View source for Neville Bonner

{{Short description|Australian politician (1922–1999)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2023}}
{{Use Australian English|date=December 2015}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| honorific-prefix = 
| name = Neville Bonner
| honorific-suffix = [[order of Australia|AO]]
|
 image = Neville Bonner 1979.jpg| caption = Bonner in 1979
| title = [[Australian Senate|Senator for]] [[Queensland]]
| term_start = 20 August 1971
| term_end = 4 February 1983
| predecessor = [[Annabelle Rankin|Dame Annabelle Rankin]]
| successor = [[Ron Boswell]]
| birth_name = Neville Thomas Bonner
| birth_date = {{birth date|df=yes|1922|3|28}}
| birth_place = [[Ukerebagh Island]], [[New South Wales]], Australia
| death_date = {{death date and age|df=yes|1999|2|5|1922|3|28}} 
| death_place = [[Ipswich, Queensland]], Australia
| nationality = [[Australia]]n
| spouse = {{plainlist|
* {{marriage|Mona Bonner|1943|1969|reason=died}}
* {{marriage|[[Heather Bonner|Heather Ryan]]|1972}}
}}
| party = [[Liberal Party of Australia|Liberal]] (1967&ndash;1983)<br/>[[Independent (politician)|Independent]] (1983&ndash;1999)
| otherparty =
| relations = 
| children  = 5 boys
| residence =
| alma_mater = 
| occupation = Federal Senator
| profession =
| religion =
| signature =
| website = 
| footnotes =
}}
'''Neville Thomas Bonner''' [[Order of Australia|AO]] (28 March 1922{{spaced ndash}}5 February 1999) was an Australian politician, and the first [[Aboriginal Australians|Aboriginal Australian]] to become a member of the [[Parliament of Australia]]. He was appointed by the [[Parliament of Queensland|Queensland Parliament]] to fill a [[Casual vacancies in the Australian Parliament|casual vacancy]] in the representation of [[Queensland]] in the [[Australian Senate|Senate]], and later became the first Indigenous Australian to be elected to the parliament by popular vote. Neville Bonner was an elder of the [[Jagera (tribe)|Jagera]] people.

==Early life==
Bonner was born on 28 March 1922 on [[Ukerebagh Island]], a small island in the [[Tweed River (New South Wales)|Tweed River]] of [[New South Wales]] close to the border with [[Queensland]]. He was the son of Julia Bell, an Indigenous Australian, and Henry Kenneth Bonner, an English immigrant. His maternal grandmother Ida Sandy was a member of the Ugarapul people of the [[Logan River|Logan]] and [[Albert River (South East Queensland)|Albert River]]s, while his maternal grandfather Roger Bell (or Jung Jung) was a [[Initiation#Tribal|fully initiated]] member of the [[Jagera people|Yagara]] people of the [[Brisbane River]]. According to Bonner, his grandfather was "sort of captured ... out of the tribe" as a young boy and given an English name.<ref name=rowse>{{cite Au Senate |Sen id=bonner-neville-thomas/ |name=Bonner, Neville Thomas (1922–1999)|first=Tim |last=Rowse |year=2010 |volume=3 |access-date=29 November 2022}}</ref>

Bonner's parents met and married in [[Murwillumbah, New South Wales]]. His father abandoned his mother when she was pregnant with him, leaving her destitute. She subsequently moved to the [[Aboriginal reserve]] on Ukerebagh Island, where she had another son. After about five years, the family moved near [[Lismore, New South Wales]], to be closer to Bonner's grandparents, living on the banks of the [[Richmond River]] under a [[lantana]] bush. His mother subsequently had three children with Frank Randell, an Aboriginal man who was employed by the local police. One of his half-brothers died as a child and he "witnessed frequent acts of violence by Randell against his mother".<ref name=rowse/>

Bonner's mother died in July 1932, when he was ten years old, and his grandmother subsequently became his main caregiver. She moved the family to [[Beaudesert, Queensland]], where in 1935 he completed his only year of formal education at Beaudesert State Rural School. His grandmother died in June 1935 and he moved back to New South Wales after finishing the school year.<ref name=rowse/> Bonner worked as a ring barker, cane cutter and stockman before settling on [[Palm Island, Queensland|Palm Island]], near [[Townsville, Queensland]] in 1946, where he rose to the position of Assistant Settlement Overseer.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.nfsa.gov.au/collection/curated/australian-biography-neville-bonner-1|title=Neville Bonner - Biographical Information|access-date=13 February 2022}}</ref>

