Jack Davis is perhaps one of the better-known Australian playwrights, and more specifically one of the best-known Aboriginal writers of the 20th century. He is certainly not alone, however, and his work throughout the 20th century is in conversation with and has opened the door for many other Aboriginal writers. Other Aboriginal writers include Anita Heiss, Sally Morgan, Kevin Gilbert, Oodgeroo Noonuccal, Mudrooroo, Thomas King, and Richard Wagamese, among many others.
Indigenous Australian writing did not actually develop until the late 1800s and early 1900s, with writers like David Unaipon writing the first written accounts of Aboriginal mythology, and Oodgeroo Noonuccal became one of the most famous Aboriginal poets and activists in the 20th century, publishing the first book of Aboriginal verse, We Are Going.
Another important figure in Indigenous Australian literature is Aboriginal writer and activist Kevin Gilbert, who has also authored several plays about the Aboriginal experience. His best-known play was one that he wrote in prison, The Cherry Pickers, and is regarded as the first play written in English by an Aboriginal, as well as the first play performed by an all-Aboriginal cast.
