Jack Davis

Jack Davis (1917−2000) began writing when he was fourteen years old. The fourth child in a family of eleven, he spent his childhood in the West Australian mill town of Yarloop. He worked for several years as a stockman in the north before returning to Perth and settling into full-time writing and a long life of service to the Aboriginal cause. His poetry collections include The First-Bornand Other Poems (1970), Jagardoo: Poems from Aboriginal Australia (1978), John Pat and Other Poems (1988) and Black Life (1992). His plays include No Sugar, Barungin, Honey Spot, Kullark, The Dreamers and In Our Town. In l991 his memoir A Boy’s Life was published. He has received numerous distinctions including the British Empire Medal, the Order of Australia and honorary doctorates from the universities of Murdoch and Western Australia. An inaugural David Unaipon Award judge, he served as judge on the panel from 1988 to 1996.