Oomera Edwards Oomera Edwards i(A112460 works by) (a.k.a. Coral Edwards)
Born: Established: 1950 Tingha, Inverell - Ashford area, New England, New South Wales, ;
Gender: Female
Heritage: Aboriginal
The material on this page is available to AustLit subscribers. If you are a subscriber or are from a subscribing organisation, please log in to gain full access. To explore options for subscribing to this unique teaching, research, and publishing resource for Australian culture and storytelling, please contact us or find out more.

Works By

Preview all
1 Raised To Think White Oomera Edwards , 1996 single work extract
— Appears in: Voices of Aboriginal Australia : Past, Present, Future 1996; (p. 128-132)
1 Raised to Think White Oomera Edwards , 1990 single work life story
— Appears in: Being Aboriginal : Comments, Observations and Stories from Aboriginal Australians 1990; (p. 5-17)
1 The Lost Children Oomera Edwards , Peter Read , 1989 extract oral history (The Lost Children : Thirteen Australians Taken from Their Aboriginal Families Tell of the Struggle to Find Their Natural Parents)
— Appears in: The Aboriginal Health Worker , December vol. 13 no. 4 1989; (p. 33)
1 Introduction : The Lost Children : Thirteen Australians Taken from Their Aboriginal Families Tell of the Struggle to Find Their Natural Parents Oomera Edwards , 1989 single work criticism oral history
— Appears in: The Lost Children : Thirteen Australians Taken from Their Aboriginal Families Tell of the Struggle to Find Their Natural Parents 1989; (p. ix-xxv)
1 1 y separately published work icon The Lost Children : Thirteen Australians Taken from Their Aboriginal Families Tell of the Struggle to Find Their Natural Parents Oomera Edwards (editor), Peter Read (editor), Sydney : Doubleday , 1989 Z1470753 1989 anthology oral history Thirteen Aboriginal authors tell of the struggle to find their natural parents. The book is divided into three sections: Growing Up; Homecomings; and Reflections. The oral histories are transcriptions of taped interviews with the contributors. The contributors describe their childhood memories and experiences of the lies, deceit and suffering under government policies. Their stories are first hand accounts of their removal and placement into institutions and white foster families, and the difficulties they encountered along the way. Some children were sent to church institutions that 'wanted to created an Aboriginal working class', while others were sent to foster families. All of the children in these stories suffered the trauma of separation and many children were treated harshly and were subject to abuse. In being removed, they lost their links to family and community, and were forced to forge new identities. In their agonising search to find their real families they are confronted with a variety of confusing issues such as lack of identity, government and bureaucratic red tape, loss of family members, and the breakdown of family ties and culture.
1 2 form y separately published work icon Link-Up Diary Oomera Edwards , David MacDougall , Peter Read , Robyne Vincent , ( dir. David MacDougall ) 1987 9060614 1987 single work film/TV life story

'Link-Up Diary explores the consequences of the New South Wales government’s long-term practice of taking Aboriginal children away from their parents and raising them in “white” environments. The film takes the form of a personal journey by the filmmaker, David MacDougall, as he spends a week on the road with three workers from Link-Up.'

'Link-Up is an Aboriginal organisation founded in 1980 by Oomera (Coral) Edwards, herself taken away from her family, to help Aboriginal people find their lost parents and other relatives. As the film shows, being reunited with one’s family is only the first step in the process. Then begins the long and often difficult stage of learning to accept both the new family members and one’s new identity.'

'The film follows Oomera and two of her colleagues (historian Peter Read, and Link-Up trainee Robyne Vincent) as they follow up several of their cases in and around Sydney. In the process, they reunite a young woman with her father. Through these visits, we learn how children were taken and placed in institutions or put out for fostering or adoption by white families and the impact this separation had on the children themselves and their families...'

1 1 Is The Ward Clean? Oomera Edwards , 1982 single work criticism
— Appears in: All That Dirt : Aborigines 1938 1982; (p. 4-8)

'Case study of Jane King, Aboriginal girl sent to Cootamundra Home in 1923 by the Aborigines Welfare Board; describes the effect on her of institutionalization , particularly its obsession with hygiene and a denial of Aboriginality. ' (Source: TROVE)

X