Ali Cobby Eckermann and Lionel Fogarty at the Hawkesbury River

Ali Cobby Eckermann (b. 1963), author and poet, is a Yankunytjatjara / Kokatha woman. She studied creative writing at the Bachelor College of Indigenous Tertiary Education in Alice Springs, and published her first book of poetry, 'little bit long time', in 2009. 'His Father’s Eyes' (2011) was commissioned to explain the Stolen Generations to primary school children. Her subsequent works include 'Ruby Moonlight' (2012), which won the Kenneth Slessor Prize for poetry and the Deadly Award for literature and was named the book of the year at the NSW Premier’s Literary Awards in 2013; the memoir 'Too Afraid to Cry' (2013); and 'Inside my Mother' (2015). Poet and activist Lionel Fogarty (b. 1958) was born at Barambah, site of the Cherbourg Aboriginal Reserve, Queensland. In the early 1970s he became involved in politics, working with the Aboriginal Legal Service, the Aboriginal Housing Service, and other bodies. His first work, 'Kargun', appeared in 1980. In 1993, the year he published the children’s book 'Booyooburra', his 18-year-old brother died in police custody in Brisbane. In 1996 he co-established the Indigenous Solidarity Group, with the goal of educating non-indigenous Australians about the country’s ‘real history’. His recent volumes include 'What saying says' (2004) and 'Mogwie-Idan: Stories of the land' (2012).

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2015
© Juno Gemes/Copyright Agency, 2021