This collection contains poetry, prose, speeches, and reports; correspondence; photographs, newspaper cuttings; press releases; invitations; programmes; research material; and plans.

This series consists of both published and unpublished works by Oodgeroo Noonuccal and contains poetry, short stories, play scripts, speeches and reports.

Poetry and prose by Oodgeroo Noonuccal (Kath Walker).

The original folder was titled 'Poems unpublished' and has a contents listing by Kath Walker. Some poems have been published since the author created this file. It contains 34 poems, some with copies or drafts. The poems are:

1. 'I'm Not’ (3 drafts, one handwritten);
2. ‘Westerlies’ (On the back of ‘The glass island’ by Laurie Neill);
3. ‘Butcher Bird’ (4 drafts, one handwritten);
4. ‘Hari Sastra’ (3 handwritten drafts);
5. ‘Little Bean’ (2 drafts, one handwritten, with another poem on the back, 'Woman's Lament');
6. ‘Oration’ (5 drafts);
7. ‘Full Moon’ (6 drafts);
8. ‘Mangrove Bird’ (7 drafts);
9. ‘Exhausted’ (2 drafts);
10. ‘Wedding Song’ (6 drafts);
11. ‘Dead Wood’ (6 drafts);
12. ‘Hercules’ (2 drafts);
13. ‘Child of Two Races’ (2 drafts);
14. ‘No Place to Go’ (3 drafts, one handwritten);
15. ‘Roeburn Lament’ (2 drafts);
16. ‘Blue Crane’ (handwritten);
17. ‘Will I?’ (3 drafts);
18. ‘Minjerriba’ (5 drafts, one handwritten);
19. ‘To a Policeman’ (3 drafts);
20. ‘Noises’ (3 drafts, one handwritten);
21. ‘Credit and Loss’ (4 drafts);
22. ‘Furry Friend’ (4 drafts);
23. ‘Can you?’ (6 drafts);
24. ‘Lovers Quarrel’ (4 drafts);
25. ‘Yussef’ (6 drafts, two handwritten, one of which is written on a British airways waste disposal bag with an accompanying letter);
26. ‘Commonplace’ (4 drafts, one a photocopied handwritten draft);
27. ‘The Fisherman (for Bill Mewett’ (3 drafts);
28. ‘Grey Gum’;
29. ‘Civilised Man’ (3 drafts, one handwritten);
30. ‘Sunrise over Stradbroke’ (3 drafts);
31. ‘Poets (for Jack Davis)’ (3 drafts, one handwritten);
32. ‘Black Prostitute’ (3 drafts, one handwritten);
33. ‘Sister Poet (for Judith Wright)’ (1 draft, 1 carbon copy);
34. ‘Iban Long house’ (3 drafts, one handwritten).

Original folder titled 'Poems' containing typescript and/or handwritten poems which may have multiple copies or drafts. This file contains the following poems:
‘Aboriginal Charter of Rights’ (2 drafts, published in We are Going, Jacaranda Press);
‘Balance’;
‘The Black Commandments’ (2 drafts);
‘Bluff Mountain’ (2 drafts);
‘The Boomerang’ (2 drafts);
'The Bunyip’ (2 drafts, from My people);
‘Civilization’ (2 drafts, published in The Dawn is at Hand, Jacaranda Press);
‘Commonplace’ (2 drafts, one typescript, one handwritten – with photocopy);
‘Community rain song';
'Dawn’ (2 drafts);
‘Dead Life’;
‘Death of a Bunya Pine’ (handwritten);
‘Dim Lit Street’;
‘Exile’ (8 drafts, handwritten);
‘Film Man’ (handwritten);
‘First Love’;
‘The Fisherman’;
‘For Llywelyn’;
‘Forbidden Love’ (3 drafts);
'Germany, forgive our sins';
‘The Golden Voice’ (2 drafts);
'Hari Sastra' stanza, handwritten, beginning with the line 'But the speakers voice';
‘Justice’ (written on the back of booklet, Information for your visit to Rome);
‘Lament of the Dead’;
‘Life gets Teadious’ (2 drafts);
‘Lost Love (for Bill)’ (with attached poem, 'Bill') (both handwritten);
'The Masterpiece’ (handwritten);
‘Mia Filo’;
‘Minjerriba’;
‘Moongalba Night’ (handwritten);
‘Moongalba Peacocks’;
‘Not my Style’;
‘Oh Truganner’;
‘Oration’ ('Censored’ written in red pen across typescript poem);
‘Peacocks’ (3 drafts, handwritten);
‘Return to Nature’ (2 drafts);
‘Sammy Sparrow’;
‘Sister Poet’;
‘Son of Mine (to Denis)’ (2 drafts, published in We are Going, Jacaranda Press);
‘A Song of Hope’ (with letter);
‘Spinners’;
‘Spring is’ (photocopy of handwritten poem);
‘The Storm’ (handwritten);
‘Sunrise’ (2 drafts);
'Teachers';
‘Time is Running out’;
'United we win' (handwritten, published in We are Going, Jacaranda Press);
'We are Going’ (published in We are Going, Jacaranda Press).
Untitled poems (title from first line): 'Hello tree', 'Oh ancient city of Kano' (handwritten), 'We, at the Jungai Summer School', and 'Who stole his pride' (handwritten).

