Don't Take Your Love to Town

Memoir of an Aboriginal Australian woman born in the 30's living in rural and urban environments confronting poverty, domestic violence and tragedy. While My Place prefigures the Stolen Generation report, Don't Take Your Love To Town anticipates the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody. You get a glimpse into the upswell of recognising and fostering Aboriginal culture and identity during the '70s and '80s.

Ruby Langford was born on Box Ridge Mission, Corali, on the north coast of NSW in 1934. She was raised in Bonalbo and went to high school in Casino where she finished second form. At 15 she moved to Sydney and qualified as a clothing machinist. Her first child was born when she was 17. She has a family of 9 children and raised them mostly by herself. For many years she lived in tin huts and camped in the bush around Coonabarabran. At other times she lived in the Koori areas of Sydney. She worked part time as a sewing teacher at the Aboriginal Medical Service in Redfern. They lived in constant poverty, but the hardship fuelled Ruby Langford’s ambition to do more for her people. She was always sustained by her close links to the show more Aboriginal families in Redfern, or wherever else she happened to be. [SCIS] show less

Review scheduled for Indigenous Literature Week at ANZ LitLovers on July 2nd, 2017. Use the tag https://anzlitlovers.com/tag/2017-indigenous-literature-week/ to find it.