Margaret Culbong Margaret Culbong i(A110477 works by) (a.k.a. Margaret Colbung)
Gender: Female
Heritage: Aboriginal Noongar / Nyoongar / Nyoongah / Nyungar / Nyungah / Noonygar ; Aboriginal
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Works By

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1 Exemption and Nyungar Letters in the West Australian Archives Anna Haebich , Darryl Kickett , Margaret Culbong , 2023 single work criticism
— Appears in: Australian Journal of Politics and History , March vol. 69 no. 1 2023; (p. 122-139)

'Rather than rewarding applicants seeking relief from the draconian 1905 Aborigines Act, Exemption Certificates in Western Australia became a bureaucratic weapon to enforce their rigid control through enforced prohibitions on alcohol for Nyungar people. Applications were routinely rejected, regardless of the applicant's way of life, which quickly deteriorated under the “care” of the Aborigines Department. At the same time, new laws further enforcing prohibitions through increased fines and imprisonment, meant few had any hope of release. This combination derailed the exemption process. The injustices were recently revealed by the Ancestors' Words: Nyungar Letter Writing in the Archives Project, which located activist application letters written by Ancestors of today's Nyungar families, letters which were held for many decades in archive files of the Aborigines Department. The files also contained devastating letters of rejection written by the Minister, his officers and local police. The Ancestors' letters of courage and their distressing rejections in reply are examined here in a powerful case study developed in conversations between two Nyungar Elders, the writer's granddaughter, and the project researcher. The study also reveals how the project's respectful return of letters to the Elders can restore these important stories from the past to the flow of living family memories, down the generations.' (Publication abstract)

1 Commemorations Loved Family Members : Margaret Culbong Margaret Culbong , 2002 single work oral history
— Appears in: Echoes of the Past : Sister Kate's Home Revisited 2002; (p. 71-74)
1 Margaret Colbung Margaret Culbong , 1990 single work life story
— Appears in: Being Aboriginal : Comments, Observations and Stories from Aboriginal Australians 1990; (p. 116-121)
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