Book Launch: If Everyone Cared Enough by Margaret Tucker

Join members of Margaret Tucker’s family for a celebration of Margaret’s life and work, and to mark the release of the new edition of her autobiography, ‘If Everyone Cared Enough.’

Margaret Lilardia Tucker MBE was a significant Aboriginal activist and one of the first Aboriginal women to publish for mainstream audiences. Her landmark autobiography – ‘If Everyone Cared’ – is set to be republished by NLA Publishing in a new edition titled ‘If Everyone Cared Enough’. This nationally significant publication aims to reinstate the original words of Aunty Marge, as she was affectionately known, and shed light on the previously omitted descriptions of her culture and personal experiences.

Originally published in 1977, ‘If Everyone Cared’ was a groundbreaking work that required significant alterations to cater to non-Indigenous readers who had limited knowledge of Aboriginal cultures and the consequences of settler invasion from a First Nations perspective. As a result, Tucker’s tone and content were modified, and her original Aboriginal storytelling voice was altered.

Throughout her life, Tucker remained dedicated to fighting for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander rights and opportunities. In 1932, she became the treasurer of the Victorian Aborigines League, one of the country’s first Aboriginal organisations. Her tireless efforts were recognised when she was awarded an MBE in 1968.