Neville Thomas Bonner AO (28 March 1922 - 5 February 1999) was an Australian politician, and the first indigenous Australian to become a member of the Parliament of Australia. He was initially appointed by the Queensland Parliament to fill a casual vacancy in the representation of Queensland in the Senate, and later became the first indigenous Australian to be elected to the parliament by popular vote. Bonner was an elder of the Jagera people.
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Neville Thomas Bonner AO (28 March 1922 - 5 February 1999) was an Australian politician, and the first indigenous Australian to become a member of the Parliament of Australia. He was initially appointed by the Queensland Parliament to fill a casual vacancy in the representation of Queensland in the Senate, and later became the first indigenous Australian to be elected to the parliament by popular vote. Bonner was an elder of the Jagera people.
He was born at Ukerebagh Island, a small settlement on the Tweed River 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 of Australia League (OPAL), a moderate indigenous rights organisation. He became its Queensland president in 1970. He joined the Liberal Party...
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