Neville Bonner was the first Aboriginal to be elected to the Federal Parliament as a Senator for Queensland in 1971 continuing until 1983. Having been born on Ukerebagh Island never knew his father who was an Englishman and had returned to England prior to Neville'� birth. Soon after his birth Neville and his family were living in the bush with few possessions to their name. Prior to her death Neville Bonner�s mother had always insisted that Neville devote himself to his education although many aboriginals were not allowed to attend state schools until they had attained years often into their teens. Neville travelled throughout the North of the Country working on cattle stations doing whatever he could but more often than not cutting timber, felling scrub and even cutting cane. In 1943 he met and married Mona Banfield and moved to Palm Island where they remained for the next 16 years bringing up a family of five sons. In 1967 after a National Referendum on Aboriginals there were major changes in how our indigenous natives were treated and in fact it was also the first time they were given the vote and actually counted as part of the population in National census statistics. At this time Neville Bonner decided if things were going to continue to change for his people he would need to do it from the inside and so he entered politics, joined the Liberal Party and was elected to the Senate in August 1971. He was the first ever Aboriginal to be elected to the Federal Parliament and the first with the voice at this level in which he had the ability to influence Government. In 1998, Neville Bonner announced that he was dying from lung cancer a disease, which was ultimately to claim his life on the 5th January 1999 at the age of 76.