Lionel Fogarty

Lionel Fogarty was born on Wakka Wakka land, at Cherbourg Aboriginal Reserve in south-east Queensland in 1957. An internationally renowned Mununjali poet, he worked as an activist for Aboriginal Land Rights in the 1970s, and in the 1990s, after the death of his brother Daniel Yock, as a leading figure in protests against Aboriginal Deaths in Custody. His poetry collections date from the early 1980s; Harvest Lingo, his fourteenth collection, was published by Giramondo in 2022. It won the Judith Wright Calanthe Award for Poetry, and was shortlisted for the Prime MInister’s Poetry Award, and the NSW and Victorian Premier’s Literary Awards. In 2025 Lionel received the prestigious Red Ochre Award for Lifetime Achievement. He died on 12 February 2026, at the age of 68.

You could only associate our poet laureate Lionel Fogarty, and the phenomenal depth of his poetic vison and imagination, with the mighty force and power of ancestral creation heroes. Perhaps he is their messenger.

Alexis Wright

One of the truly unique voices in world literature… Fogarty transforms conventional English grammar, expression and spelling in an effort to decolonise what he sees as a broken, colonial communication system.

Dashiell Moore and Benjamin Miller

A giant of Australian poetry. His writing expressed the urgent need for justice and equity for Australia’s First Peoples. A blend of Mununjali/Yugumbeh language and English, his truth-telling challenged and moved us.

Franchesca Cubillo, Executive Director, First Nations Arts and Culture