Neville Bonner

Neville Bonner

Neville Bonner was born on the twenty eighth of March 1922. His mother was an Ungarra Aboriginal, his father who he never knew was an Englishman who absconded before he was born. Neville was born on Eucabar Island in the mouth of Tweed River in New South Wales. Neville said "there was nowhere else for my mother to go, in those days, people won't know too much about it, but in those days, Aboriginal people had to be out of the towns before sunset. And they couldn't get back into town again until sunrise the next day, my mother was not allowed to go to hospital to give birth to me, she gave birth to me in a little gunya under the palm tree, that still lives down there, on a government issued blanket." When Neville was five the family left the island to live with his grandparents in a camp on the banks of the Richmond River, near Lismore in New South Wales. They lived in a hollow cut out of lantana, sleeping on old blankets and with few possessions. When Neville was seven he helped his stepfather and grandfather earn money by clearing bush. His job was to "crawl underneath the lantana bushes and with a little tomahawk, cut the lantana off at the root".

When his mother died his grandparents took on guardianship of his brother Jimmy and him. His grandmother was a major influence in Neville's life insisted he learn to speak, read and write English properly. Aboriginals at that time were segregated from schools which white children went to, so he was unable to attend the local school in Lismore. It wasn't until they moved to Brisbane that he had a chance to go to state school in Beaudesert. Neville said "we were never allowed to attend a normal state school...but my grandmother talked the head teacher into allowing me to go and I attended there from 14 to 15 years of age," He reached the third grade in that short time and that was the only formal education that he received. Bonner enjoyed school but when his grandmother died he had no choice but to set off and find work.