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AbstractHistoryArchive Description
'A verse novel that centres around the impact of colonisation in mid-north South Australia around 1880. Ruby, refugee of a massacre, shelters in the woods where she befriends an Irishman trapper. The poems convey how fear of discovery is overcome by the need for human contact, which, in a tense unravelling of events, is forcibly challenged by an Aboriginal lawman. The natural world is richly observed and Ruby’s courtship is measured by the turning of the seasons.'
Source: Magabala Books.
Reading Australia
This work has Reading Australia teaching resources.
Unit Suitable ForAC: Year 10 (NSW Stage 5)
Curriculum Summary
Find a summary table for Australian Curriculum: English content descriptions and NSW Syllabus outcomes for this unit.
Themes
Aboriginal history and culture, Books by Indigenous creators, History, Indigenous culture, relationships
General Capabilities
Critical and creative thinking, Ethical understanding, Intercultural understanding, Literacy, Personal and social
Cross-curriculum Priorities
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander histories and cultures
Notes
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Dedication: For my Kami who disappeared in 1976 and for all our mob who died innocent brave in true spirit.
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A novel in verse, a series of interconnected poems.
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In May 2020, Books + Publishing announced that Arenamedia had acquired screen adaptation rights to Ruby Moonlight. (Source: https://www.booksandpublishing.com.au/articles/2020/05/06/149991/arena-acquires-film-rights-to-cobby-eckermanns-ruby-moonlight/)
Contents
- Naturei"nature can swirl", single work poetry (p. 6)
- Harmonyi"in warm afternoon light", single work poetry (p. 7)
- Morningi"ribbons of campfire smoke", single work poetry (p. 8)
- Warningi"the old man and his wife", single work poetry (p. 9)
- Ambushi"hack hack hack", single work novel (p. 10)
- Silencei"the ambience of the morning is ruined", single work poetry (p. 11)
- Shadowi"this survivor is a lubra", single work poetry (p. 12)
- Birdsi"senses shattered by loss", single work poetry (p. 13)
- Ochrei"green and bright blue flits of colour", single work poetry (p. 14)
- Wanderi"the desert of her mind has determined wanderings", single work poetry (p. 15)
- Wanderi"the desert of her mind has determined wanderings", single work poetry (p. 15)
- Dreami"in her sleep she dreams", single work poetry (p. 16)
- Shelteri"there is a bend along the river", single work poetry (p. 17)
- Washi"her new life starts", single work poetry (p. 18)
- Sedgei"the woman weaves baskets from sedge", single work poetry (p. 19)
- Giftsi"the gift of gentle rain", single work poetry (p. 20)
- Intrudei"another rain storm", single work poetry (p. 21)
- Smokei"from within the wattle bush hide", single work poetry (p. 22)
- Bunyipi"the lubra follows", single work poetry (p. 23)
- Shacki"inside the earthen shack", single work poetry (p. 24)
Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of
Other Formats
- Large print.
Works about this Work
-
y
At Home with Kirli Saunders
Melbourne
:
Bad Producer Productions
,
2021
23451910
2021
single work
podcast
interview
'Kirli Saunders is a proud Gunai Woman and award-winning international writer of poetry, plays and picture books. She is a teacher, cultural consultant and artist. In 2020, Kirli was named the NSW Aboriginal Woman of the Year.
'Kirli created Poetry in First Languages, delivered by Red Room Poetry. Her debut picture book The Incredible Freedom Machines was shortlisted for the Prime Minister’s Literary Awards and CBCA notables. Her poetry collection, Kindred was shortlisted for the ABIA 2020 Book Awards. Her verse novel, Bindi was the inaugural winner of the WA Premier's Book Awards and the Daisy Utemorrah Award.
'Kirli has been shortlisted for the Nakata Brophy prize in 2018 and 2020. She is an esteemed judge for the 2020 Prime Minister’s Literary Awards, QPF Val Vallis Award and Blake Poetry Prize.
'As a playwright, Kirli is co-creating Dead Horse Gap with Merrigong Theatre and South East Arts. Her first Solo play, Going Home has been supported by Playwriting Australia, and will take the stage in 2022.' (Production introduction)
-
y
Ali Cobby Eckermann : On 'Ruby Moonlight'
Astrid Edwards
(interviewer),
Melbourne
:
Bad Producer Productions
,
2020
19326836
2020
single work
podcast
interview
'Ali Cobby Eckermann is one of Australia's finest poets. In this interview, she talks at length about Ruby Moonlight, her massacre verse novel exploring colonisation in Australia.
'Ruby Moonlight received the black&write! kuril dhagun Indigenous Writing Fellowship and the Deadly Award Outstanding Achievement in Literature in 2012, as well as the Kenneth Slessor Poetry Prize and Book of the Year Award in the NSW Premier’s Literary and History Awards in 2013.
