When did jack davis die
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“For his outstanding contribution to literature, his achievements as a writer, playwright and poet and for his work that has brought a greater understanding of Aboriginal culture to the wider community.”
A prominent playwright and poet who expresses the richness and diversity of Indigenous culture, Jack Davis has been described as the most public voice in Aboriginal literature. His work cuts across language, generation and racial barriers to present the multifaceted issues of Aboriginality in a very accessible way.
Jack Davis was born in 1917 and grew up in Yarloop, a small timber town south of Perth. He was one of eleven children and spoke English as his first language. As a boy he had a vivid imagination and an interest in words and writing.
In some ways, it may seem that I did not have the necessary characteristics to become a poet and playwright. Neither of my parents could read or write. My life has been spent amongst people generally lacking in a written tradition. Yet from an early age I have had a love of words. I have led an active an
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AustLit
Jack Leonard Davis grew up at Yarloop, Western Australia. His mother was forcibly removed from her parents, and Davis himself later discovered the details of her family history. Sent to the Moore River Native Settlement to learn farming at the age of 14, Davis' experiences there would later provide a foundation for his dramatic writing. After nine months, he left the Settlement. His father's subsequent death created a family crisis, which led to the first of many jobs for Davis. He has worked as a stockman, boxer, horse-breeder, train driver and truck driver.
While living at the Brookton Aboriginal Reserve, Davis started to learn the language and culture of his people. He was the Director of the Aboriginal Centre in Perth from 1967 to 1971 and became the first Chair of Aboriginal Lands Trust in Western Australia in the same year.
His writing spans the genres of drama, poetry, short fiction, autobiography and critical material, and reflects a lifelong commitment to Aboriginal activism. His work explores such issues as the identity problems faced by Aboriginal you
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Jack Davis (playwright) facts for kids
Jack Leonard DavisAM, BEM (11 March 1917 – 17 March 2000) was an Australian 20th-century Aboriginalplaywright, poet and Aboriginal Australian activist. Academic Adam Shoemaker, who has covered much of Jack Davis‘ work and Aboriginal literature, has claimed he was one of “Australia’s most influential Aboriginal authors”. He was born in Perth, Western Australia, where he spent most of his life and later died. He identified with the Western Australian Noongar people, and he included some of this language into his plays. His work incorporates themes of Aboriginality and identity.
While known for his literary work, Davis did not focus on writing until his fifties. His writing centred around the Aboriginal experience in relation to the settlement of white Australians. His collection of poems The First Born was his first work to be published and also made him the second Aboriginal to have published poetry by 1970, after Kath Walker, also known by her Aboriginal name Oodgeroo Noonuccal. He later focused his writing on plays, starting with Kull
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