Neville Bonner
Sean Jacobs
Australian Biographical Monographs, No. 11
Paperback, 100 pages, $19.95
ISBN: 9781922449719
This new biography by Sean Jacobs, based on years of research,
explores Neville Bonner’s hardscrabble beginnings and rise to become
Australia’s first Indigenous federal parliamentarian. Despite a
difficult start, and only a year of formal schooling, Bonner turned
discrimination and setback into success, overcoming hard days in
northern New South Wales and Queensland to represent Queensland as a
Liberal Senator for 12 years in the national parliament (1971 – 1983).
Bonner’s towering dignity to be a full participant in Australian
society, and his constant capacity to see the good in all Australians,
make him not only a great Indigenous Australian but one of our greatest
Australians.
Sean Jacobs is a Papua New Guinean-born Australian writer, government
relations and public policy specialist. He has worked at all levels of
government in Australia, New Zealand and PNG, and holds a BA
(International Relations) from Griffith University and Postgraduate
Certificate in Policing, Intelligence and Counter Terrorism from
Macquarie University. His interest in Neville Bonner emerged after
discovering Bonner’s story as a young policy adviser at the Department
of the Prime Minister and Cabinet. Jacobs currently lives in Brisbane.
