Angus Wallam (1926 – October 2014)[1] was a Noongar Aboriginal elder from Wagin. He was a respected elder there. He received the Wagin Australia Day Citizenship Award for his work with Indigenous youth and community. He grew up at Marribank Mission (also known as Carrolup). He worked for farmers and contractors, built roads, and worked on the railway for 22 years. He has nine children and around 40 grandchildren.[2]
Published works
editCorroboree is the childhood story of Aboriginal Elder Angus Wallam – as co-authored by him and Suzanne Kelly.[3][4]
| “ | It’s springtime - Wirrin's favourite time of the year. As he sets about enjoying hunting with his father, collecting ochre with his grandfather, digging for sweet potato with his ngarngk wer gathering wattle seed with his grandmother, people are coming from far wer wide for the big corroboree at which Wirrin will see yennar his cousins wer dance the night away. | ” |
The book was a joint prize winner of the 1999 Marrwarning Award for Published and Unpublished books by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders.
More of his memories and stories can be found in the publications Sort of a Place Like Home: Remembering the Moore River Native Settlement, by Susan Maushart,[5] and The Wailing: A National Black Oral History, by Stuart Rintoul,[6] and in a video interview with Robyn Smith Wally available on Vimeo.[7]
Drawings and artwork done by children at the Carrolup Mission during the 1930s, including artworks by Angus Wallam, were displayed in an exhibition at Curtin University called "Heart Coming Home", or Koolark Koort Koorliny in August 2013. In May 2013 Angus Wallam and Ezzard Flowers, another Indigenous leader, signed an memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Colgate University, the owner of the artworks, and Curtin University to house the artworks permanently at Curtin University on condition that they be made available for viewing by Nyungar and other Indigenous students there.[8]
Ngiyan waarnk - References
edit- ↑ "Death notice". The West Australian. 6 October 2014
- ↑ Sarah Quinton. "Elder's heart is in bush and land". The West Australian. 26 January 2010
- ↑ Suzanne Kelly wer Angus Wallam. Illustrations by Norma MacDonald. Corroboree. 2004 UWA Press
- ↑ "Angus Wallam (2 works by)". Austlit Authors
- ↑ Susan Maushart. Sort of a place like Home. Fremantle Arts Centre Press. 1993 (Google Books)
- ↑ Stuart Rintoul. The Wailing: A National Black Oral History. published by W. Heinemann Australia. 1 January 1993
- ↑ "Angus Wallam talks to Robyn Wally"
- ↑ Victoria Laurie. "Stolen Generations' homecoming". The Australian. 1 August 2013