==Politics==
In 1960 he lived in [[Ipswich, Queensland|Ipswich]], where he joined the board of directors of the [[One People of Australia League]] (OPAL),<ref>[http://indigenousrights.net.au/organisation.asp?oID=31 One People of Australia League] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131113052600/http://indigenousrights.net.au/organisation.asp?oID=31 |date=13 November 2013 }}</ref> a moderate Indigenous rights organisation. He became its Queensland president in 1970. He joined the [[Liberal Party of Australia|Liberal Party]] in 1967 and held local office in the party. Following the resignation of [[Australian Senate|Senator]] [[Annabelle Rankin]] in 1971, Bonner was chosen to fill the [[Casual vacancies in the Australian Parliament|casual vacancy]] and he became the first Indigenous Australian to sit in the Australian Parliament. He was elected in his own right in [[1972 Australian federal election|1972]], [[1974 Australian federal election|1974]], [[1975 Australian federal election|1975]], and [[1980 Australian federal election|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 Australian federal election|1983 election]]. He stood as an independent and was nearly successful. The [[Bob Hawke|Hawke]] government then appointed him to the board of directors of the [[Australian Broadcasting Corporation]].

In 1981 Bonner was the only government voice opposing a bill put forth that would allow drilling in the [[Great Barrier Reef]]. He regularly [[Crossing the floor|crossed the floor]] on bills, a characteristic that has endeared him to politicians today but is often considered the reason for his political career coming to an end.<ref>[http://www.australiangeographic.com.au/blogs/on-this-day/2015/03/on-this-day-in-history-neville-bonner-is-born/ On this day: Australia's first indigenous MP born], ''Australian Geographic'', 27 March 2015</ref>

==Later life==
Following Bonner's electoral defeat, incoming ALP prime minister [[Bob Hawke]] publicly promised him a government post.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/116375546|title=Bonner loses a seat but PM promises a job|newspaper=The Canberra Times|date=26 March 1983}}</ref> In June 1983 he was appointed to the board of the [[Australian Broadcasting Corporation]] (ABC).<ref>{{cite news|url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/131848427|title=New head for ABC named|newspaper=The Canberra Times|date=10 June 1983}}</ref> He briefly acted as ABC chairman in April 1984,<ref>{{cite news|url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/125003460|title=Bonner appointed|newspaper=The Canberra Times|date=14 April 1984}}</ref> and in June 1986 was reappointed to a further five-year term on the board, concluding in 1991.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/118123249|title=ABC vacancies|newspaper=The Canberra Times|date=6 June 1986}}</ref>

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 the [[Constitutional Convention (Australia)|Constitutional Convention]] as a candidate of [[Australians for Constitutional Monarchy]].

In 1998 Bonner announced he had been diagnosed with terminal lung cancer.<ref name=thorpe>{{cite news|url=https://www.sbs.com.au/nitv/the-point/article/neville-bonner-the-outsider-in-capitol-hill/8ebfssac0|title=Neville Bonner: The outsider in Capitol Hill|work=The Point|publisher=National Indigenous Television|date=11 September 2017|access-date=21 June 2024|first=Nakari|last=Thorpe}}</ref> He died at a hospice in Ipswich on 5 February 1999, aged 76. He was granted a [[state funeral]], held at [[St Stephen's Church, Ipswich|St Stephen's Church]], and interred at Warrill Park Lawn Cemetery.<ref name=rowse/>

==Honours and legacy==
[[File:Neville Bonner Building, Brisbane 07.jpg|thumb|right|Neville Bonner Building, Brisbane (demolished 2017)]]
[[File:Plaque at Neville Bonner Hostel, Rockhampton, 2023.jpg|thumb|Plaque at the Neville Bonner Hostel, [[Rockhampton]] ]]
In 1979 Bonner was jointly named [[Australian of the Year]],<ref>{{cite book | author=Lewis, Wendy | author-link=Wendy Lewis | title=Australians of the Year | publisher=Pier 9 Press | year=2010 | isbn=978-1-74196-809-5 }}</ref> along with naturalist [[Harry Butler]]. He was appointed an [[Officer of the Order of Australia]] (AO) in 1984.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://honours.pmc.gov.au/honours/awards/884452|title=It's an Honour - Honours - Search Australian Honours|access-date=24 January 2017}}</ref> 

