Neville Thomas Bonner
AO (28 March 19225 February 1999) was an Australian politician, and the first
Aboriginal Australian
Aboriginal Australians are the various Indigenous peoples of the Australian mainland and many of its islands, such as Tasmania, Fraser Island, Hinchinbrook Island, the Tiwi Islands, and Groote Eylandt, but excluding the Torres Strait I ...
to become a member of the
Parliament of Australia
The Parliament of Australia (officially the Federal Parliament, also called the Commonwealth Parliament) is the legislative branch of the government of Australia. It consists of three elements: the monarch (represented by the governor- ...
. He was appointed by the
Queensland Parliament
The Parliament of Queensland is the legislature of Queensland, Australia. As provided under the Constitution of Queensland, the Parliament consists of the Monarch of Australia and the Legislative Assembly. It has been the only unicameral st ...
to fill a
casual vacancy
In politics, a casual vacancy (''casual'' in the sense of "by chance") is a situation in which a seat in a deliberative assembly becomes vacant during that assembly's term. Casual vacancies may arise through the death, resignation or disquali ...
in the representation of
Queensland
)
, nickname = Sunshine State
, image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg
, map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name = Australia
, established_title = Before federation
, establishe ...
in the
Senate
A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...
, and later became the first Indigenous Australian to be elected to the parliament by popular vote. Neville Bonner was an elder of the
Jagera people.
Early life
Bonner was born on 28 March 1922 on
Ukerebagh Island, a small island in the
Tweed River of
New South Wales
)
, nickname =
, image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg
, map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates:
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name = Australia
, established_title = Before federation
, es ...
close to the border with
Queensland
)
, nickname = Sunshine State
, image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg
, map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name = Australia
, established_title = Before federation
, establishe ...
. He was the son of Julia Bell, an Indigenous Australian, and Henry Kenneth Bonner, an English immigrant. His maternal grandmother Ida Sandy was a member of the Ugarapul people of the
Logan
Logan may refer to:
Places
* Mount Logan (disambiguation)
Australia
* Logan (Queensland electoral district), an electoral district in the Queensland Legislative Assembly
* Logan, Victoria, small locality near St. Arnaud
* Logan City, local gov ...
and
Albert Rivers, while his maternal grandfather Roger Bell (or Jung Jung) was a
fully initiated member of the
Yagara people of the
Brisbane River
The Brisbane River is the longest river in South East Queensland, Australia, and flows through the city of Brisbane, before emptying into Moreton Bay on the Coral Sea. John Oxley, the first European to explore the river, named it after the ...
. According to Bonner, his grandfather was "sort of captured
..out of the tribe" as a young boy and given an English name.
Bonner's parents met and married in
Murwillumbah, New South Wales
Murwillumbah ( ) is a town in far north-eastern New South Wales, Australia, in the Tweed Shire, on the Tweed River. Sitting on the south eastern foothills of the McPherson Range in the Tweed Volcano valley, Murwillumbah is 848 km north-ea ...
. His father abandoned his mother when she was pregnant with him, leaving her destitute. She subsequently moved to the
Aboriginal reserve
An Aboriginal reserve, also called simply reserve, was a government-sanctioned settlement for Aboriginal Australians, created under various state and federal legislation. Along with missions and other institutions, they were used from the 19th c ...
on Ukerebagh Island, where she had another son. After about five years, the family moved near
Lismore, New South Wales
Lismore is a city in northeastern New South Wales, Australia and the main population centre in the City of Lismore local government area; it is also a regional centre in the Northern Rivers region of the State. It is situated on a low flood pl ...
, to be closer to Bonner's grandparents, living on the banks of the
Richmond River
The Richmond River is a river situated in the Northern Rivers region of New South Wales, Australia.
Course and features
The river rises at the northern end of the Richmond Range, near its junction with the McPherson Range, on the Queensl ...
under a
lantana
''Lantana'' () is a genus of about 150 species of perennial flowering plants in the verbena family, Verbenaceae. They are native to tropical regions of the Americas and Africa but exist as an introduced species in numerous areas, especially in ...
bush. His mother subsequently had three children with Frank Randell, an Aboriginal man who was employed by the local police. One of his half-brothers died as a child and he "witnessed frequent acts of violence by Randell against his mother".
[
Bonner's mother died in July 1932, when he was ten years old, and his grandmother subsequently became his main caregiver. She moved the family to ]Beaudesert, Queensland
Beaudesert is a rural town and locality in the Scenic Rim Region, Queensland, Australia. In the , Beaudesert had a population of 6,395 people.
Beaudesert is the administrative centre for the Scenic Rim Region.
Geography
Beaudesert is south o ...
, where in 1935 he completed his only year of formal education at Beaudesert State Rural School. His grandmother died in June 1935 and he moved back to New South Wales after finishing the school year.[ Bonner worked as a ring barker, cane cutter and stockman before settling on Palm Island, near Townsville, Queensland in 1946, where he rose to the position of Assistant Settlement Overseer.
