Is That You, Ruthie: First Nations Classics

(Paperback, 3rd ed.)

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Now included in UQP's First Nations Classics series with an introduction from Jackie Huggins, Is That You, Ruthie is a remarkable memoir that recounts, with characteristic humour and honesty, a dormitory girl's life on the Mission. 'Is 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. Ruthie is the central character in this lively and candid memoir of institutional life. Her milestones and memories reflect the experiences of many dormitory girls. The strong and lasting bonds that developed between them helped to compensate for family love and support denied them by the government's disruptive removal policy. An inspiring life story, this remarkable memoir won the David Unaipon Award in 1998.

Author Bio

Ruth Hegarty won the 1998 David Unaipon Award for unpublished Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander writers with her manuscript Is That You, Ruthie Her sequel memoir Bittersweet Journey, which recounts with humour and honesty, her life after Cherbourg Mission as a wife, a mother and an advocate for the Indigenous community, was published in 2003 by UQP. She has raised a family of eight children and lives in Brisbane, and for more than thirty years has been involved on a volunteer basis in projects for the elderly and youth. A founding member of Koobara Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Family Resource Centre, she was president of the Nalingu Respite Centre in Brisbane, and a trainer with the Home and Community Care Resource Unit. In 1998 she was awarded the Premier's Award for Queensland Seniors for outstanding service to the community.