The head office of the Queensland Department of Communities, Child Safety and Disability services in [[Brisbane]], built in 1999, was named the Neville Bonner Building.<ref>{{cite web | last=Keniger | first=Michael | title=Civic Dynamics | website=ArchitectureAU | date=1 May 1999 | url=https://architectureau.com/articles/civic-dynamics/ | access-date=24 October 2023}}</ref> Despite having won two architectural awards (the [[RAIA]] Beatrice Hutton Award for Commercial Building 1999, a national award,<ref>{{cite web | title=Neville Bonner Building | website=Partners Hill | url=https://www.partnershill.com/neville-bonner-building-1 | access-date=24 October 2023}}</ref> and the RAIA (Queensland) F.D.G Stanley Award & Regional Commendation 1999), it was demolished in 2017 to make way for the [[Queen's Wharf, Brisbane|Queen's Wharf]] development.<ref>{{cite web | title=Neville Bonner Building | website=Queen's Wharf History | url=http://queenswharf.org/places/neville-bonner-building/ | access-date=24 October 2023}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | last=Remeikis | first=Amy | last2=Atfield | first2=Cameron | title=Name tower of power after Neville Bonner: LNP | website=[[Brisbane Times]] | date=21 July 2015 | url=https://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/national/queensland/name-tower-of-power-after-neville-bonner-lnp-20150721-gihcbc.html | access-date=24 October 2023}}</ref> The [[Neville Bonner Bridge]], a footbridge built in 2023, and opened in August 2024, is part of the new development.<ref>{{cite web | title=Neville Bonner Bridge   Brisbane, Australia| website=Grimshaw | url=https://grimshaw.global/projects/infrastructure/neville-bonner-bridge/ | access-date=24 October 2023}}</ref>

The Neville Bonner Memorial Scholarship was established by the federal government in 2000, a scholarship for Indigenous Australians to study Honours in [[political science]] or related subjects at any recognised Australian university.<ref>{{cite web | title=Neville Bonner Memorial Scholarship | website=The Australian National University | date=15 August 2023 | url=https://study.anu.edu.au/scholarships/find-scholarship/neville-bonner-memorial-scholarship | access-date=24 October 2023}}</ref>

In 2002, the Neville Bonner Award for Indigenous Education was introduced as part of the Australian Awards for University Teaching (AAUT), which were established by the federal government in 1997.<ref>{{cite web| url=http://aautn.org/wp/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/2020-AAUT-Indigenous-v2-9Apr.pdf| title=2020 AAUT: Neville Bonner Award for Indigenous Education| date=2020|website= AAUT}}</ref><ref>{{cite web| url=https://universitiesaustralia.edu.au/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/2022-AAUT-Brochures_Updated-Neville-Bonner-Award-for-Indigenous-Education.pdf| title=Neville Bonner Award for Indigenous Education| date=2022|website= AAUT}}</ref> The inaugural award was won jointly by [[Marcia Langton]] and [[Larissa Behrendt]].<ref>{{cite web | title=Marcia Langton | website=[[AustLit]]| date=8 June 2020 | url=https://www.austlit.edu.au/austlit/page/A71890 | access-date=23 October 2023}}</ref>

A multipurpose 47-bed hostel, managed by Aboriginal Hostels Limited, located in the [[Rockhampton]] suburb of [[Berserker, Queensland|Berserker]], was redeveloped and reopened in July 2002 as the Neville Bonner Hostel.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://ahl.gov.au/our-hostels/hostels-directory/neville-bonner-hostel|title=Neville Bonner Hostel |date= |website=Aboriginal Hostels Limited|publisher=Australian Government|access-date=15 March 2022|quote=}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | title=Aboriginal Hostels Limited Reports 2001-02 | date=23 June 2002 | url=https://parlinfo.aph.gov.au/parlInfo/search/display/display.w3p;query=Id%3A%22publications%2Ftabledpapers%2F18358%22;src1=sm1| website= Australian Parliament | access-date=24 October 2023}}</ref> 

