Jack Davis (playwright)

For other people of the same name, see Jack Davis (disambiguation).

Jack Davis (11 March 1917 – 17 March 2000) was a notable Australian 20th-century playwright and poet, and an Indigenous rights campaigner. He was born in Western Australia, in the small town of Yarloop, and lived in Fremantle towards the end of his life. He was of the Aboriginal Noongar people, and much of his work dealt with the Indigenous Australian experience. He has been referred to as the 20th Century's Aboriginal Poet Laureate, and many of his plays are on Australian school syllabuses.

Davis was made a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in 1976, and a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) in 1985.

Works

Plays

• Kullark (1972)
• The Dreamers (1982)
• No Sugar (1985)
• Honeyspot (1985)
• Moorli and the Leprechaun (1986)
• Burungin (1988)
• Plays from Black Australia (1989)
• In your Town (1990)

Poetry

• The First-born and other poems (1970)
• The Black Tracker (1970)
• Jagardoo : Poems from Aboriginal Australia (1978)
• John Pat and Other Poems (1988) Publisher Dent Australia ISBN 0-86770-079-3
• Black Life : poems (1992)
• Wurru : poem from Aboriginal

Other works

• Jack Davis : A life-story (1988)
• A Boy's Life (1991)
• Paperbark : A Collection of Black Australian Writings (1992)

External links

• Jack Davis in AusStage