Aranda Boy

by Rex Ingamells

Aboriginal story of Gurra, of the Eastern Aranda People (Central Australia). Follows Gurra through ceremonies, family, magic, and secrets.

159 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1952

About the author

The son of a Methodist minister, Rex Ingamells studied at the University of Adelaide where he developed a fascination with Indigenous Australian culture. By the 1930s, the cultural practices of First Peoples had been largely eradicated by white colonisation. Ingamells is considered the founder of the Jindyworobak Movement in Australian poetry, a group of young Anglo poets who sought to use the relationship of Indigenous Australians with the land as a model for how white Australians should write and think. The movement rejected many of the prevailing trends of British poetry, which were popular with mainstream Australian poets.

Ingamells published at least eight volumes of poetry and two novels in addition to his lead role in the Jindyworobak movement, which flourished from 1938-1953, including a yearly anthology of poetry. His final great work, the poem "The Great South Land" won the Grace Leven Prize and the Australian Literary Society Gold Medal in 1951. To support his writing and his growing family, Ingamells held a variety of jobs including a lecturer, publisher, and salesman.

Ingamells died in a car accident shortly before his 43rd birthday.