]
Contribution to Parliament
In 1960 he lived in Ipswich
Ipswich () is a port town and borough in Suffolk, England, of which it is the county town. The town is located in East Anglia about away from the mouth of the River Orwell and the North Sea. Ipswich is both on the Great Eastern Main Line ...
, where he joined the board of directors of the One People of Australia League
The One People of Australia League (often abbreviated OPAL) was an Australian Aboriginal political grouping in the 1960s and the 1970s. In contrast to the more radical and left-wing bodies advocating for indigenous sovereignty at the time, OPAL ...
(OPAL), a moderate Indigenous rights organisation. He became its Queensland president in 1970. He joined the Liberal Party
The Liberal Party is any of many political parties around the world. The meaning of ''liberal'' varies around the world, ranging from liberal conservatism on the right to social liberalism on the left.
__TOC__ Active liberal parties
This is a li ...
in 1967 and held local office in the party. Following the resignation of Senator
A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...
Annabelle Rankin
Dame Annabelle Jane Mary Rankin DBE (28 July 190830 August 1986) was an Australian politician and diplomat. She was the first woman from Queensland elected to parliament, the first woman federal departmental minister, and the first Australian ...
in 1971, Bonner was chosen to fill the casual vacancy
In politics, a casual vacancy (''casual'' in the sense of "by chance") is a situation in which a seat in a deliberative assembly becomes vacant during that assembly's term. Casual vacancies may arise through the death, resignation or disquali ...
and he became the first Indigenous Australian to sit in the Australian Parliament. He was elected in his own right in 1972, 1974
Major events in 1974 include the aftermath of the 1973 oil crisis and the resignation of United States President Richard Nixon following the Watergate scandal. In the Middle East, the aftermath of the 1973 Yom Kippur War determined politics; ...
, 1975
It was also declared the ''International Women's Year'' by the United Nations and the European Architectural Heritage Year by the Council of Europe.
Events
January
* January 1 - Watergate scandal (United States): John N. Mitchell, H. R. ...
, and 1980
Events January
* January 4 – U.S. President Jimmy Carter proclaims a grain embargo against the USSR with the support of the European Commission.
* January 6 – Global Positioning System time epoch begins at 00:00 UTC.
* January 9 – In ...
.
While in the Senate he served on a number of committees but was never a serious candidate for promotion to the ministry. He rebelled against the Liberal Party line on some issues. Partly as a result of this, and partly due to pressure from younger candidates, he was dropped from the Liberal Senate ticket at the 1983 election. He stood as an independent and was nearly successful. The Hawke government then appointed him to the board of directors of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation
The Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) is the national broadcaster of Australia. It is principally funded by direct grants from the Australian Government and is administered by a government-appointed board. The ABC is a publicly-owne ...
.
Bonner was almost unique in being an Indigenous activist and a political conservative: in fact he owed his political career to this combination. In the face of often savage personal criticism from left-wing Indigenous activists, he often denied being a "token" in the Liberal Party. In 1981 Bonner was the only government voice opposing a bill put forth that would allow drilling in the Great Barrier Reef. He regularly "crossed the floor
Crossed may refer to:
* ''Crossed'' (comics), a 2008 comic book series by Garth Ennis
* ''Crossed'' (novel), a 2010 young adult novel by Ally Condie
* "Crossed" (''The Walking Dead''), an episode of the television series ''The Walking Dead''
S ...
" on bills, a characteristic that has endeared him to politicians today but is often considered the reason for his political career coming to an end.
In 1979 Bonner was jointly named Australian of the Year
The Australian of the Year is a national award conferred on an Australian citizen by the National Australia Day Council, a not-for-profit Australian Governmentowned social enterprise. Similar awards are also conferred at the State and Territ ...
along with naturalist Harry Butler. In 1984 Bonner was appointed an Officer of the Order of Australia
The Order of Australia is an honour that recognises Australian citizens and other persons for outstanding achievement and service. It was established on 14 February 1975 by Elizabeth II, Queen of Australia, on the advice of the Australian Go ...
. From 1992 to 1996 he was member of the Griffith University
Griffith University is a public research university in South East Queensland on the east coast of Australia. Formally founded in 1971, Griffith opened its doors in 1975, introducing Australia's first degrees in environmental science and Asian ...
Council. The university awarded him an honorary doctorate in 1993. In 1998 he was elected to the Constitutional Convention as a candidate of Australians for Constitutional Monarchy.
Bonner died at Ipswich in 1999, aged 76.
Bonner's grand niece Joanna Lindgren was the first female Aboriginal senator for Queensland when she represented the Liberal National Party from May 2015 to July 2016.
Posthumous honours
The Neville Bonner Memorial Scholarship was established by the federal government in 2000 and is now considered Australia's most prestigious scholarship for Indigenous Australians to study Honours in Political Science or related subjects at any recognised Australian university.
