If Everyone Cared: Autobiography of Margaret Tucker, M.B.E.

by Margaret Tucker

Mrs. Margaret Tucker's story- the story of herself, the Aboriginal Lilardia- is the story of the attainment of a dignity beyond oppression, misreprentation, flattery, the desire for approval, and beyond malice. The essence of Aboriginal thought has always been transcendental, and all Aboriginal ritual seeks identification with the creative force in the universer. To Lilardia this creative force is the Holy Spirit. This is a simple tale of humour and sadness, adventure and legend. It is of great historical importance.

Genres: Nonfiction, Australia

205 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1977

Reviews

[Joan Garvan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I just finished reading this life story by Margaret Tucker. Margaret came to know many of significant Aboriginal leaders in Australia of her time. She is interviewed for a fabulous documentary Lousy Little Sixpence that was made, I believe, in the 1970s and has become landmark. Margaret lived through a very bad time for indigenous people in Australia and certainly this is evident from her descriptions of everyday life though throughout she remains grateful for everything she had and certainly has a lot of love for her mother, aunties, father, what she calls the old people or the elders who lived among the community in which she grew up. Margaret describes being taken from her family and the traumatic effect that had on her mother, a description that haunts me (as I heard about this in the documentary listed above). She was taken to the Cootamundra Girls School where aboriginal girls were taught to be domestics and were sent out to families to work. The conditions she suffered during this time were appalling. She was often hungry and was paid a pittance. With little opportunity to leave this was essentially a form of slavery that calls for recompense. It was religion that helped Margaret to live through those times. There was one occasion while working as a domestic that Margaret took rat poison but thankfully she vomited so much this saved her life.

[Frans Matthew · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of the earliest accounts of the Stolen Generations and gives a firsthand account of growing up black in Australia in the early 20th century. Auntie Margaret Tucker was clearly a very humble and loving woman whose insights are sadly only briefly summarised by this book. From this book you can gain traditional Aboriginal insights but her personal experiences are the main focus.

[Lisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

For context, all readers are requested to read previous post
https://anzlitlovers.com/2022/07/08/d...
and then my review https://anzlitlovers.com/2022/07/09/i...

[Keish · Rating 5 out of 5]

Heart breaking story. But so needed to ensure the world knows what happened to Indigenous Australians.