Anne Fraser Bon (9 April 1838 – 5 June 1936) was a Scottish-born Australian pastoralist, philanthropist and advocate for Aboriginal people.

Life

Bon was born in Perthshire, Scotland and was the second daughter of Jane (born Fraser) and physician David Dougall. In 1858, she married a friend of the Dougall family named John Bon, and they moved to Victoria where John had established himself. She was active in advocating for marginalised persons in Victoria, including the Chinese, blind soldiers and inmates of State mental institutions. She campaigned for a public inquiry into the treatment of Victoria's Aboriginal people, which led to the 1881

Coranderrk Coranderrk was an Aboriginal reserve run by the Victorian government between 1863 and 1924, located around north-east of Melbourne. The residents were mainly of the Woiwurrung, Bunurong and Taungurung peoples, and the first inhabitants chose ...

Inquiry to which she was an appointed member. Bon was later appointed to Victoria's

Aboriginal Protection Board Aboriginal Protection Board, also known as Aborigines Protection Board, Board for the Protection of Aborigines, Aborigines Welfare Board (and in later sources, incorrectly as Aboriginal Welfare Board), and similar names, refers to a number of hi ...

. In 1934 she presented the stone used for the monument in Healesville to

William Barak William Barak ( March 1823 – 15 August 1903), named Beruk by his parents, the "last chief of the Yarra Yarra tribe", was the last traditional ngurungaeta (elder) of the Wurundjeri-willam clan, the pre-colonial inhabitants of present-day Melbo ...

, with whom she had a long association. Bon died on 5 June 1936 in Melbourne.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bon, Anne Fraser 1838 births 1936 deaths Scottish emigrants to Australia Australian pastoralists 19th-century Australian philanthropists Australian women philanthropists 20th-century Australian philanthropists 19th-century Scottish farmers Scottish women farmers 19th-century Australian women farmers 19th-century Australian farmers 20th-century Australian women farmers 19th-century British women farmers 20th-century Australian farmers People from the Colony of Victoria