Parliamentary Pillow belonging to Neville Bonner

Neville Thomas Bonner AO was an Australian politician, and the first Indigenous Australian to become a member of the Parliament of Australia. Although he achieved much in his role in federal parliament until it ended in 1983, Neville Bonner remained a humble man and one who was alone for much of his time there. He always felt the responsibility of being the only Indigenous Member of Parliament. He said: ‘My whole political life was under scrutiny. The way I walked, the way I talked, the way I ate, the way I drank, everything I did was being judged … I felt that I had a responsibility to prove that we Aboriginal people had the ability and the willpower to be able to handle any situation, because if I failed, then my whole race would have been judged accordingly’. Years later he remarked of his time in this building and he said ‘It was worse than being out droving. I was treated like an equal on the floor of the chamber, neither giving nor asking quarter, but there were hours just sitting in my office and I went home alone to my unit at night. There was never one night when anyone said “hey let’s go out tonight”.’