Research Catalog

Title

Nomad girl : my life on the gibber plains and beyond / Kanakiya Myra Ah Chee ; as told to Linda Rive.

Author

Ah Chee, Kanakiya Myra

Publication

Canberra, A.C.T. : Aboriginal Studies Press, 2021.

Items in the Library & Off-site

Details

Description

xii, 208 pages, 16 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations (chiefly colour), map, portraits (chiefly colour), genealogical tables; 23 cm

Summary

Kanakiya Myra Ah Chee was born at Oodnadatta in remote South Australia in 1932. When her mother tragically died Myra was only eight. Her grieving father gathered up the remaining family and walked north - away from her childhood home. They spent years as nomads, travelling with the camels that were her father's livelihood, up and down the Finke River. Her father sought work where and when he could, while he looked after his children, teaching them about the bush, their culture and life. It was a childhood of freedom, bush tucker, bush games, fires, stories at night and sleeping under the stars - at times idyllic but, at other times, terrifying and tragic. Myra's father was a safe and reassuring presence, but when he decided education was the key to his children's future, Myra's life was changed forever. There are so many stories to tell of my life, and sometimes I think they are not of importance, but they are, because often it is the little details that are the most important. I still remember every detail. [Like] Oodnadatta Country -- I can still see it, in my mind's eye, exactly as it was back in my time. The Country still calls me back to where I was born, a very exposed and stony land, but I still love it. That's where my spirit is. Kanakiya Myra Ah Chee was born at Oodnadatta in remote South Australia in 1932. When her mother tragically died Myra was only eight. Her grieving father gathered up the remaining family and walked north -- away from her childhood home. They spent years as nomads, travelling with the camels that were her father's livelihood, up and down the Finke River. Her father sought work where and when he could, while he looked after his children, teaching them about the bush, their culture and life. It was a childhood of freedom, bush tucker, bush games, fires, stories at night and sleeping under the stars -- at times idyllic but, at other times, terrifying and tragic. Myra's father was a safe and reassuring presence, but when he decided education was the key to his children's future, Myra's life was changed forever.

Subject

• Ah Chee, Kanakiya Myra
• Colebrook Training Centre (Eden Hills, S.A.)
• Institute for Aboriginal Development (Alice Springs, N.T.)
• Artists, Aboriginal Australian > Biography
• Nomads > Australia
• Aboriginal Australians > Biography
• Indigenous peoples > Australia > South Australia
• Artists, Aboriginal Australian

Genre/Form

• Biographies.
• Autobiographies.

Call Number

JFE 22-37

ISBN

• 9781922059833
• 1922059838

LCCN

2020415402

OCLC

1263662640

Author

Ah Chee, Kanakiya Myra, author.

Title

Nomad girl : my life on the gibber plains and beyond / Kanakiya Myra Ah Chee ; as told to Linda Rive.

Publisher

Canberra, A.C.T. : Aboriginal Studies Press, 2021.

Type of Content

text

still image

cartographic image

Type of Medium

unmediated

Type of Carrier

volume

Research Call Number

JFE 22-37