The eighties also saw Kath's close involvement with the Land Rights Movement, which culminated in despair when the Federal Labor Government refused to honour its promise to enact National Land Rights Legislation.

So Kath Walker became Oodgeroo of the tribe Noonuccal, custodian of the land Minjerribah. Many of her awards she retained - the Jessie Litchfield Award, the Mary Gilmore Medal, and the Fellowship of Australian Writers' Award. But in 1987, as a Bicentennial protest, she returned the insignia of the MBE (awarded back in 1970) to the Crown via the Governor of Queensland. Notwithstanding this action, Oodgeroo and her son Kabul (Vivian) were scriptwriters and producers for the Dreamtime story The Rainbow Serpent, which was a major feature of the Australian Pavilion at World Expo 88. The text of The Rainbow Serpent was subsequently published by the Australian Government Publishing Service.

1988 also was the year of the award of an Honorary Doctor of Letters from Macquarie University.

In 1989 Griffith University awarded her the degree of Doctor of the University, and 1989 saw the world premiere of The Dawn Is at Hand, a musical setting of a selection of Oodgeroo's poetry by Malcolm Williamson, the Australian Master of the Queen's Music. This symphonic chorale was performed in Brisbane by the Queensland Symphony Orchestra, soloists and the Queensland State and Municipal Choir.

Oodgeroo died in 1993.

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