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Ruth Hegarty Ruth Hegarty i(A29279 works by) (birth name: Ruth Duncan) (a.k.a. Aunty Ruth Hegarty)
Born: Established: 1929 Mitchell, Roma - Mitchell - Morven area, Roma - Charleville - Quilpie area, South West Queensland, Queensland, ;
Gender: Female
Heritage: Aboriginal Gungarri ; Aboriginal
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BiographyHistory

While still a baby, Ruth's family moved to the Cherbourg Settlement. At the age of four, Ruth, along with her sister, was separated from the rest of the family and confined to dormitory accommodation until she was fourteen. After working for many years in domestic service, Hegarty married Joe Hegarty and raised a family of eight children.

Ruth Hegarty was a founding member of Koobara Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Family Resource Centre, president of the Brisbane respite centre Nalingu and has for many years been involved on a volunteer basis with projects for the young and the elderly. In 1998, she was awarded the Premier's Award for Queensland Seniors Year, for services to the community. In 1999, she served as the Queensland representative on the National Committee for the International year of Older Persons. In 2007, she was a member of the Queensland Stolen Wages Working Group for the Senate enquiry into stolen wages of Aboriginal workers.

Hegarty's story was recorded by the National Library of Australia for the Bringing Them Home oral history project and appeared in the associated publication Many Voices: Reflections on Experiences of Indigenous Child Separation edited by Doreen Mellor and Anna Haebich (2002).

Her two autobiographies appeared in 1999 and 2003. After a hiatus, she returned to publishing in 2015 with a series of children's books published by Scholastic Australia.

Most Referenced Works

Personal Awards

2010 Queensland Greats Awards 'Mrs Hegarty has actively pursued social justice for Indigenous people for most of her life. She was the spokesperson for the Queensland 'Stolen Wages' campaign and 'The Redress Scheme' and has participated in a number of government advisory groups including the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Advisory Board and the Domestic Violence Council. Mrs Hegarty has established, operated and supported a range of Indigenous organisations and services. Mrs Hegarty has overcome the disadvantages associated with childhood institutionalisation and the historical racial discriminatory practices of previous governments to achieve practical outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders in Queensland. Mrs Hegarty is also a published writer and is known for works such as Is that You Ruthie? and My Bittersweet Journey, which document her personal history as one of the Stolen Generation and her childhood experiences of living in the Cherbourg dormitories.' Source: www.premiers.qld.gov.au/ (Sighted 23/06/2010).
1998 Premier's Awards for Queensland Seniors
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Awards for Works

y separately published work icon Pip and Pim Lindfield : Scholastic Australia , 2015 8688369 2015 single work picture book children's

Two ringtail possums explore the ground for the first time.
2016 shortlisted Speech Pathology Australia Book of the Year Awards — Indigenous Children
y separately published work icon Is That You, Ruthie? St Lucia : University of Queensland Press , 1999 Z226781 1999 single work autobiography (taught in 3 units) 'It that you...? Matron's voice would ring out across the dormitory. In that pause sixty little girls would stop in their tracks, waiting to hear who was in trouble. All too often the name called out would be that of the high spirited dormitory girl Ruthie. In the depression years Queensland's notorious Cherbourg Aboriginal Mission became home to four-year old Ruth until her late teens when she was sent out to serve as a domestic on a station homestead.' (Source: University of Queensland Press website)
1998 winner Queensland Literary Awards — Unpublished Indigenous Writer : David Unaipon Award
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Last amended 28 Sep 2017 14:30:06
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