Joe McGinness explained

Joseph Daniel McGinness
Birth Date:1914
Birth Place:Northern Territory
Death Date:2003
Occupation:Aboriginal Australian activist
Known For:First Aboriginal president of FCAATSI
Parents:Alngindabu (mother), Stephen McGinness (father)

Joseph Daniel McGinness (1914–2003), known as "Uncle Joe'", was an Aboriginal Australian activist and the first Aboriginal president of the Federal Council for the Advancement of Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders (FCAATSI).

Early life and family

McGinness was born in 1914 in the Northern Territory to Alngindabu (also known as Lucy), a Kungarakany woman, and Stephen McGinness, an Irish prospector and operator of a tin mine. McGinness was baptised in his father's Catholic faith.[1] The McGinnesses had five children; Joe's brother Val McGinness would also be an activist as well as a musician and sportsman. His sister, Margaret Edwards, was active in the Council for Aboriginal Rights in Melbourne in the 1960s.[2] Another brother, Jack McGinness, was also an activist, and the Northern Territory's and Australia's first elected Aboriginal union leader in 1955 as president of NAWU.[3]

When their father died, McGinness, aged eight, and his siblings were taken into Kahlin Compound for "half-caste" children in Darwin.[4]

Career

McGinness served in Borneo in World War II, and upon his return worked on the docks in Cairns, when he was active in the Waterside Workers' Federation.[5]

His experience in the union movement led him to political activism with the Cairns Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Advancement League and later the Federal Council for Aboriginal Advancement, later known as the Federal Council for the Advancement of Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders (FCAATSI), of which he was president for around a decade.[6] He visited Adelaide, in South Australia, several times, to liaise with activists such as John Moriarty.[5]

He worked on the campaign for the 1967 referendum regarding Aboriginal affairs in Australia.[7]

He was later manager of Aboriginal Hostels Limited for the northern region.[6]

He was also known as "Uncle Joe".[7]

Honours

McGinness was made a Member of the Order of Australia[7] in the 1990 Australia Day Honours list for service to the Aboriginal community.

Personal life

McGinness married Amy, a Torres Strait Islander woman.[6]

Publications

Works

Further reading

Notes and References

  1. Web site: McGinness, Joseph Daniel (Joe) (1914–2003) . Indigenous Australia . 26 December 2020.
  2. Web site: Taffe . Sue . Essay - The Council for Aboriginal Rights (Victoria) . Australian Dictionary of Biography. 11 April 2014 . . 1 December 2020.
  3. Web site: Jungung - Jack McGinness: Plaiting the Grass for Family, Community . . 27 November 2019 . 30 April 2022.
  4. Book: Dewar. Mickey. Alngindabu (1874–1961). Australian Dictionary of Biography. Australian National University. 21 September 2017.
  5. Moriarty. John. Sue Taffe. John Moriarty (1938). National Museum of Australia. 25 November 1996. 22 March 2010. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20090930100331/http://indigenousrights.net.au/person.asp?pID=976. 30 September 2009.
  6. Book: Copley . Vince . McInerney . Lea . The Wonder of Little Things . Harper Collins . 2022 . 978-1-4607-1483-6 . 2015–2018, 220.
  7. Web site: Joe McGinness . . 1 December 2020. The extracts on this page are from an interview with Joe McGinness and Evelyn Scott conducted by Leanne Miller and Sue Taffe on 17 October 1996.