Neville Bonner (28 March, 1922 - 5 February, 1999), Australian politician, was the first Aboriginal person to be elected to the Parliament of Australia.

He was born at Ukerabagh, a small settlement near Tweed Heads in northern New South Wales. He never knew his father and had almost no formal education. He worked as a farm labourer before settling on Palm Island, near Townsville, Queensland in 1946, where he rose to the position of Assistant Settlement Overseer.

In 1960 he moved to Ipswich, where he joined the board of directors of the One People Australia League (OPAL), a moderate Aboriginal rights organisation. He became its Queensland president in 1970. He joined the Liberal Party in 1967 and held local office in the party. Following the resignation of a Liberal Senator in 1971, Bonner was chosen to fill the vacancy. He thus became the first Aboriginal person to sit in the Australian Parliament. He was elected in his own right in 1972, 1974, 1975 and 1980.

While in the Senate he served on a number of committees but was never a serious candidate for promotion to the ministry. He rebelled against the Liberal Party line on some issues. Partly as a result of this, and partly due to pressure from younger candidates, he was dropped from the Liberal Senate ticket at the 1983 election. He stood as an independent and was nearly successful. The Hawke government appointed him to the board of directors of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.

In 1979 he was named Australian of the Year. In 1984 he was awarded the title Officer of the Order of Australia. From 1992 to 1996 he was member of the Griffith University Council. The university awarded him an honorary doctorate in 1993. In 1998 he was elected to Constitutional Convention as a candidate of Australians for a Constitutional Monarchy.

Bonner was an elder of the Jagera people. He died on 5 February 1999 at Ipswich.

Bonner was almost unique in being an Aboriginal activist and a political conservative: in fact he owed his political career to this fact. In the face of often savage personal criticism from radical Aboriginal activists, he often denied being a "token" in the Liberal Party, but the way that he was unceremoniously dumped in 1983 seemed to many to confirm the charge.

Childhood Julia Rebecca Bonner (mother of Neville Bonner) was an aborigine. She was married to an English migrant named Henry Kenneth Bonner until he left her when Julia gave birth to a son whom she named Henry.

Neville Bonner was born in Unkerebagh Island on the banks of Tweed River. It was place made by the government to let aborigines live. He was born on 28 March, 1922 under a solitary palm tree among mosquito-infested scrub and a lantana in a gunyah made of swamp oak branches. Around 700 people lived there.

After Neville Bonner was born, Julia lived with Frank Randell, a full-blooded aborigine. At that time, Frank had three children with him-Eva, Frankie and Jimmy.

As Neville grew he had a background of drinking and gambling. Government supplied very little rations to them.

It was until he was 6, his family decided to leave Ukrebagh Island and live with Julia’s Parents-Roger and Ida Bell (outskirts of Lismore in northern N.S.W). It was very hard for the Bonner family to live there. All there washing and bathing was done in the river.

Henry and Neville would usually walk five kilometers into town. They would call at houses and ask housewives for jobs. They would usually rake leaves and get a reward of tree pence and a bit of food. Most of the money earned would usually be given to the men for gambling.

Granddad Bell wood usually teach Neville how to survive on the bush. When Neville was seven, he went to South Lismore School. However they only went there for one day due to white parents not letting their children being mixed with the aborigines.

When Neville was eight, he started working in Banana plantations. It earned him four to five shillings a day.

Until he was eleven his mother was sick. She unfortunately died and was buried in an unmarked grave, which was called a pauper’s grave.

The family moved five kilometers from Lismore to Tuncester. They lived in sheds. Fortunately, there was a aborigine school close by. The children of the family stayed there for only six weeks until the family decided to move to Wiangaree.

At Wiangaree, Neville had a job of taking vegetables to the market. He would make an average of four shillings a day.

On his fourteenth birthday, his total weeks of schooling were about eight weeks.

When Neville was fifteen, he left his family with nothing but clothes and a bible he one at Sunday school. He put them in swag and left.