The Queensland federal electorate of [[Division of Bonner|Bonner]] was created in 2004 and was named in his honour.<ref>{{cite web | title=Profile of the electoral division of Bonner (Qld) | website=[[Australian Electoral Commission]] | date=19 November 2019 | url=https://www.aec.gov.au/profiles/qld/bonner.htm | access-date=24 October 2023}}</ref>

The suburb of [[Bonner, Australian Capital Territory|Bonner]] in [[Canberra]], created around 2008, bears his name.<ref>{{cite web | first=Robert |last= Campbell Jnr| title=National Portrait Gallery, Canberra | website=National Portrait Gallery | url=https://www.portrait.gov.au/portraitofanation/bonner.html | access-date=24 October 2023}}</ref>

== Personal life ==
Bonner married Mona Banfield in 1943, in a Catholic ceremony at Palm Island's mission.<ref name=rowse/> They had five sons and fostered three daughters, prior to Mona's death in 1969. Bonner remarried in 1972 to [[Heather Bonner|Heather Ryan]] ({{nee|Trotter}}), who had three adult children.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article44799791|title=WARM-HEARTED MR. BONNER MAKES HISTORY|date=9 June 1971|work=Australian Women's Weekly (1933 - 1982)|access-date=24 March 2020|pages=7}}</ref> His great-niece [[Joanna Lindgren]] was appointed to the Senate in 2015.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/lindgren-reflects-on-uncle-neville-bonner/nzeq2ydes|title=Lindgren reflects on uncle Neville Bonner|publisher=SBS News|date=11 August 2015|access-date=21 June 2024}}</ref>

Bonner was taught to make [[boomerang]]s by his grandfather. In 1966, he established a boomerang manufacturing business named Bonnerang, with the assistance of his family. The boomerangs were handmade from the roots of [[black wattle]] trees, as Bonner refused to use synthetic materials. His company produced up to 450 boomerangs per week, but folded after a year due to a shortage of wood. After being elected to parliament, Bonner gave a boomerang demonstration in the gardens of [[Old Parliament House, Canberra|Parliament House]]. In his maiden speech he called on the intellectual property of the boomerang to be reserved for Indigenous people, as non-Indigenous people were producing cheap synthetic properties. One of his boomerangs is held by the [[Museum of Australian Democracy]].<ref>{{cite news|url=https://collection.moadoph.gov.au/objects/2006-2443/|title=Boomerang #2006-2443|publisher=Museum of Australian Democracy|access-date=19 June 2022}}</ref>

==See also==
* [[List of Indigenous Australian politicians]]

==References==
{{Reflist|30em}}

==Further reading==
*{{cite book|last=Burger|first=Angela|title=Neville Bonner: A Biography|publisher=Macmillan|year=1979|isbn=0333252365}}
*{{cite book|last=Jacobs|first=Sean|title=Neville Bonnr|date=28 August 2021 |publisher=Connor Court Publishing|isbn=9781922449719}}

==External links==
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20090614030732/http://library.nma.gov.au/libero/docs/Libopac/bibliographies_files/NBonner.htm Listing of Neville Bonner's life in published media & books] 
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20080721050839/http://dl.filmaust.com.au/module/1034/ Classroom Resource] 
*[http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/hindsight/compromise-and-confrontation/4432034 Episode on Bonner's life and career] on [[Australian Broadcasting Corporation]] [[Radio National]]'s ''Hindsight'' program

{{Australians of the Year}}
{{ABCBoard |state=autocollapse}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bonner, Neville}}
[[Category:1922 births]]
[[Category:1999 deaths]]
[[Category:Indigenous Australian politicians]]
[[Category:Liberal Party of Australia members of the Parliament of Australia]]
[[Category:Australian monarchists]]
[[Category:Members of the Australian Senate]]
[[Category:Members of the Australian Senate for Queensland]]
[[Category:Officers of the Order of Australia]]
[[Category:Australian of the Year Award winners]]
[[Category:Australian Roman Catholics]]
[[Category:Delegates to the Australian Constitutional Convention 1998]]
[[Category:People from the Northern Rivers]]
[[Category:Independent members of the Parliament of Australia]]
[[Category:20th-century Australian politicians]]
[[Category:People from Tweed Heads, New South Wales]]
[[Category:Australian people of English descent]]