Book review of 'Whispers of this Wik Woman', by Fiona Doyle. Black Australian Writing, The University of Queensland Press, St Lucia, QLD, 2004

Abstract

Whispers of this Wik woman chronicles the life story of an Australian Aboriginal woman from the region of Weipa, western Cape York, Australia. Awumpun (Jean George, b.1925) was born and raised in the Aurukun Presbyterian Mission (established 1904). Her father, Dick Kelinda (1900–48), was raised at Aurukun but was an Alngith Wikwaya man, and her father’s father, Yepenyi, an Alngith man, had been confined there as a young man. Awumpun journeyed to her country at Weipa as a young woman, and there raised her children and grandchildren. Through various trials and tribulations, and personal and political achievements, she made a name for herself, and in this account of her life told by her granddaughter, Fiona Doyle, we see a woman driven to right injustice, as well as a woman living a quieter life, punctuated by some difficulties.