Ruby Langford Ginibi was one of the most important figures in Aboriginal and Australian cultural and literary history. She died on 1 October 2011. Through her landmark writings, she was pivotal in presenting to Australian culture an Aboriginal perspective on Australian history, culture and tradition. Her published writings, including the now canonical text Don’t Take Your Love to Town, effectively contributed to the establishment of a new genre of writing, termed ‘life writing,’ that intermixed personal and public narrative, community and national history, and that innovatively deployed Aboriginal oral tradition within a print medium to give voice to Aboriginals in this country. Ideally, Aunty Ruby should be receiving a state funeral in recognition of her outstanding contribution to Australian identity and culture. Her published writings were instrumental in laying the foundation for future Aboriginal writers, including Dr Anita Heiss, who has publicly acknowledged the debt that she and other young Aboriginal writers owe to Aunty Ruby’s trailblazing achievements. Aunty Ruby’s writings have been taught across a wide range of university courses and disciplines, including cultural studies, literature, sociology, Indigenous studies, anthropology, sociology and Australian studies. As an acclaimed author, historian and lecturer on Aboriginal history, politics and culture, Aunty Ruby was passionately committed to achieving social justice for her people through the medium of education. Her contribution in the field of education was recognised through an Honorary Doctorate of Letters (Honos Causia), awarded by La Trobe University, Victoria, in 1998. In addition, Aunty Ruby’s enormous contribution to Australian and Aboriginal culture has been validated by the range of national and state awards she received in the course of her career, including: the Australian Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission Human Rights Award for Literature; the inaugural History Fellowship from the NSW Ministry of Arts; the Australia Council for the Arts Writers’ Emeritus Award; and the NSW Premier’s Literary Awards Special Award. If any one would like to contribute to Auntie Ruby’s funeral expenses please let us know, as there is a $17,000 shortfall in the cost of her burial. We are also lobbying state authorities for this on behalf of the family. Suvendrini Perera has guaranteed the cost of the funeral and any help would be much appreciated. Please send any donations to Suvendrini at the address below.

Professor Suvendrini Perera School of Media, Culture and Creative Arts Curtin University Perth, WA 6102 S.Perera@curtin.edu.au

Associate Professor Joseph Pugliese Macquarie University Sydney, NSW Joseph.Pugliese@mq.edu.au