Neville Bonner
Neville Bonner was born in 1922 on Ukerebagh Island, New South Wales, and is recognized as the first Aboriginal Australian to serve in the federal Parliament. Orphaned at a young age, Bonner faced significant challenges, including limited formal education and economic hardships. His political journey began in the 1960s when he joined the One People of Australia League, a moderate Aboriginal rights organization, and later the Liberal Party. In 1971, Bonner was appointed to the Senate, where he advocated for Indigenous rights, land rights, and social justice issues, notably introducing a motion to acknowledge Aboriginal peoples as the continent's original owners.
Throughout his twelve-year Senate career, Bonner championed legislation addressing the disproportionate incarceration rates of Aboriginal Australians and worked on various committees related to Indigenous affairs. He was named Australian of the Year in 1979 and received the Order of Australia in 1984 for his advocacy work. Bonner's legacy includes the establishment of scholarships supporting Indigenous students and several honors in his name, such as the Neville Bonner Memorial Scholarship and a federal electorate named after him. He was also a skilled boomerang maker and a recognized elder of the Jagera tribe. Bonner passed away in 1999, leaving a significant impact on Australian political history and Indigenous rights advocacy.
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Subject Terms
Neville Bonner
Politician
- Born: March 28, 1922
- Birthplace: Tweed Heads, New South Wales
- Died: February 5, 1999
- Place of death: Ipswich, Queensland
Significance: Neville Bonner was an Australian politician and the first Aboriginal person to serve in Federal Parliament. He was on the Senate for twelve years. During this time, he promoted a variety of initiatives, including several pertaining to Aboriginal Australians.
Background
Bonner was born beneath a palm tree in 1922 on Ukerebagh Island in Tweed Heads, New South Wales. His father left his mother when she was pregnant. After Bonner’s mother died in July 1932, he was adopted by his grandparents. They moved to Beaudesert, Queensland. His grandmother died in 1935 and he moved back to New South Wales.
He was a Jagera man, and like most Indigenous children of that time, he received little formal education. Bonner left school after third grade, at the age of fifteen. During his youth, he worked as a rural laborer on properties throughout Queensland and New South Wales.
Life’s Work
In 1945 or 1946, Bonner moved to Palm Island, Queensland, where he worked for the Palm Island Aboriginal Settlement. He eventually became the assistant settlement overseer. He also became a foundation member of the Palm Island Social and Welfare Association. Bonner became interested in politics by the 1960s. He joined the moderate Aboriginal rights organization, One People of Australia League, serving as its Queensland President from 1968 to 1974. He then joined the Liberal Party in August 1967. By 1969, he was a member of the party’s state executive. Bonner campaigned for the Senate in 1970 but came in third. However, he was nominated to fill a vacancy to replace Dame Annabelle Rankin after her resignation in the Senate the next year.
Bonner was reelected four times and served in the Senate for twelve years, raising a variety of issues such as national symbolism, land rights, the status of East Timor, technological opportunities, and social security entitlements. In 1974, he moved a motion for the Senate to acknowledge Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as the prior owners of the Australian continent and to introduce legislation to compensate them for the loss of their land. He would later serve as chair of the Select Committee on Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders and the Joint Select Committee on Aboriginal Land Rights in the Northern Territory.
Bonner was unique in that he was an Indigenous activist and a political conservative, but he crossed party lines regularly. In 1979, he was named as Australian of the Year for his advocacy of Indigenous rights. In 1984, after leaving politics, he was appointed as an Officer of the Order of Australia. Over the years, he worked as a director on the board of the Australia Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) and as a patron of World Vision and Amnesty International.
In 1998, Bonner was elected as a monarchist delegate to the Constitutional Convention to consider whether Australia should become a republic. During the convention he made a passionate speech, saying Australia had previously claimed to his people that its system was best, and now it was suddenly saying that the power that brought the country together must go. He ended his speech with a mourning song sung in the Jagera language.
