Maang: Bagaan Di (a Message for My Elder Sister)

Abstract

I was a young, impressionable Aboriginal Australian when I first saw her; she was stating her view on television, cleverly honing her point with flashing white teeth which contrasted against her dark skin. What a wit! It was May 1964, the era of black and white television: The Beatles, Twiggy, a mini-skirted "Shrimp", assassinations, Viet Nam and a new generation of Aboriginal Australians who voiced their concerns with such articulate ferocity they forced the world to listen. "Kath Walker — Activist" the superimposed caption read at the bottom of the frame of the television screen; and her teeth flashed and her cutting wit entered our living rooms. She said her first book We Are Going allowed white "ostriches" to see the Aboriginal point of view.