Ruby Maude (Anderson) Ginibi (1934 - 2011)

Born 26 Jan 1934 in Box Ridge Mission, near Coraki, New South Wales, Australia

Died 1 Oct 2011 at age 77 in Fairfield, New South Wales, Australia

Problems/Questions Profile manager: Australia Project WikiTree [send private message]

Biography

Ruby (Anderson) Ginibi is an Indigenous Australian.

Ruby (Anderson) Ginibi is Notable.

Home for Ruby is Bundjalung Country.^[1] She was born Ruby Maude Anderson on the 26th January 1934 at Box Ridge Mission, Corakai on the far north coast of New South Wales.^[2] Her father was Harry Anderson, log-cutter, family man, carter and her mother Evelyn Walker.^[3] She was named after one of her paternal grandmother's twin sisters Ruby Yuke.^[4]

Ruby's parents married when she was six months old.^[5] The family moved to Stoney Gully Mission near Kyogle, NSW where Ruby's sisters were born, and her father worked as a handyman for the manager. They relocated to Casino NSW, later returning to the mission at Corakai.^[6] Ruby was six years old, and her sisters aged four and two when their mother suddenly left the family. Their father took his daughters to live at Bonalbo, NSW with relatives to keep the children out of the hands of the Aboriginal Protection Board.^[7]

Ginibi, meaning black swan was a tribal name that a Bundjalung elder named her in 1990.^[8] Ruby began her first relationship at the age of sixteen, and gave birth to her first child of nine, when she was seventeen. She would have four relationships over her lifetime, including one marriage where she would take the surname Langford.^[9]

Ruby had a number of occupations, starting at age fifteen when she worked for a family cleaning the house and looking after two young children. She was a spokesperson, educator and author. Ruby gave lectures on Koori issues at universities and tertiary institutions.

Her books have won numerous awards. Ruby won the 1988 Human Rights Literature Award and the Pandora Womens Writing Award. "Dont take your love to town" was shortlisted for the Age Book of the Year Award in 1989.^[10] Her publications are studied as part of the curriculum in high schools and universities. Ruby was awarded a grant for 1996 by the Literature Board of the Australia Council as part of the Senior Writers' Fellowships.^[11] In 1998, she received an honorary doctorate of letters from La Trobe University, Victora and in 2005 she won the NSW Premier's Special Award and in in 2006 the Australia Council for the Arts' Writers' Emeritus Award for writers over the age of sixty-five years.^[12]

Ruby passed away at Fairfield Hospital, Sydney, aged 77, on 1 October 2011.^[13]

Sources

1. ↑ Ginibi, Ruby Langford, 1934-2011. My Bundjalung People. St Lucia, Qld : University of Queensland Press, 1994.
2. ↑ The Encyclopedia of Women & Leadership in Twentieth-Century Australia. Langford Ginibi, Ruby (1934 - 2011).https://www.womenaustralia.info/leaders/biogs/WLE0605b.htm
3. ↑ Ginibi, Ruby Langford, 1934-2011. Don't take your love to town. Ringwood, Vic. : Penguin, 1988
4. ↑ Ginibi, Ruby Langford, 1934-2011. All my mob. St Lucia, Qld : University of Queensland Press, 2007.
5. ↑ Australia, Marriage Index, 1788-1950, no 11544
6. ↑ Ginibi, Ruby Langford, 1934-2011. Don't take your love to town. Ringwood, Vic. : Penguin, 1988
7. ↑ Ginibi, Ruby Langford, 1934-2011. My Bundjalung People. St Lucia, Qld : University of Queensland Press, 1994. Ginibi, Ruby Langford, 1934-2011. All my mob. St Lucia, Qld : University of Queensland Press, 2007
8. ↑ Ginibi, Ruby Langford, 1934-2011. My Bundjalung People. St Lucia, Qld : University of Queensland Press, 1994.
9. ↑ Ruby Langford Ginibi. Wikipedia.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ruby_Langford_Ginibi
10. ↑ Ginibi, Ruby Langford, 1934-2011. My Bundjalung People. St Lucia, Qld : University of Queensland Press, 1994.
11. ↑ The Canberra Times (ACT : 1926 - 1995), Fri 6 Oct 1995, Page 6, Writers share $2.3m of grants for 1996 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/130562123?searchTerm=ruby%20ginibi
12. ↑ Australian Biography: Ruby Langford Ginibi. National Film and Sound Archive. https://shop.nfsa.gov.au/australian-biography-ruby-langford-ginibi. The Encyclopedia of Women & Leadership in Twentieth-Century Australia. Langford Ginibi, Ruby (1934 - 2011).https://www.womenaustralia.info/leaders/biogs/WLE0605b.htm
13. ↑ Ruby Langford Ginibi. Wikipedia.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ruby_Langford_Ginibi