indigiTUBE PULSE | Watch Neville Bonner Biography from BREAKING GROUND!

In this interview of BREAKING GROUND, Neville Bonner shares his experience as the first Aboriginal person in Federal Parliament, representing Queensland as a Liberal Party Senator from 1971 to 1983. Bonner crossed the floor 23 times to vote against his own party and in 1982 the Liberal Party demoted him from first to third place on the Queensland Senate ticket. Bonner resigned from the party in fury, stood as an Independent, but was not re-elected.

Bonner grew up on the banks of the Richmond River and started his working life as a ringbarker, canecutter and stockperson. He spent 16 years on the repressive Palm Island Aboriginal Reserve where he learned many of the skills that helped him later as a politician. He also became a Board member of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation and was the author of several books including Black Power in Australia; Equal World, Equal Share; and For the Love of Children.

AVAILABLE FOR VIEWING UNTIL THIS SUNDAY 11 JULY

BREAKING GROUND launches its fifth release today on indigiTUBE in collaboration with the National Film and Sound Archive of Australia's Black Screen. The program follows our blak leaders and their work over the past 100 years of our history. It stands as a reminder of the impact our leadership and self-determination has had on our country and aims to empower those to come. Check the full program HERE.