Life on the Roads

On his life on the roads, he got lifts from farmers, business people and also trains. It was a couple of day until he started working for a dairy farm. He earned a couple of shillings a week. On day in 1937, a stranger arrived at Wiangaree. He was a brother of his mother-Uncle Jack Bell. Neville and Uncle Jack Bell started traveling to Woorabinda. Halfway, they bought bikes to travel.

At Woorabinda, Neville learned a lot about Aboriginal culture.

In 1939, he left and went to Beausdesert. At Beausdesert, he saw his granddad, uncles and aunts. In the 1940’s granddad died. Before long, Neville left with a swag.

He went to Boonah, 27 kilometers from Beausdesert. At Boonah, he did odd jobs around farms. He however left. He traveled down a railway through Ipswich to Rosewood. At Rosewood he helped farmers unload produce. He earned around ten shillings a day.

After a while he left and traveled to Woorabinda again by train. He signed up to help string a telephone line. With his wages, he decided to buy his first suit for which lasted him 31 years.

In 1941, he worked for Bob Pearce in Clyde Park.

Marriage

While he was working on Clyde Park, he had met a woman named Mona Banfield. They married in June 1943.

Neville and Mona went to Hughenden for work. Neville worked for man called Henry Mc Cabe. His job was to cut wood, while Mona was an ambulance superintendent. Mona however had a fight with her employer’s wife and was sent to Palm Island- penal settlement for aborigines.

Neville left Hughenden and went to work on a cattle station in Mount Emu. After two months he went to Palm Island to find Mona.

Palm Island

When he got to Palm Island he saw Mona give Birth to his first son (Patrick James Bonner) on 4 March 1945. Mona was now free to go. They went back to Mount Emu to work. However their son was terribly ill and nearly died because they lived very from a hospital. They however went back to Palm Island and gave birth to Neville Thomas Bonner on 6 April 1946. Followed by Kenneth Henry Bonner on 12 September 1947. Then came Alfred Stephen on 12 August 1951 and Peter Allen on 4 June 1955. The Family grew when Bonner’s friends died leaving three children-Alan, Ruth and Greta Anderson.

On Palm Island Neville founded the Palm Island Social and Welfare Association, which organized fundraisers to raise money for Aborigines. One summer, the association raised 1500 pounds.

After three years on Palm Island, he was made assistant overseer. It was the highest position an Aborigine could hold in on the island. He was paid 2 pounds 10s a fortnight.

Leaving Palm Island

After 15 years of living in Palm Island, Neville left. He arrived in Brisbane on 18 September 1960 and did many jobs around the city.

In 1963, he worked as a laborer for the Brisbane City Council. Bonner also joined the Colored Welfare council and One People Australian League. He opened a boomerang company called Bonnerang, which didn’t last more than a year.

It was in the mid-1960, he was selected to go to Brisbane to work for the Department of Native Affairs, preparing art and artifacts for display at the annual Brisbane Exhibition.

In 1966, he worked as a carpenter for Moreton Shire Council, until 1971 he entered politics.

Politics

He joined the Australian Liberal Party in 1970. In 1971, he became a senator for the next twelve years and also the first aboriginal to be in parliament.

Neville remarried in 1972. He married a big supporter of himself, Heather Ryan.

The Australian of the Year Award 1979 was awarded to him. It award read, “For outstanding personal achievement and endeavor in the field of Australian Politics and in particular your efforts in ensuring that the interests of this country’s first Australians are recognized.”

In 1983, he resigned.

Working for A.B.C.

 After resigning, he was in the Board of Director for A.B.C.

In 1984, he was awarded the title,” Officer of the Order of Australia.” From 1992 to 1996 he was member of the Griffith University Council. The university awarded him an honorary doctorate in 1993. In 1998 he was elected to Constitutional Convention as a candidate of Australians for a Constitutional Monarchy.