Kongk Walter Eatts

Nyoongar

Ngany woomboodin-kadak bibool-ak maar-koorl- abiny. Bibool baalap ngardi karnadjil ali mining wiring moroyit –kadak, ngalak kalyakoorl maar-koorl ngalang warn-midi. Worayin maar-koorl-kadak, baalap ngardi moordooyin-kadak. Ngalang kaat yira barang wer ngalak woomboodin-kadak djakoorl.

Ngany koolang-kwart Derby, 1937. Ngaangk baal Aboriginal wer Stolen Generation. Maambart baal koolang-kwart Andalap (Busselton) wer kalyakoorl kaadatj Maambardang moort baalap wadjila. Manda moorn wer djardak, ngany nyordo-kadak yoowart djardak, yoowart moorn, yoowart koordakan.

Ngaangk baal yoordjang moort-ool, 3 years-ngat wer nyin Beagle Bay Mission. Baal Jaru moort, People of Palm Springs near Halls Creek. Ngaangk baal yoowart waangkan kwedjang-ool, yalka ngolanga Doolan Leisha wer ngany kardo-kadak, Doolan Leisha yangaanan wer koongko ngany-ak wardiny nganyang Aboriginal koora-koora bardip wer wardiny boola boola moort-kadak.

Warn

Kwedjang koram koolang ngany nyin Kimberley, Charters Towers, Queensland wer yoodok bardook nganyang Maambart moort Kellerberrin-ngat. Ngany birdiya maar-koorl warn Kellerberrin-ngat wer nganyang yoodok 3 years maar-koorliny, baalap Channel Nine-kadak wer 6KY-kadak.

Ngany boola boola warn-kadak baalap ngort-kadak yambo djiraly-ak Australia. (Northern Australia) Ngany koodjir maar-koorl poetry, bibool, yeyinang-kadak warn, waangkan bardip, warangka wer yedi maar- koorliny.

Ngany NAIDOC Maaman Birdiya-ngat 2001 wer 2016. (NAIDOC Male Elder of the Year 2001 and 2016.) Ngany karnadjil djoorap ali 1987-ool, ngalang warn, Aboriginal Urban Services-ngat, Doolann Leisha wer ngany ngin wer koongko-kadak boola yeyinang noba wer yoka ali wara-midi-k baalap barang (Justice System) wer ngalak korangaanan baalabang wining.

English

I am proud of becoming an author. Books are important because no matter what hurdles we have gone through we can still write about these things. Words in print are powerful. We can hold our head up and walk proud.

I was born in Derby in 1937. Mum was Aboriginal and Stolen Generation. Dad was born in Busselton and we thought Dad’s family was white. Being somewhere between black and white, I felt not white, not black, not wanted.

Mum was taken from family when she was three and raised at Beagle Bay Mission. She was from the Jaru People of Palm Springs near Halls Creek. Mum would not talk about her past so it was not until Doolann Leisha and I married, that Doolann Leisha encouraged and supported me in researching my Aboriginal history and in finding many of my family members.

As a child, we lived in the Kimberley, in Derby, then Charters Towers in Queensland, and finally near Dad’s relatives in Kellerberrin. I qualified as a painter in Kellerberrin, and my last three years of painting were for Channel Nine and 6KY. I have worked as a stockman, a drover and horse breaker across the north of Australia. I am also a poet, author, youth worker, storyteller, singer and songwriter.

I was the NAIDOC male Elder of the Year in 2001 and 2016. I am especially pleased that since 1987, through our organisation Aboriginal Urban Services, Doolann Leisha and I have helped many young people caught up in the Justice system to turn their lives around.