Robert Vincent Anderson (born 31 July 1929) is an

Australian Aboriginal elder Australian Aboriginal elders are highly respected people within Australia and their respective Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities. An elder has been defined as "someone who has gained recognition as a custodian of knowledge and ...

and former union official. Anderson, often referred to as Uncle Bob, is known for his long association with the Building Workers' Industrial Union of Australia where he was state organiser from 1951 to 1978. He is also an honorary member of the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union. As a Ngugi elder from Mulgumpin in Quandamooka, Anderson has also served in various roles with an array of Indigenous organisations, working in the fields of

reconciliation Reconciliation or reconcile may refer to: Accounting * Reconciliation (accounting) Arts, entertainment, and media Books * Reconciliation (Under the North Star), ''Reconciliation'' (''Under the North Star''), the third volume of the ''Under the ...

, native title,

social justice Social justice is justice in relation to the distribution of wealth, opportunities, and privileges within a society where individuals' rights are recognized and protected. In Western and Asian cultures, the concept of social justice has of ...

, youth welfare and

cultural identity Cultural identity is a part of a person's identity (social science), identity, or their self-conception and self-perception, and is related to nationality, ethnicity, religion, social class, generation, Locality (settlement), locality, gender, o ...

. In the 1960s, Anderson was a member of the Queensland Council for Advancement for Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders. In 1999, he was appointed chair of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Advisory Board, a role he retired from in 2003.

Recognition

In 1997, Anderson was awarded the Premier's Award for Seniors and was the

South East Queensland South East Queensland (SEQ) is a Bioregion, bio-geographical, Megalopolis, metropolitan and Statistics, statistical Regions of Queensland, region of the States and territories of Australia, state of Queensland in Australia, with a population of ...

Indigenous Elder of the Year in 1998. He was awarded

honorary doctorate An honorary degree is an academic degree for which a university (or other degree-awarding institution) has waived all of the usual requirements. It is also known by the Latin phrases ''honoris causa'' ("for the sake of the honour") or '' ad hon ...

s from the

Queensland University of Technology The Queensland University of Technology (QUT) is a public university, public research university located in the city of Brisbane in Queensland, Australia. It has two major campuses, a modern city campus in Gardens Point, Brisbane, Gardens Point ...

in 2000 and from

Griffith University Griffith University is a public university, public research university in South East Queensland on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of Australia. The university was founded in 1971, but was not officially opened until 1975. Griffith ...

in 2002. In 2001, Anderson was awarded the

Centenary Medal The Centenary Medal is an award which was created by the Australian Government in 2001. It was established to commemorate the centenary of the Federation of Australia and to recognise "people who made a contribution to Australian society or g ...

for his distinguished service in promoting reconciliation, the Medal of the Order of Australia in the Queen's Birthday Honours for his service to Queensland's indigenous community, was one of the first five people to be named as Queensland Greats, and received

Brisbane Brisbane ( ; ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and largest city of the States and territories of Australia, state of Queensland and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia, with a ...

's Citizen of the Year Award. A

biography A biography, or simply bio, is a detailed description of a person's life. It involves more than just basic facts like education, work, relationships, and death; it portrays a person's experience of these life events. Unlike a profile or curri ...

about Anderson, written by Christine Peacock, was published in 2001 entitled ''History, Life and Times of Robert Anderson Gheebelum, Ngugi, Mulgumpin: Community and Personal History of a Ngugi Elder of Mulgumpin in Quandamooka, South East Queensland, Australia. Since 2010, the Queensland Council of Unions has given the Dr Robert (Uncle Bob) Anderson Award each year during annual NAIDOC Week celebrations to an indigenous activist who is credited with making an outstanding contribution to the union movement.

External Link

Dr Robert Anderson OAM 'Uncle Bob' digital story and oral history: First Nations Elders oral history project : South East Queensland.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Anderson, Robert Vincent 1929 births Living people Recipients of the Medal of the Order of Australia Australian Aboriginal elders Trade unionists from Brisbane