Jump to content

Lionel Fogarty

Edit links
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Lionel Fogarty (born 1958), also published as Lionel Lacey, is an Indigenous Australian poet and political activist.

Early life

[edit]

Fogarty was born in 1958 on an Aboriginal reserve at Barambah (now called Cherbourg) in Queensland, where he grew up.[1] He is of the Yoogum (Yugambeh) and Kudjela (?) peoples.[2]

Activism

[edit]

Fogarty was involved in Aboriginal activism from his teenage years, including involvement with such organisations as Aboriginal Legal Service, Aboriginal Housing Service, Black Resource Centre, Black Community School and Murrie Coo-ee.[2] He worked mainly in southern Queensland on issues such as land rights, Aboriginal health and deaths in custody. His brother, Daniel Yock, died in the back of a police van shortly after being arrested, in 1993.[3]

Fogarty met activist Cheryl Buchanan (born 1955[4]), later the mother of his six children, in Melbourne, who was working with the National Union of Australian University Students (NUAUS).[5] He assisted in publishing the newspaper Black News Service[6][7] (1975–1977), originally out of the Black Resource Centre (BRC) in Melbourne (supported by the NUAUS[5]) and later from Brisbane.[8] Buchanan had been involved in the setup of the Aboriginal Tent Embassy in 1972,[9] and became inaugural director of the BRC. The centre later moved to Brisbane.[4] Buchanan also took him up to Aurukun festival and to meet Mapoon people whose land near Weipa had been taken from them in the 1930s and 1940s.[5]

The BRC was involved in the defence and acquittal of the "Brisbane Three"[4] in 1975. Fogarty was one of the three: he faced charges of conspiracy against the state in Brisbane, along with Denis Walker and Chilean national John Garcia.[5][4][10] The charges, which had been laid by then premier of Queensland Joh Bjelke-Petersen's Special Branch[11] in 1974, were on various offences relating to an alleged plot to "kidnap" Jim Varghese, students' union president at the University of Queensland.[10]

After this, Fogarty started writing on political issues.[5]

As well as travelling around Australia promoting Murri culture and Aboriginal causes, in 1976 he travelled to the Second International Indian Treaty Council in South Dakota, United States, part of the American Indian Movement. In the International Year for the World's Indigenous People in 1993, Fogarty went on an extensive tour in Europe, reading his work.[2]

Poetry

[edit]

His poetry can be seen as an extension of this activism; common themes include the maintenance of traditional Aboriginal culture and the effects of European occupation. His work has been described as "experimental", and sometimes "surrealist". He uses Aboriginal language in his poetry, partly as an attempt to extend the dialogue between Australian cultures.[12]

Fogarty has been involved with not-for-profit poetry organisation, The Red Room Company, participating in Unlocked, a program for inmates in New South Wales correctional centres, as well its creative projects including Clubs and Societies and The Poet's Life Works.[13]

Recognition and awards

[edit]

Selected works

[edit]

Fogarty's works include:[2]

  • Harvest Lingo (Giramondo, 2022)[22]
  • Selected Works 1980-2016 (re.press, 2017)[23]
  • Eelahroo (Long Ago) Nyah (Looking) Möbö-Möbö (Future) (Vagabond Press, 2014)
  • Mogwie-Idan: Stories of the Land (Vagabond Press, 2012)
  • Connection Requital (Vagabond Press, 2010)
  • Yerrabilela Jimbelung: Poems About Friends and Family, with Yvette Walker[24] and Kargun Fogarty[25] (Keeaira Press, 2008)
  • Minyung Woolah Binnung: What Saying Says (Keeaira Press, 2004)
  • New and Selected Poems: Munaldjali, Mutuerjaraera (Hyland House, 1995)
  • Booyooburra: A Tale of the Wakka Murri with illustrations by Sharon Hodgson (Hyland House, 1993)
  • Jagera (Murri Coo-ee, 1990)
  • Ngutji (Murri Coo-ee, 1984)
  • Kudjela (Murri Coo-ee, 1983)
  • Yoogum Yoogum (Penguin, 1982)
  • Kargun (Murri Coo-ee, 1980)

