One People of Australia League (OPAL) badge worn by Neville Bonner

Neville Thomas Bonner AO was an Australian politician, and the first Indigenous Australian to become a member of the Parliament of Australia. In the early 1960s Bonner joined a group that became the One People of Australia League, or OPAL. The group formed in 1961 to facilitate Queensland Government assistance to areas of aboriginal need. In 1965 Bonner was elected to OPAL’s state committee and he served as its president from 1968-74. OPAL was extremely important to Bonner and he counted his work with the League, such as the opening of hostels for aborigines to live in, as some of his greatest achievements.