'In 2020 Ali is an Adjunct Professor at RMIT University. To listen to Ali speak about her other works, listen to this interview on The Garret, recorded in late 2019.'
Source: The Garret.
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Reading and Viewing : [Indigenous Texts for Year 7 - 10]
2019
single work
criticism
— Appears in: English in Australia , vol. 54 no. 1 2019; (p. 76-82) -
Ali Cobby Eckermann's Personal Story
2017
single work
column
— Appears in: Publishers Weekly , 29 December vol. 265 no. 1 2017;'In Too Afraid to Cry: Memoir of a Stolen Childhood (Norton, Mar. 2018), Ali Cobby Eckermann, one of the Stolen Generation--the Aboriginal children taken from their birth mothers to be raised in white families--describes in heartbreaking detail the unjust, racist treatment of her people by the Australian government. The book, written in both prose and poetry, came to be only after Eckermann's decades-long search for her Aboriginal family resulted in a transformative reunion with the mother she didn't know and numerous other relatives she didn't know existed. [...]I was out there with family and community members who were saying, 'Ali, you've got to write about this and stick up for us.'' (Publication summary)
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Aboriginal Poet Living in Penury Receives $ AUD 20,000 Prize
2017
single work
column
— Appears in: The Times of India , 4 March 2017; 'It was almost unbelievable for a very tearful Ali Cobby Eckermann when she described the impact of a literary prize worth $ AUD 200,000 in her life and family, that had witnessed all these years the predicaments of the Australian Stolen Generations.' (Introduction)
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Well Read
2012
single work
review
— Appears in: The Advertiser , 5 May 2012; (p. 20)
— Review of Karrawirra Parri : Walking the Torrens from Source to Sea 2012 single work prose ; Thirty Days' Notice 2012 selected work poetry ; Ruby Moonlight 2012 single work novel -
Struggles of Life and Death
2012
single work
review
— Appears in: The Weekend Australian , 17-18 November 2012; (p. 22-23)
— Review of Ruby Moonlight 2012 single work novel ; Looking out from Bashan: The Republic of Og 2012 selected work poetry -
Poetry
2012
single work
review
— Appears in: English in Australia , vol. 47 no. 2 2012; (p. 111-112)
— Review of Ruby Moonlight 2012 single work novel -
Sarah Holland-Batt on Anthony Lawrence and Ali Cobby Eckermann
2012
single work
review
— Appears in: Long Paddock , vol. 72 no. 3 2012;
— Review of Ruby Moonlight 2012 single work novel ; The Welfare of My Enemy 2011 single work poetry -
Poetry Two New Long Poems
2012
single work
review
— Appears in: Overland [Online] , June 2012;
— Review of Marionette : Notes Toward the Life and Times of Miss Marion Davies 2012 selected work poetry ; Ruby Moonlight 2012 single work novel -
Indigenous Writing Project
2012
single work
column
— Appears in: National Indigenous Times , 9 May no. 263 2012; (p. 39) -
Reflections
2012
single work
biography
— Appears in: Koori Mail , 16 May no. 526 2012; (p. 21) -
Huge Power in Sparse Narratives
2013
single work
column
— Appears in: The Sydney Morning Herald , 20 May 2013; (p. 18) -
A Pair of Ragged Claws
2013
single work
column
— Appears in: The Weekend Australian , 25-26 May 2013; (p. 21) -
Aspects of Australian Poetry in 2012
2013
single work
review
— Appears in: Westerly , June vol. 58 no. 1 2013; (p. 68-91)'T he act of reading for appraisal rather than pleasure is a privilege that brings me to a deepened understanding of the contemporary in Australian poetry, the way the past is being framed, its traditions, celebrities and enigmas washed up in new and hybrid appearances or redressed in more conventional, sometimes nimbus forms. Judith Wright wrote that the ‘place to find clues is not in the present, it lies in the past: a shallow past, as all immigrants to Australia know, and all of us are immigrants.’ The discipline of reading to filter such a range of voices underlines my foreignness, making reading akin to translation, whilst reciprocally inviting the reader of this essay to become a foreigner to my assumptions and conclusions.' (Introduction)
Awards
- 2014 shortlisted Adelaide Festival Awards for Literature — John Bray Poetry Award
- 2013 winner New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards — Book of the Year
- 2013 winner New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards — Kenneth Slessor Prize for Poetry
- 2012 winner Deadly Sounds Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Music, Sport, Entertainment and Community Awards — Outstanding Achievement in Literature
- 2011 joint winner black&write! Indigenous Writing Fellowships
- Mid North South Australia, South Australia,
- 1880s