Sally Morgan (artist)

Morgan was born in Perth, Western Australia in 1951 as the eldest of five children.[2] She was raised by her mother Gladys and her maternal grandmother Daisy. Her mother, a member of the Bailgu people of the Pilbara region of Western Australia, grew up in the Parkerville Children's Home as part of the Stolen Generations.[3][4] Her father, William, a plumber by trade, died after a long-term battle with post-war experience post-traumatic stress disorder.[2][5][6] Of her siblings, Jill Milroy is an academic,[3][7] Helen Milroy is a child psychiatrist who was the first indigenous Australian to become a medical doctor,[1][8] David is a playwright,[1][9] and William has worked as a senior public servant.[1][10]

As a child, Morgan became aware that she was different from other children at her school because of her non-white physical appearance, and was frequently questioned by other students about her family background. Her mother never told her that she was Aboriginal, saying instead that she was of Indian-Bangladeshi descent. She understood from her mother that her ancestors were from the Indian sub-continent.[11] But, when she was 15, she learned that she and her siblings were actually of Aboriginal descent.[12]

After finishing school, she worked as a clerk in a government department, had a period of unemployment, then obtained a job as a laboratory assistant.[2] she then attended the University of Western Australia, graduating in 1974 with a B.A. in Psychology; she followed up with post-graduate diplomas from the Western Australian Institute of Technology in Counselling Psychology, Computing, and Library Studies.[5]

She married Paul Morgan, a teacher she had met at university, in 1972; the marriage later ended in divorce. They have three children, Ambelin, Blaze, and Ezekiel Kwaymullina, all of whom have co-authored works with Morgan.[1][5]

The story of her discovery of her family's past is told in the 1987 multiple biographies My Place, which sold over half a million copies in Australia. It has also been published in Europe, Asia and the United States. It told a story that many people didn't know; of children taken from their mothers, slavery, abuse and fear because their skin was a different colour.[4]

Sally Morgan's second book, Wanamurraganya, was a biography of her grandfather. She has also collaborated with artist and illustrator Bronwyn Bancroft on children's books, including Dan's Grandpa (1996).[13]

Morgan is the director at the Centre for Indigenous History and the Arts at the University of Western Australia. She has received several awards: My Place won the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission humanitarian award in 1987, the Western Australia Week literary award for non-fiction in 1988, and the 1990 Order of Australia Book Prize. In 1993, international art historians selected Morgan's print Outback, as one of 30 paintings and sculptures for reproduction on a stamp, celebrating the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

• 1987 – Human Rights Literature and Other Writing Award for My Place[14]
• 1989 – Human Rights Literature and Other Writing Award for Wanamurraganya, the story of Jack McPhee[15]
• 1990 – Winner, Order of Australia Book Prize[16]
• 1993 – Joint winner Fremantle Print Award with Bevan Honey[17][18]
• 1998 – Notable Book, Children's Book Council
• 2012 – Notable Book, Children's Book Council of Australia
• 2022 – Co-Winner Picture fiction, Environment Award for Children's Literature[19]

• Robert Holmes à Court collection
• Dobell Foundation
• Australian National Gallery
• Muscarelle Museum of Art