9 Neville Bonner scrapbooks

As a Rockhampton local for more than 50 years, I have often walked past the Neville Bonner Hostel near the Fitzroy River and wondered how it came about and what connections Mr Bonner had to our local region.

It turns out that Mr Bonner was a founding Director of Aboriginal Hostels Limited (AHL) and served on the AHL Board as Queensland representative for 10 years.

I always seemed to know, through local osmosis, that Mr Bonner was renowned as the first Indigenous Australian to become a member of the Parliament of Australia. He was often in the news when I was a child in the early 1970s and I assumed (wrongly it seems) that he then faded into obscurity … a mere memory of an earlier age.

I was thus astounded to find he lived until 1999 (the year my daughter was born), meaning he was in his late 70s.

Having had the chance to see pages from his scrapbook, it brings to life the breadth of Mr Bonner’s interests and makes him seem more real than just a name on the wall of a hostel.

It was a time when newspapers referred to ‘aboriginals’ (lowercase) which is now rightly considered a pejorative term.

Mr Bonner tracked stories ranging from a desert-stalking mystery, to land lease rights, the One People’s Australia League, and even a fashion parade.

It’s encouraging that the UQ Fryer Library has also kept a range of tangible ‘Bonner’ documents including Letters of Support on ‘Compensation for Dispossession’, confidential papers, greeting cards, minutes and photographs.

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Biography

Marc Barnbaum has been a working journalist since 1981 and has also been employed in a range of public relations and corporate communications roles since 1993. He has freelanced as a magazine photographer and worked in music and events promotions. He is now employed in a Comms role for UQ Indigenous Engagement.