A pioneer in the struggle for Aboriginal rights Shemyliah Ahmat, Year 9
Joe McGinness was an Aboriginal activist, truck driver, soldier, fisherman, and great-great grandfather to Shemyliah Ahmat. Before passing away in 2003, the 89-year-old was recognised as a well-known Indigenous rights campaigner and awarded an Order of Australia. Joe was born in 1914, at his parents’ tin mine, 50 km south of Darwin. His mother, Alyandabu, was from Kungarakany people from the Northern Territory and his father, Stephen McGinness, was an Irish Immigrant. Joe was the youngest of five children and lived with his family until he was four years old, when his father died. Without his European father, the lease on the tin mine was forfeited and Joe and his brother Val became wards of the state and were removed to Darwin’s Kahlin Compound. In an interview with the Australian National Museum before he died, he described Kahlin as being ‘a place of severe deprivation’ (National Museum of Australia n.d.).
During the 1967 Referendum, Joe travelled the country to encourage people to vote ‘Yes’, which raised ‘the expectations of Aboriginal and Non-Aboriginal people, regarding Aboriginal rights and welfare’ (Thomas 2017). Reflecting on his work in an interview, Joe said: “There were various organisations that supported our request for a referendum to have equal rights: church groups, unions and everything, but we had to get around for six or eight years campaigning to get that support, which proved very effective, I think. Ninety percent of the population voted for this constitutional change: church groups and everything else.” (National Museum of Australia n.d.)
Joe left the institution at 13 years of age and worked as roustabout, truck driver and trepang fisherman in the waters around the Torres Strait. He met and married his first wife, Jaura Ah Mat, who died four years later. He had two children from this marriage, Elsie and John. After surviving the Darwin bombing in 1942, Joe joined the Australian army and served in Borneo during the Second World War. After the war, he met his second wife, Amy Nagas, and had three more children; Sandra, Raymond and Samuel. He gained work on the wharves in Cairns and became a member of the Waterside Workers’ Federation. From here, Joe’s political career began to take shape and he became secretary of the Cairns Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Advancement League when it was formed in 1959. Throughout the 1960s, the League instigated several federal investigations including querying why many Aboriginal people were not receiving their Commonwealth Tuberculosis Allowance and helped to mount investigations into abuses of the Queensland Trust Fund. The Cairns League’s activism coincided with a national movement of Indigenous Activism and a national agency was formed, the Federal Council for the Advancement of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders (FCAATSI). Joe soon became their national president and served in this role for 17 years (Kooriweb 2003).
Under Joe’s leadership, FCAATSI had several wins for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders and fought for wage equity, legislative reform and an early push for land rights. In his later life, he became a key figure in the development of the Department of Aboriginal Affairs and continued to be a strong voice for Indigenous rights. Returning to North Queensland, Joe became regional manager for Aboriginal Hostels in Cairns and continued to help establish organisations to represent Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. Australian Senator Patrick Dodson is quoted on the Koori website (2003), remembering Joe: This grand old man has been the inspiration to many of us who have joined in the battle for justice. He has provided wisdom and advice, guidance and correction, humour and hope. Shemyliah is a fifth-generation relation to Joe and says, “Even though I don’t really know him, I feel we have a strong relation.”
This grand old man has been the inspiration to many of us who have joined in the battle for justice. He has provided wisdom and advice, guidance and correction, humour and hope.
References: Kooriweb 2003, Heroes in the Struggle for Justice: Important People on the Political Struggle for Aboriginal Rights, Joe McGuiness 1914 - 2003, viewed 5 May 2020, http:// kooriweb.org/foley/heroes/biogs/joe_mcguinness.html National Museum of Australia n.d., Joe McGuiness, viewed 7 May 2020, https://www.nma.gov.au/explore/features/ indigenous-rights/people/joe-mcginness Thomas M 2017, The 1967 Referendum, Parliament of Australia, viewed 5 May 2020, https://www.aph.gov. au/About_Parliament/Parliamentary_Departments/ Parliamentary_Library/FlagPost/2017/May/The_1967_ Referendum
Margot Shave
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