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Sean Jacobs: ‘Compromise over Confrontation’, the Story of Neville Bonner

Neville Bonner was a truly remarkable Australian. Not only did he blaze a trail as the first Indigenous member of our Federal Parliament, but his life serves as a shining example of an individual overcoming tremendous disadvantage in order to make a real impact. His story is the embodiment of Menzies’s belief in individual opportunity, and also the Burkean instinct to seek to achieve progress through existing institutions rather than revolution, thus making gains that could be consolidated and built upon.

Born under the foot of a tree on Ukerebagh Island, northern New South Wales, Bonner’s early life was characterised by severe economic disadvantage and racial discrimination. He had little formal education, partly because the parents of white children boycotted his attendance of the local school, and he was even rejected from enlisting in the Army during World War Two by authorities who refused to allow Indigenous Australians the chance to serve their new country.

Despite these utterly disgraceful incidents, Bonner could see the good in Australian society such that he wanted his people to be accepted as an integral part of that society, all while preserving important elements of their own culture. When he joined the Australian Senate 50 years’ ago in 1971, Bonner took a tangible and profound step towards making that dream a reality. Perhaps surprisingly, Bonner joined the Senate as a member of the Australian Liberal Party, having been attracted to a statement of Liberal beliefs written by Robert Menzies. When Bonner later spoke at the 1998 Constitutional Convention as a Monarchist Delegate, we can only imagine that Menzies would have been proud.

Joining us for this episode of Afternoon Light is Sean Jacobs, author of a new biographical monograph on Neville Bonner produced by Connor Court Publishing. Sean is a Papua New Guinean-born Australian writer and public policy specialist who brings a unique perspective to a subject that deserves far more attention.