Ruby Langford Ginibi, a member of the Bundjalung people, was born in 1934 on Box Ridge mission Coraki. She grew up in Bonalbo and later Casino, New South Wales. Her autobiographies Don’t Take Your Love to Town (1988) and Real Deadly (1992) describe her life in the bush and later in Sydney raising a family of nine children.
Recognised as a spokesperson, educator and author of Koori culture, she travelled and lectured in Australia and abroad, and her essays were widely published. Her tribal name ‘Ginibi’ (black swan) was given to her in 1990 by her aunt, Eileen Morgan, a tribal elder of Box Ridge mission. She returned to Bundjalung country to re-establish connections with her family, community and land she left as a child. My Bundjalung People is an account of her journey home, and was published by UQP in 1994.
