Stanley Gabriel Tipiloura (2 September 1957 – 20 September 1992) was an Australian politician. He was the

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member for Arafura in the

Northern Territory Legislative Assembly The Legislative Assembly of the Northern Territory (also known as the Parliament of the Northern Territory) is the unicameral legislature of Australia’s Northern Territory. The Legislative Assembly has 25 members, each elected in single-member ...

from 1987 until his death in 1992.

Background and early career

Tipiloura was born on Bathurst Island. He attended primary school there, before studying for two years at St John's College, Darwin and two years at

Monivae College Monivae College is an Independent school, independent Roman Catholicism in Australia, Roman Catholic Mixed-sex education, co-educational secondary school, high Day school, day and Boarding school, boarding school of the Missionaries of the Sacre ...

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. He worked for the

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in Darwin after leaving school, and was a successful amateur footballer with St Mary's Football Club; he also played a stint for

South Adelaide Football Club The South Adelaide Football Club, nicknamed the Panthers, is an Australian rules football club based in the Adelaide suburb of Noarlunga Downs, South Australia, Noarlunga Downs. The club competes in the South Australian National Football Leagu ...

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in the late 1970s. He returned to Bathurst Island in 1975, where he worked in various roles, including for the Nguiu Council, of which he would subsequently be elected president. He returned to Nguiu permanently in 1980, where served as a police aide and then officer at Nguiu from 1980 to 1985. At the time of his election to parliament, he was also the president of the newly elected local branch of the Labor Party.

Political career

He was elected to the Legislative Assembly for Arafura at the 1987 election, succeeding his brother-in-law and former Labor leader Bob Collins, who was contesting a seat in the

Australian Senate The Senate is the upper house of the Bicameralism, bicameral Parliament of Australia, the lower house being the Australian House of Representatives, House of Representatives. The powers, role and composition of the Senate are set out in Chap ...

. Tipiloura's election made him, at the time, one of the parliament's only Aboriginal members. Upon his election, he was appointed shadow minister for local government, administrative services, libraries, conservation, museums, and police, fire and emergency services. In recognition of his accomplishments and career promise, in 1988 he was selected to travel to the United States with young political leaders from other countries to study the U.S. national elections in November of that year. Organized by the American Council of Young Political Leaders, Tipiloura was a vital member of the group that traveled the breadth of the State of Michigan studying both voters and political campaign methods. Just before election day, all groups traveled to Washington, D.C. for series of presentations from leaders such as U.S. National Security Advisor

Colin Powell Colin Luther Powell ( ; – ) was an Americans, American diplomat, and army officer who was the 65th United States secretary of state from 2001 to 2005. He was the first African-American to hold the office. He was the 15th National Security ...

, who would later become U.S. Secretary of State. Tipiloura maintained his international outreach, sending Christmas cards to his new colleagues in 1988. He contracted

kidney failure Kidney failure, also known as renal failure or end-stage renal disease (ESRD), is a medical condition in which the kidneys can no longer adequately filter waste products from the blood, functioning at less than 15% of normal levels. Kidney fa ...

shortly after his election, and spent some time on dialysis before his uncle donated a kidney in 1990. He was re-elected at the 1990 election from his hospital bed, and was made shadow minister for Aboriginal affairs after the election. However, the disease did not rescind and he died in

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in 1992, aged 35. Tipiloura was the first serving member of the Northern Territory Parliament to die.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tipiloura, Stan 1957 births 1992 deaths Members of the Northern Territory Legislative Assembly Australian Labor Party members of the Northern Territory Legislative Assembly Indigenous Australian politicians 20th-century Australian politicians Deaths from kidney failure in Australia Tiwi Islands people