- Born
- Died
- Birth nameNugi Garimara
- Doris Pilkington was born on July 1, 1937 in Balfour Downs Station, Western Australia, Australia. She was a writer, known for Rabbit-Proof Fence (2002). She was married to Pilkington. She died on April 10, 2014 in Perth, Australia.
- SpousePilkington (4 children)
- Daughter of Molly Craig.
- She was taken when she was about three or four years of age and was 25 when she was reunited with her mother. Her traditional name is Nugi and her kinship name is Garimara. Her mother called her that as soon as she went home.
- In 1990 she entered the Indigenous writing spotlight when she won the David Unaipon Award for her work Caprice - A Stockman's Daughter.
- She was awarded the A.M. (Member of the Order of Australia) in the 2006 Queen's New Years Honours List for her services to to the arts in the area of Indigenous literature, particularly through the genre of life-storytelling to raise awareness of Indigenous history, culture and social conditions.
- Armadale, Western Australia
- It wasn't until I did research for 'Follow the Rabbit Proof Fence' that I read how Government policies were implemented, how children were removed under ministerial warrants and their mothers had no say in the matter. While my sister and I didn't come under ministerial warrants, the Government did it in a rather cunning sort of way. My mother had been suffering with appendicitis for many months and in those days Aboriginal people weren't admitted into public hospitals. They were taken to hospital if there was a medical problem and [only] if there was a 'Native Ward' attached to that hospital. Otherwise they were sent to Royal Perth Hospital and that's what they did with my mother. On the way they said that after the operation she'd be able to take us back with her, but the Government had already arranged to keep us, particularly my sister who was lighter-skinned than I. They didn't consider feelings at all, they just wanted to take the children away. They had decided as soon as my sister was born, they would focus on her.
- "I was so arrogant to believe that the film-makers would follow my book very very closely, as for the script, I was like 'Is this my story?', but its a matter of knowing and seeing the point of view of the film-makers. I was coming from a writer's perspective so I had to shift a little too to realise how the book makes a good film, makes a good story. Also, I was script consultant so I was there to see that no indigenous culture was breached and see that they respected the Aboriginal people's express wishes. When I asked my mother for permission to write the book she said, 'Yes, you can write the book, tell the story but don't talk about forbidden subjects'.
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