References

[edit]
  1. ^ "Lionel Fogarty (1958 – )", Australian Poetry Library, archived from the original on 10 March 2015
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h "Lionel Fogarty". AustLit. 13 November 2019. Retrieved 24 February 2021.
  3. ^ "Marchers pay a silent tribute to Daniel Yock. A peaceful 4000". The Canberra Times. 18 November 1993. p. 17.
  4. ^ a b c d Kovacic, Leonarda; Lemon, Barbara (12 February 2019). "Buchanan, Cheryl (1955– )". The Australian Women's Register. First created 27 July 2005. Retrieved 1 October 2022.
  5. ^ a b c d e Fogarty, Lionel (31 January 2019). "'The Rally Is Calling': Dashiell Moore Interviews Lionel Fogarty". Cordite Poetry Review (Interview). Interviewed by Moore, Dashiell. p. 1. Retrieved 1 October 2022.
  6. ^ Grieve-Williams, Victoria (28 June 1969). "2: 'We have survived the white man's world': A critical review of Aboriginal Australian activism in media and social media". In Guntarik, Olivia; Grieve-Williams, Victoria (eds.). From Sit-Ins to #revolutions: Media and the Changing Nature of Protests. ISBN 9781501336959. Retrieved 1 October 2022 – via dokumen.pub.
  7. ^ Guntarik, Olivia; Grieve-Williams, Victoria, eds. (2020). From Sit-Ins to #revolutions: Media and the Changing Nature of Protests. Bloomsbury Publishing. ISBN 978-1-5013-3696-6. Retrieved 1 October 2022 – via Google Books.
  8. ^ Burrows, Elizabeth Anne (2010). Writing to be heard: the Indigenous print media's role in establishing and developing an Indigenous public sphere (PhD). Griffith University. doi:10.25904/1912/3292. Retrieved 1 October 2022. PDF
  9. ^ "Australia Day under a beach umbrella". Collaborating for Indigenous Rights. National Museum Australia. 22 July 2008. Archived from the original on 17 March 2012.
  10. ^ a b "Committee for the Defence of the Brisbane Three: Ephemera". Fryer Library Manuscripts. University of Queensland. Retrieved 1 October 2022.
  11. ^ McIlroy, Jim (18 January 2018). "Vale Denis Walker, Aboriginal freedom fighter". Green Left. Retrieved 1 October 2022.
  12. ^ Hall, Matthew (2018). "Forced Poetics in Lionel G. Fogarty's "Disguised, not attitude" and "Bam Gayandi"". Antipodes. 32 (1–2): 209–223. doi:10.13110/antipodes.32.1-2.0209. ISSN 0893-5580. JSTOR 10.13110/antipodes.32.1-2.0209.
  13. ^ "Lionel Fogarty biography". The Red Room Company. Retrieved 20 September 2012.
  14. ^ "Prime Minister's Literary Awards 2023 shortlists announced". Books+Publishing. 26 October 2023. Retrieved 26 October 2023.
  15. ^ "Winners of the 2023 Queensland Literary Awards announced". Media statements. Queensland Government. 5 September 2023. Retrieved 6 September 2023.
  16. ^ "Harvest Lingo". State Library of NSW. 1 February 2023. Retrieved 1 March 2023.
  17. ^ "VPLAs 2023 shortlists announced". Books+Publishing. 9 January 2023. Retrieved 2 February 2023.
  18. ^ "Lionel Fogarty". Monash Indigenous Studies Centre. Retrieved 24 February 2021.
  19. ^ "CRISIS!". 1856. Retrieved 24 February 2021.
  20. ^ Heiss, Anita (2003). Dhuuluu-Yala: To Talk Straight - Publishing Indigenous Literature. Aboriginal Studies Press. p. 150. ISBN 978-0-85575-444-0. Retrieved 7 November 2023.
  21. ^ "FAW Patricia Weickhardt Award to an Aboriginal Writer". AustLit. Retrieved 13 February 2020.
  22. ^ Kinsella, John (23 July 2022). "Harvest Lingo". The Saturday Paper. Retrieved 2 February 2023.
  23. ^ "Lionel Fogarty Selected Poems 1980-2017". re-press.org. Retrieved 1 June 2022.
  24. ^ Austlit. "Yvette Walker | AustLit: Discover Australian Stories". www.austlit.edu.au. Retrieved 1 June 2022.
  25. ^ Austlit. "Kargun Fogarty | AustLit: Discover Australian Stories". www.austlit.edu.au. Retrieved 1 June 2022.

Further reading

[edit]


Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Lionel_Fogarty&oldid=1245817123"