Local Aboriginal Leaders

Read the following summaries about remarkable local Aboriginal leaders. Select one of these leaders or another leader and research more about them. Present your project.

William Cooper Petition to King George seeking representation in Federal Parliament. YOUR PETITIONERS humbly pray that Your Majesty will intervene on our behalf, and, through the instrument of Your Majesty’s Governments in the Commonwealth of Australia — will prevent the extinction of the Aboriginal race and give better conditions for all, granting us the power to propose a member of parliament, of our own blood or a white man known to have studied our needs and to be in sympathy with our race, to represent us in the Federal Parliament. AND YOUR PETITIONERS WILL EVER PRAY http://indigenousrights.net.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0007/395800/f74.pdf William Cooper - born 1861, died at Mooroopna at age 80 in 1941. http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/cooper-william-5773 His family settled on the Maloga Mission on the Murray River in New South Wales and subsequently Cummeragunja. He became a spokesman for his people seeking to improve their living conditions and the way they were treated. He was an integral member of the Australian Aborigines League (Melbourne) when he was in his 70’s. He circulated and submitted a petition to King George seeking direct representation in Federal Parliament, however, this was never forwarded beyond the Commonwealth. He established ‘National Aborigines Day’ now known as NAIDOC week. He led a protest march in Melbourne to the German Consulate against the treatment of Jews in Germany after ‘Kristallnacht’ in 1938. http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/nation/israel-honours-aboriginal-elder-for-defying-nazis/story-e6frg6nf-1225899241138?nk=441d30b4c98318744a81f2443bcccf16-1475014575

Jack Patten Uncle Jack Patten was born at Moama, New South Wales in 1904. Died in Melbourne in 1957. He went to school at Cummeragunja. He publically spoke out about the destitute conditions of Aboriginal people on the reserves. In 1939 he visited Cummeragunja Mission and encouraged the people to leave in protest of their living conditions. He was subsequently gaoled for this. This event is known as the Cummeragunja Walk-Off. He was the first president and co-founder of the Aborigines Progressive Association (Sydney) which led an enquiry into the New South Wales Aborigines Protection Board. He joined with William Cooper to organise the Australia Day ‘Day of Mourning’. He served in the Australian Army in World War II. http://indigenousrights.net.au/people/pagination/jack_patten His children were victims of The Stolen Generation. He publically opposed British atomic testing at Marilinga in South Australia.

Margaret Tucker Margaret Tucker was born in 1904 at Darlington Point on the banks of the Murrumbidgee River, New South Wales. She died at Mooroopna 1996. Margaret grew up with her mother’s people on Cummeragunja Mission. She was one of the first notable Aboriginal Activists. She was part of the Stolen Generations and was separated from her mother at age 12. She was sent to Cootamundra Domestic Training Home for Aboriginal Girls. She worked for 11 years as a domestic servant in white homes. Her experiences of domestic service led her to take up the ‘cause of her people’ in the 1930’s. She became the Treasurer of the Victorian Aborigines League in 1932. She was selected with Pastor Doug Nicholls and William Cooper to represent the Victorian Aboriginal community during the ‘National Day of Mourning’ in 1938. She was awarded an MBE in 1968 for her work with Aboriginal organisations. http://ia.anu.edu.au/biography/tucker-margaret-elizabeth-auntie-marge-1556 http://indigenousrights.net.au/people/pagination/margaret_tucker

Pastor Doug Nicholls Sir/Pastor Doug Nicholls was born in 1906 and grew up at Cummeragunja Mission. He died at Mooroopna in 1988 and is buried at Cummeragunja cemetery. A great sportsman, he played football for Fitzroy and toured with a travelling boxing show in the 1930s. He became the Secretary of the Australian Aborigines’ League in 1940. He initiated Aboriginal Sunday, later to be known as NAIDOC week. He was ordained a Churches of Christ pastor in 1945. He and his wife formed the Aboriginal Girls Hostel in 1956. He sought to build relationship bridges between black and white. He formed the Victorian Aborigines Advancement League in 1957. He was appointed MBE in 1957, an OBE in 1968 and was knighted in 1972. In 1962 he was named Victorian Father of the Year and the second Aboriginal Justice of the Peace. In 1976 Sir Douglas Nicholls was appointed Governor of South Australia until 1977. http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/nicholls-sir-douglas-ralph-doug-14920