Dorinda Cox (WA, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Today, with a heavy heart, I want to devote my speech to the memory of my pop Alfred Taylor Cuimara, who sadly passed away last weekend at the age of 77. Pop Alf was a proud Noongar man who grew up in New Norcia Mission in Western Australia in the 1950s and 1960s. He was a survivor of the stolen generations. In his early years, he worked as a seasonal farm worker and then he joined the armed forces.

Pop Alf has been referred to as the leading Noongar writer and poet of his generation. His published works include God, the Devil and Me, Cartwarra or What? and Long Time Now. The first of these titles, from 2021, was an autobiography that detailed his childhood in the mission, the cruelty and punishment they faced and how they were made to believe that they were 'little black devils' that God forgot. Many of my people who shared similar experiences to Pop Alf's fell into despair after leaving the mission and tragically died far too young. This is an all-too-common story for First Nations people across this country. This intergenerational trauma that we carry with us continues to impact on us in so many ways. His poems and short stories exposed uncomfortable truths about alcoholism and the profound losses the First Nations people have suffered but also the care, kindness and gentleness of community and the enduring strength and power of our mob.

Pop Alf was a loving member of our family and particularly of our Whadjuk and Noongar community in Perth, and his works leave behind a beautiful legacy. He will be greatly missed. Rest in power, Pop Alf.