The Queensland federal electorate of Bonner was created in 2004 and was named in his honour. Also, a recently re-developed rugby league oval in Ipswich was named the Neville Bonner Sporting Complex in his honour. This oval was formerly home to an exclusively Indigenous side, but is now the official home of the Queensland Cup side, the Ipswich Jets
The Ipswich Jets are an Australian rugby league football club based in Ipswich, Queensland. Their name comes from nearby RAAF Base Amberley, one of the largest airbases in Australia. The Jets compete in the Queensland Cup competition. Original ...
, and the IRL/IJRL finals and junior representative. The suburb of Bonner in Canberra
Canberra ( )
is the capital city of Australia. Founded following the federation of the colonies of Australia as the seat of government for the new nation, it is Australia's largest inland city and the eighth-largest city overall. The ci ...
, Australia's national capital, also bears his name.
The head office of the Queensland Department of Communities, Child Safety and Disability services in Brisbane was named the Neville Bonner Building. A multipurpose 47-bed hostel, managed by Aboriginal Hostels Limited
Aborigine, aborigine or aboriginal may refer to:
*Aborigines (mythology), in Roman mythology
* Indigenous peoples, general term for ethnic groups who are the earliest known inhabitants of an area
*One of several groups of indigenous peoples, see ...
, located in the Rockhampton
Rockhampton is a city in the Rockhampton Region of Central Queensland, Australia. The population of Rockhampton in June 2021 was 79,967, Estimated resident population, 30 June 2018. making it the fourth-largest city in the state outside of t ...
suburb of Berserker
In the Old Norse written corpus, berserker were those who were said to have fought in a trance-like fury, a characteristic which later gave rise to the modern English word '' berserk'' (meaning "furiously violent or out of control"). Berserkers ...
is called the Neville Bonner Hostel.
Bonner was an active boomerang
A boomerang () is a thrown tool, typically constructed with aerofoil sections and designed to spin about an axis perpendicular to the direction of its flight. A returning boomerang is designed to return to the thrower, while a non-returning ...
enthusiast. One of his boomerangs was placed on display at the Old Parliament House in Canberra
Canberra ( )
is the capital city of Australia. Founded following the federation of the colonies of Australia as the seat of government for the new nation, it is Australia's largest inland city and the eighth-largest city overall. The ci ...
.
The Neville Bonner Bridge is scheduled to open in Brisbane
Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Queensland, and the third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of approximately 2.6 million. Brisbane lies at the centre of the South ...
in 2022.
Personal life
Bonner married Mona Banfield in 1943, in a Catholic ceremony at Palm Island's mission.[ They had five sons and fostered three daughters. Mona Bonner died in 1969. Neville married Heather Ryan in 1972.
Bonner was taught to make ]boomerang
A boomerang () is a thrown tool, typically constructed with aerofoil sections and designed to spin about an axis perpendicular to the direction of its flight. A returning boomerang is designed to return to the thrower, while a non-returning ...
s by his grandfather. In 1966, he established a boomerang manufacturing business named Bonnerang, with the assistance of his family. The boomerangs were handmade from the roots of black wattle trees, as Bonner refused to use synthetic materials. His company produced up to 450 boomerangs per week, but folded after a year due to a shortage of wood. After being elected to parliament, Bonner gave a boomerang demonstration in the gardens of Parliament House. In his maiden speech he called on the intellectual property of the boomerang to be reserved for Indigenous people, as non-Indigenous people were producing cheap synthetic properties. One of his boomerangs is held by the Museum of Australian Democracy
Old Parliament House, formerly known as the Provisional Parliament House, was the seat of the Parliament of Australia from 1927 to 1988. The building began operation on 9 May 1927 after Parliament's relocation from Melbourne to the new capit ...
.
See also
* List of Indigenous Australian politicians
References
Further reading
*
*
External links
Listing of Neville Bonner's life in published media & books
Classroom Resource
Episode on Bonner's life and career
on Australian Broadcasting Corporation
The Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) is the national broadcaster of Australia. It is principally funded by direct grants from the Australian Government and is administered by a government-appointed board. The ABC is a publicly-owne ...
Radio National
Radio National, known on-air as RN, is an Australia-wide public service broadcasting radio network run by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC). From 1947 until 1985, the network was known as ABC Radio 2.
History
1937: Predecessors a ...
's ''Hindsight'' program
←
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bonner, Neville
1922 births
1999 deaths
Indigenous Australian politicians
Liberal Party of Australia members of the Parliament of Australia
Australian monarchists
Members of the Australian Senate
Members of the Australian Senate for Queensland
Officers of the Order of Australia
Australian of the Year Award winners
Australian Roman Catholics
Delegates to the Australian Constitutional Convention 1998
People from the Northern Rivers
Independent members of the Parliament of Australia
20th-century Australian politicians