Impact
Bonner was the first Aboriginal person to serve in Federal Parliament in Australia, which he acknowledged in his first speech to the Senate during the 1971–1972 Budget. His appointment to the Senate was momentous, as it came just nine years after Indigenous Australians had gained voting rights. Over his twelve years in the Senate and after his retirement, he advocated for Aboriginal causes. His 1976 Private Members’ Bill, Aborigines and Islanders (Admissibility of Confessions) Bill, drew the Parliament’s attention to the disproportionate incarceration rates of Aboriginal people in Australia. He also paved the way for other Indigenous Australians to enter politics. From 1992 to 1996 he was involved with Griffin University and received an honorary doctorate.
Bonner has been honored in numerous ways since his death. In 2000, Australia established the Neville Bonner Memorial Scholarship, which is considered to be Australia’s most prestigious scholarship for Indigenous students wishing to pursue honors in political science and other related subjects. The Queensland federal electorate was established in 2004 and named after him. A government building in Brisbane is also named after him. The Museum of Australian Democracy at Old Parliament House has a number of Bonner’s items that tell the story of his life, including his Liberal Party of Australia Life Member badge, One People of Australia League badge, a “Bonnerang” boomerang, and a bark painting tracing four scenes of his life by Elder Bill Congoo.
Personal Life
Bonner married Mona Banfield in 1943 at Palm’s Island Mission. They had five sons and three foster daughters. Bonner was a skilled boomerang thrower and had learned the art of boomerang making from his grandfather. In 1966, he established “Bonnerang,” a boomerang manufacturing business. Mona died in 1969, and Bonner married Heather Ryan in 1972. Later in life, he asserted himself the only recognized elder of the Jagera tribe of the Ipswich region. Bonner died in 1999 due to cancer.
Bibliography
“Celebrating Neville Bonner, the first Indigenous Federal Parliamentarian.” The Museum of Australian Democracy at Old Parliament House, 20 Aug. 2021, www.moadoph.gov.au/blog/bonner-50th-anniversary/#. Accessed 26 June 2023.
Church, Nathan. “Commemorating the 50th anniversary of Neville Bonner’s appointment to the Senate.” Parliament of Australia, 11 June 2021, www.aph.gov.au/About‗Parliament/Parliamentary‗Departments/Parliamentary‗Library/FlagPost/2021/June/Neville‗Bonner. Accessed 26 June 2023.
“Fifty years since Neville Bonner broke new ground.” NITV, 11 June 2021, www.sbs.com.au/nitv/article/fifty-years-since-neville-bonner-broke-new-ground/w3tiun5xu. Accessed 26 June 2023.
Furse-Roberts, David. “‘My First Responsibility Was To God’ - Neville Bonner.” Eternity News, 27 Aug. 2021, www.eternitynews.com.au/australia/my-first-responsibility-was-to-god-remembering-neville-bonner/. Accessed 26 June 2023.
“Indigenous Leader and Senator (1922–99).” National Archives of Australia, www.naa.gov.au/explore-collection/first-australians/other-resources-about-first-australians/neville-bonner. Accessed 26 June 2023.
Juddery, Bruce. “Bonner, Neville (1922–1999).” Canberra Times, 9 Feb. 1999, ia.anu.edu.au/biography/bonner-neville-28098. Accessed 26 June 2023.
“Neville Bonner AO: Australia’s First Indigenous Parliamentarian.” Parliament of Australia, www.aph.gov.au/Visit‗Parliament/Art/Stories‗and‗Histories/Stories‗and‗Histories/Who‗was‗Neville‗Bonner. Accessed 26 June 2023.
“Top 10 Outstanding Facts about Neville Bonner.” Discover Walks, 15 Sept. 2022, www.discoverwalks.com/blog/australia/top-10-outstanding-facts-about-neville-bonner/. Accessed 26 June 2023.