Alice Pearl Daiguma Eather (1988/1989 – 4 June 2017) was an Aboriginal Australian slam poet, environmental campaigner and teacher from Maningrida.[1][2] In 2013 she started Protect Arnhem Land, an anti-fracking campaign group against Paltar Petroleum.[3] It was successful in convincing the Northern Territory government to suspend the application pending agreement with the local population; further campaigning eventually led to Paltar withdrawing the application in 2016.[3] In 2014 Eather received the Northern Territory Young Achiever's Environment Award for her work in preventing oil exploration of Arnhem Land.[2] She contributed poetry to the anthology Growing Up Aboriginal In Australia (2018),[4] and appeared in the ABC television programme The Word: Rise of the Slam Poets.[5]
Eather was born in Brisbane to Helen Djimbarrwala Willams and Michael Eather, an artist and gallery-owner with European ancestors who arrived on the Second Fleet.[4] She was raised and educated in Brisbane but moved to Maningrida to become the first Ndjebbana-speaking Aboriginal teacher. She died at age 28 as a result of suicide.[1][6]
References[edit]
- ^ a b "Vale Alice Eather: Aboriginal poet, teacher and warrior". 24 June 2017. Retrieved 13 January 2020.
- ^ a b Bardon, the National Reporting Team's Jane (10 June 2017). "The slam poet who forced big oil out of Arnhem Land". ABC News. Retrieved 13 January 2020.
- ^ a b Jane Bardon (9 June 2017). "Alice Eather: The slam poet who forced oil company Paltar Petroleum out of Arnhem Land". ABC News.
- ^ a b "Growing Up Aboriginal in Australia by Anita Heiss | Black Inc". 13 January 2020. Archived from the original on 13 January 2020. Retrieved 13 January 2020.
- ^ "The Word Rise of the Slam Poets". ABC iview. Retrieved 15 January 2020.
- ^ Petersen, Freya (18 September 2017). "Alice Eather: Anti-fracking activist's 'black dog' never left her, family says". ABC. Retrieved 13 January 2020.