Neville Bonner
Neville Bonner | |
|---|---|
| Born | Neville Thomas Bonner 28 March 1922 Ukerebagh Island, Tweed River, New South Wales, Australia |
| Died | 5 February 1999 (aged 76) Ipswich, Queensland, Australia |
| Occupation | Politician |
| Years active | 1971–1983 (Senator) |
| Known for | First Indigenous Australian member of the Parliament of Australia |
Neville Thomas Bonner AO (28 March 1922–5 February 1999) was a trailblazing Australian politician, recognized as the first Aboriginal Australian to serve in the nation's Parliament. Initially appointed by the Queensland Parliament to occupy a casual Senate vacancy, he later made history as the first Indigenous Australian elected through popular vote. Bonner was a respected elder of the Jagera people.
Early life
Born on 28 March 1922, Bonner's birthplace was Ukerebagh Island on the Tweed River in New South Wales, close to the Queensland border. His mother, Julia Bell, was of Indigenous Australian descent, while his father, Henry Kenneth Bonner, hailed from England. On his maternal side, his grandmother belonged to the Ugarapul people and his grandfather was a fully initiated member of the Jagera community. Bonner recounted that his grandfather had been "captured ... out of the tribe" during childhood and assigned an English name.
Following his father's abandonment of his pregnant mother, she relocated to an Aboriginal reserve on Ukerebagh Island. The family subsequently moved near Lismore, New South Wales, settling by the Richmond River. During this period, his mother bore three additional children with Frank Randell, an Aboriginal man employed by police; Bonner witnessed recurring violence inflicted upon his mother.
After his mother's passing in 1932, Bonner's grandmother assumed responsibility for him and moved the family to Beaudesert in Queensland. There, he completed a single year of formal schooling in 1935 before returning to New South Wales after his grandmother's death. He then undertook various jobs including ring barking, cane cutting, and working as a stockman before relocating to Palm Island near Townsville in 1946, where he advanced to the role of Assistant Settlement Overseer.
Politics
By 1960, Bonner was residing in Ipswich and had joined the board of the One People of Australia League (OPAL), an Indigenous rights group advocating moderate reforms. He rose to become its Queensland president in 1970. After joining the Liberal Party in 1967 and holding local positions, he was appointed to fill Senator Annabelle Rankin's casual vacancy in 1971, marking him as the first Indigenous Australian member of Parliament. He subsequently secured election victories in 1972, 1974, 1975, and 1980.
During his Senate tenure, Bonner participated in several committees but never attained ministerial office. Known for occasionally opposing party policies, he was removed from the Liberal ticket ahead of the 1983 election due to pressure from younger contenders. Running as an independent candidate that year, he narrowly failed to win re-election. Following this, the Hawke administration appointed him to serve on the board of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.
A significant moment came in 1981 when Bonner opposed government legislation allowing drilling activities within the Great Barrier Reef, frequently crossing party lines on various bills. His independent stance earned him respect but also contributed to diminishing political support.
Later life
After losing his Senate seat, Prime Minister Bob Hawke appointed Bonner to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation board in June 1983. He briefly acted as ABC chairman in April 1984 and received reappointment for a five-year term in 1986, serving until 1991.
Between 1992 and 1996, Bonner served on the Griffith University Council, which honored him with an honorary doctorate in 1993. In 1998, he was elected as a delegate to the Constitutional Convention, representing Australians for Constitutional Monarchy.
Diagnosed with terminal lung cancer in 1998, Bonner passed away at an Ipswich hospice on 5 February 1999 at age 76. He was accorded a state funeral at St Stephen's Church and laid to rest at Warrill Park Lawn Cemetery.
Honours and legacy
In 1979, Bonner was honored as Australian of the Year alongside the naturalist Harry Butler. He received the designation of Officer of the Order of Australia (AO) in 1984.
The Queensland Department of Communities' headquarters in Brisbane, constructed in 1999 and named the Neville Bonner Building, earned two architectural accolades before being demolished in 2017 to facilitate the Queen's Wharf development. The Neville Bonner Bridge, a pedestrian bridge inaugurated in August 2024 as part of this initiative, perpetuates his memory.
In 2000, the federal government launched the Neville Bonner Memorial Scholarship to assist Indigenous Australians undertaking Honours studies in political science or related disciplines at Australian universities.
Established in 2002, the Neville Bonner Award for Indigenous Education forms part of the Australian Awards for University Teaching (AAUT). The first recipients were Marcia Langton and Larissa Behrendt.
A 47-bed hostel operated by Aboriginal Hostels Limited in Berserker, a suburb of Rockhampton, underwent redevelopment and reopened as the Neville Bonner Hostel in July 2002.
The Queensland federal electoral division named Bonner, created in 2004, along with the Canberra suburb of Bonner, established around 2008, both commemorate his legacy.
Personal life
Bonner wed Mona Banfield in 1943 at the mission on Palm Island. Together they had five sons and fostered three daughters before Mona passed away in 1969. In 1972, he married Heather Ryan (), who had three adult children. His great-niece, Joanna Lindgren, was appointed to the Senate in 2015.
He acquired boomerang-making skills from his grandfather and founded a boomerang manufacturing enterprise called Bonnerang in 1966 with family assistance. The business produced as many as 450 handcrafted boomerangs weekly using roots from black wattle trees, deliberately avoiding synthetic materials; however, it ceased operations after one year due to timber shortages. Following his entry into parliament, Bonner demonstrated boomerang crafting at Parliament House and championed protecting boomerang intellectual property rights for Indigenous communities, responding to non-Indigenous producers manufacturing inexpensive synthetic versions. One of his boomerangs is preserved by the Museum of Australian Democracy.