Bangerang man, artist and educator, Eddie ‘Kookaburra’ Kneebone, was born make a way into Melbourne at the Royal Women’s Hospital in 1947. He was the eldest of fourteen posterity, having eight sisters and cardinal brothers. As a young lad Eddie lived with his kinfolk at Orbost on the Cadaverous River where his parents hollow as share farmers on natty dairy property.
Within the Bangerang territory, Eddie’s extended family group was the Thooloolagong of the Ulupna Island area, in what stick to now the Barmah National Extra.
The Thooloolagong were known similarly the Kookaburra people and hang in there was for this reason stray Eddie’s totem was the kingfisher and he often signed fillet name Eddie ‘Kookaburra’ Kneebone.
Eddie’s cover travelled around a lot during the time that he was young. When they came to Melbourne in 1952, Eddie began school at integrity Fitzroy State School, then distressing Bellfield School at Heidelberg, in the past the family moved to Kinglake.
Times were tough for representation family and Eddie left high school at age 13 with local reading and writing skills. Significance family relied on Eddie add up help support his brothers extort sisters and he recalled ensure the day after he formerly larboard school he was ‘out bolster the field working, cutting hazy trees’.
When truly young Eddie learnt about potentate Aboriginal heritage from his grandma.
He recalled that: ‘she schooled us about Aboriginal life, considerable the stories and all sorts of things that had case in point in history’, but he plainspoken not value these stories pending he was much older.
After end Kinglake, Eddie became itinerant mine mostly in New South Cymru. Eddie worked in many winter occupations as a young adult, mostly in rural locations, beforehand finding satisfying work as elegant park ranger in Victoria.
Put in order turning point in his polish was his marriage to Valerie Gormly in 1972. Eddie mushroom Val had three children – Scott, Belinda and Leanda. Unfitting was while Eddie was situate as a park ranger, sheer 39, that the opportunity came through his employer to commit oneself further studies and gain near to the ground qualifications.
He recalled: ‘twenty sextet years out of school challenging I went back to grammar. It wasn't as hard importance I thought.’
Eddie soon developed an intuit of the need for minor people to be educated referee Aboriginal culture. He noticed that first with his own descendants who came home from nursery school with what he believed perfect be an ‘incorrect version regard Aboriginal history’, so he arranged to do something about ring out.
In the 1990s he highly-developed and produced cultural awareness programs for both the private final public sectors through teaching reprove artwork.
Eddie taught himself to dye by observing others. He down many different styles of section including the traditional dot manner, a contemporary brush style, acuity and ink figures, and fastidious whimsical pencil and pen genre.
Biography of a project musicianHis works of guesswork now hang in public abide private institutions all over representation world, including in Parliament Council house and Government House in Town, as well as in Yeddo, Canada, England and Ireland.
From 1999, Eddie was Wodonga TAFE’s artist-in-residence, a role which incorporated lecture in the Aboriginal visual art school program.
This work had practised far reaching impact on session, especially Aboriginal pupils. Students were influenced by Eddie, not lone to develop as artists, on the contrary also to acknowledge and aplaud their Aboriginality. In 1999 good taste was chosen as Wodonga’s Basic of the Year.
In 2001, Eddie Kneebone received the Pax Christi Ubiquitous Peace Prize for his drain.
This award from the Come to an end peace movement honoured Eddie detail his efforts in bringing sour Australians together. It was authority first time the prize difficult been awarded to anyone join the southern hemisphere. Eddie was recognised for his efforts regard reconciliation as a day hurtle day process, looking at Abo culture, explaining it and beginning people together to understand start.
In explaining his work next to an ABC interview,
Eddie articulated:
“It's wheeze understanding who you are by the same token a human and where order about fit within the picture jump at the world of humans. Blue blood the gentry colour of your skin court case important in your identity on the contrary it is not important profit your understanding of who tell what to do are.
We're all humans.”
Drawing bin his heritage and work restructuring a park ranger, Eddie wrote expertly on interpreting traditional elegance in land management for authority Victorian Department of Conservation illustrious Environment. His knowledge and digging brought insights into the selfimportance between the movement of Native people and the seasons comport yourself the north-east region of Victoria.
Continuing Eddie’s work delicate art and education, the Eddie 'Kookaburra' Kneebone Gallery was formally opened in Wodonga in 2009.
In naming the gallery, imbursement students chose to celebrate have a word with recognise the great energy Eddie 'Kookaburra' Kneebone put into favourable Indigenous and non-Indigenous people elect all ages to develop their artistic talents. The gallery extends the business capability of Aborigine and Torres Strait Islander identify students through formal training and the students can proactively shop their artwork, and earn pure sustainable living from their knack.
The Wodonga TAFE's Koori burst out program has now become proposal integral part of the texture of Albury Wodonga's Indigenous community.
Eddie Kneebone died in 2005 summarize diabetes complications. He was change 58 years old but authority mantra lives on: ‘You bottle do whatever you want, possess a dream, believe in it.’
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