Original folder titled 'French translations of Colloquium papers' and contains 10 poems: ‘Le Crime du Pere Jacquot Le Noir’ (incomplete), ‘Le Racisme’, ‘Le Bunyip’, ‘Banal’, ‘Yussef (Hi-jacker)’, ‘La Civilisation’, ‘Mon Enfant’, ‘Mont Bluff’, ‘Les Droits De L'Aborigine’, and ‘Premiere Partie La Nature du Reve’ (incomplete).

Cover title for this typescript booklet is 'Time of Transition' by Woonona. Woonona would appear to be a pseudonym of Oodgeroo Noonuccal. Inside cover reads: Xavier Society Annual Literary Prize Competition 1965 'Collection of poems' by Woonona.

It contains 14 poems:

Assimilation -- No! (published in The Dawn is at Hand, My People, Jacaranda Press); Integration -- Yes! (published in The Dawn is at Hand, My People, Jacaranda Press); Municipal Gum (published in The Dawn is at Hand, Jacaranda Press); Understand, Old One (published in The Dawn is at Hand, Jacaranda Press); Biami (published in The Dawn is at Hand, Jacaranda Press); Civilization (published in The Dawn is at Hand, Jacaranda Press); Bora (published in The Dawn is at Hand, Jacaranda Press); 'Sounds beset me' (published as Sounds assail me in The Dawn is at Hand, Jacaranda Press); The Woor Woman (published in The Dawn is at Hand, Jacaranda Press); The Past (published in The Dawn is at Hand, Jacaranda Press); Artist Son (published in The Dawn is at Hand, Jacaranda Press); The Child Wife (published in My People, Jacaranda Press); The Food Gatherers (published in The Dawn is at Hand, Jacaranda Press); Community Rain Song (published in The Dawn is at Hand, Jacaranda Press); ‘Briefs’.

The original folder had the title 'Unpublished poems and stories, copies only, for America'. It contains a list of stories and poems (2 copies) with handwritten details for Kath Walker. The poems: ‘Blue Crane’, ‘Mangrove Bird’, ‘Minjerriba’, ‘Butcher Bird’, ‘Moongalba Peacocks’, ‘Credit and Loss’, ‘The Golden Voice’ (2 drafts), ‘Oration’, ‘Oh Trugganner’, ‘Papua New Guinea’, ‘Bluff Mountain’, ‘Little Bean’, ‘Hari Sastra’, ‘Iban Longhouse’, ‘Yussef (Hi-jacker)’ (2 drafts, along with a typed paragraph summary by Kath Walker about the context in which the poem was written), ‘Commonplace’, ‘Exile’, ‘Grey Gum’, and ‘Sister Poet’. An extra poem, not on the list is included: 'Son of son of mine' (2 drafts). Short stories: ‘Wail Rock’, ‘No horses for a month’, ‘Ole Mick’, ‘The Bunyip’, ‘Black Jimmy's Crime’, ‘We Look after our own’, and an untitled story, handwritten, that begins with the line, ‘I feared old Kindarra’.

