * ''Haunted by the Past'' (Allen & Unwin, 1999); * ''All My Mob'' (UQP, 2007); * ''A Journey into Bundjalung Country'', with Pam Johnston * ''Ruby Langford Ginibi'', co-authored with John Barnes and Blanca Fullana

References

External links

*
Approaches to ''Don't Take Your Love to Town''
Australian Women's Studies Resources
"Remembering Ruby: ''Don't Take Your Love to Town'' again"
''MC Review'', accessed 15 July 2007.
Sydney Writer's Festival News Issue #1 (2005)
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Langford Ginibi, Ruby 1934 births 2011 deaths 20th-century Australian novelists Australian historians Australian women historians Australian memoirists Australian women novelists Historians of Australia Indigenous Australian writers Writers from New South Wales Bundjalung people Australian women memoirists 20th-century Australian women writers