A night to remember: Queensland Literary Awards welcomes Aunty Elaine Kropinyeri

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander readers: This post contains images and names of people who have passed away.

On Wednesday 6 September, State Library of Queensland hosted the annual Queensland Literary Awards. This year’s ceremony was even more momentous thanks to the presence of Ngarrindjeri Elder Aunty Elaine Kropinyeri, who is the great-niece of the late Uncle David Unaipon.  

Aunty Elaine travelled the 2,000 kilometres from Mount Gambier, South Australia, to Brisbane to present the David Unaipon Award for an Emerging Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander Writer. During a conversation after the ceremony, Aunty Elaine shared that attending the event to present the award felt like a wonderful way to honour both her mother and her great-uncle David.  

Uncle David Unaipon, a Ngarrindjeri man who grew up on the Point MacLeay Mission in South Australia, was prodigious in the realms of art and science. The intersection of these disciplines rendered him a talented inventor. One of his most impressive inventions was a flying machine akin to a modern-day helicopter. Unaipon drew inspiration for this invention from the motion of boomerangs when they are mid-air. By the end of his life, he had taken out provisional patents for a total of 19 inventions. In addition to his passion for inventing, Uncle David was a talented writer, and the first Aboriginal author to be published in English (AIATSIS 2021). 

Aunty Elaine spoke passionately of her great-uncle David’s gifts for inventing and writing, as well as his unwavering advocacy for First Nations people. She encouraged – and continues to encourage – people to learn more about his story. 

“His mind was way, way into the future. His greatest wish was for Aboriginal people to have access to education.”  

The David Unaipon Award for an Emerging Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander Writer, supported by The Copyright Agency’s Cultural Fund, was established in 1989 by University of Queensland Press. It is presented annually to an unpublished Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander writer whose manuscript shows great promise. This year’s recipient of the David Unaipon award is Mununjali poet Maria van Neerven for her poetry manuscript.  

Maria joins an impressive lineup of previous winners, the likes of which include – but are not limited to – Samuel Wagan Watson, Larissa Behrendt, Tara June Winch, Jeanine Leane, Jazz Money, and Ellen van Neerven. In the coming months, Maria will work closely with University of Queensland Press to develop and publish her manuscript. Maria was travelling on the evening of the event, so her son, Ben van Neerven, proudly accepted the award on her behalf. 

During a conversation after the ceremony, Aunty Elaine admitted that the Queensland Literary Awards was even bigger and better than she expected and that, with a bit of luck, she would happily return to present the award again. 

She said, “It was a night I will always remember.”  

Work cited 

AIATSIS. “David Ngunaitponi (Unaipon).” AIATSIS, 4 Nov. 2021, https://aiatsis.gov.au/explore/david-ngunaitponi-unaipon