Original folder was titled 'Short stories'. There is one screen play and 28 short stories. Some are edited or annotated; some have multiple drafts; some are written by Kathryn Ruska. Contains the following short stories:
‘The Armada’ (2 drafts);
‘Black Jimmy's Crime’;
‘Boonah (Bloodwood Gum)';
‘The Boy who shot the kookaburra’ (condensed from Stradbroke Dreamtime) [on heat sensitive paper];
‘The Bunyip’ (4 versions, one by Kathryn Ruska);
‘The Bush Ranger’ (by Ruska);
‘Cookie’ (2 drafts);
‘Edward Ruska’ (2 drafts, one missing first page);
‘Fantasy in Sepia’;
‘Flight into Tunis’ (2 drafts);
‘Gooboora and the Bunyip’;
‘Gubbin and Grasshopper’ (6 drafts);
‘Joshua and Roo-Roo’;
‘Judge Not’ (K. Ruska);
‘Koo-Poo’ (3 drafts);
‘Koorie and Boorie’ (2 drafts);
‘Lucy McCullock’;
‘The Magic Hour’ (2 drafts by Kathryn Ruska);
‘The Magic Hour’ (screenplay);
‘No Horses for a Month’ (2 drafts);
‘Poetic Justice’;
‘The Rosary Beads’ (2 drafts);
‘Swans and Che’ (handwritten);
‘The Tail of Pinky Platypus’ (2 drafts by Kathryn Ruska);
‘Tiny and Wee’ (3 drafts; one by Kathryn Ruska);
'Tuggan-Tuggan (Silky Oak)';
‘The Turtle’;
‘The Unhappy Golliwog’ (3 drafts; one by Kathryn Ruska);
‘We look after our own’ (2 handwritten drafts); and
‘What the seagulls told me’.

The original folder was titled 'Manuscripts submitted to A&R' and contains short stories and poems submitted to Angus and Robertson. Some have corrections and annotations. Indicated in square brackets after the tile are handwritten notes that appear on the first page. Some may also have corrections. This file contains:
‘Beginning of Life’ (published as ‘The Beginning of Life’) [submitted to A&R. Accepted];
‘Biami and Bunyip’ [submitted to A&R. Accepted];
‘Burr+Nong (Bora Ring)’ [submitted to A&R. Accepted];
Boonah (Bloodwood Gum)' [submitted to A&R.];
‘The Carpet Snake’ (published as Carpet Snake) [submitted to A&R. Accepted];
‘Curlew’ [submitted to A&R. Accepted];
‘Dear Boys and Girls’ (letter) [submitted to A&R. Accepted];
‘The Dugong Hunt’ (published as Dugong Coming!) [submitted to A&R. Accepted];
‘Dunwich Stradbroke Island Assimilation of Aborigines’ (2 drafts);
‘Edward Ruska’;
'The Exercise Book' [submitted to A&R.];
‘The Fisherman’ [? submitted to A&R.];
‘Going Crabbing’ [original had not submitted to A&R but the not has been crossed out. Accepted];
‘The Hunter’ (published as The Shark) [submitted to A&R. Accepted];
‘Interlude’ [submitted to A&R. Accepted];
'Joshua and Roo-Roo';
'Kill to eat' [submitted to A&R. Accepted];
'Mai (Black Bean)';
‘Midden’ (published as ‘The Midden’) [submitted to A&R. Accepted];
‘Mirrabooka (Southern Cross)’ [submitted to A&R. Accepted];
‘Muma's Pet’ [submitted to A&R.];
‘Not Our Day’ [submitted to A&R.];
‘Pomera (Banksia)’ [submitted to A&R. Accepted];
‘Racism’ (3 copies);
‘School Days’ [submitted to A&R. Accepted];
‘Stradbroke’ [submitted to A&R. Accepted];
‘Talwalpin (Cotton Tree) and Kowinka (Red Mangrove)' [submitted to A&R. Accepted];
'Tia Gam (Lawyer Vine)' [submitted to A&R. Accepted];
'Tuggan-Tuggan (Silky Oak)' [submitted to A&R. Accepted];
‘We three’ (poem) [submitted to A&R.];
'Wher's Mother (published as Where's Mother) [submitted to A&R. Accepted];
'Wonga and Nudu' [submitted to A&R. Accepted].