General News
12 October, 2023
Reflecting on a local link
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander readers are advised that the following article contains the name of a person who has died. Tomorrow, as the country has its say on the Voice to Parliament referendum, a Maryborough local reflects back on the...
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander readers are advised that the following article contains the name of a person who has died.
Tomorrow, as the country has its say on the Voice to Parliament referendum, a Maryborough local reflects back on the town’s history which shows a strong link to a significant Indigenous figure.
In 1971, Neville Bonner, a Jagera man, became the first Indigenous Australian Senator to enter the Federal Parliament — a historical moment for the country, which came nine years after all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people gained the right to vote.
Mr Bonner was a staunch advocate for Indigenous rights and was named Australian of the Year in 1979 in recognition of his work in the space.
Soon after, among the many titles he was bestowed with, he took on a special one — he accepted the invitation to serve as the patron of Maryborough’s Golden Wattle Festival from 1980 onwards.
“The festival atmosphere and the hospitality and encouragement of Maryborough was such that I was enveloped in a cloud of pride and joy in that we were all Australians together,” he wrote in the program for the festival which was in its 21st year.
For the Golden Wattle Festival’s secretary at the time, Margaret Harrison, it is important to remember the connection Mr Bonner had with the region.
“He’s been here three times so we can’t forget this link we had — he worked so hard all his life to improve the conditions of his people, he did everything he possibly could,” she said.
“What’s really important to me is that he wasn’t interested in assimilation, he was interested in integration.
“Neville was all about equality and it’s important to bring that to the forefront today.”
A trailblazer, Mr Bonner continued to be patron for the festival till he sadly passed away in 1999.
“Those of us who are from different cultural backgrounds carry with us valued legacies,” he said in the 29th Golden Wattle Festival Program — which would also be his last message to the town.
“But whatever background, it is only working together sharing our problems and joys and jointly designing responses that all of us as Australians may hope to overcome the challenges that present and future presents.”