Joe McGinness

For the American writer, see Joe McGinniss.

Joseph Daniel McGinness
Born(1914-07-02)2 July 1914
Lucy Claim, near Batchelor, Northern Territory, Australia
Died11 July 2003(2003-07-11) (aged 89)
Cairns, Queensland, Australia
OccupationAboriginal rights activist
Known forFirst Aboriginal president of FCAATSI
ParentAlngindabu (mother)

Joseph Daniel McGinness AM (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

Joseph Daniel McGinness was born on 2 July 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.[2] His sister, Margaret Edwards, was active in the Council for Aboriginal Rights in Melbourne in the 1960s.[3] 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.[4][5]

When their father died, McGinness, aged eight, and his siblings were taken into Kahlin Compound for "half-caste" children in Darwin.[2]

Career

McGinness served in Borneo in World War II, and upon his return worked on the docks in Cairns,[6] when he was active in the Waterside Workers' Federation.[7]

His experience in the union movement led him to political activism with the Cairns Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Advancement League, which he formed with Gladys O'Shane and Elia Ware, and later the Federal Council for Aboriginal Advancement.[8] This later known as the Federal Council for the Advancement of Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders (FCAATSI), of which he became first Aboriginal president in 1971. He remained president for all but one year until FCAATSI folded in 1978.[6][9] He visited Adelaide, in South Australia, several times, to liaise with activists such as John Moriarty.[7]

He worked on the campaign for the 1967 referendum regarding Aboriginal affairs in Australia.[6]

He was later manager of Aboriginal Hostels Limited for the northern region.[9]

He was also known as "Uncle Joe".[6]

Honours

McGinness was made a Member of the Order of Australia[6] in the 1990 Australia Day Honours list for service to the Aboriginal community.

Personal life and death

McGinness married Amy, a Torres Strait Islander woman.[9]

He died on 11 July 2003, aged 89, in Cairns, Queensland.[1]

Publications

  • Son of Alyandabu: My Fight for Aboriginal Rights (1991) – autobiography[6]

Works

  • McGinness, Joe (1991). Son of Alyandabu: My fight for Aboriginal Rights. University of Queensland Press. ISBN 0702223352.

References

  1. ^ a b "McGinness, Joseph Daniel (Joe) (1914–2003)". Indigenous Australia. Retrieved 26 December 2020.
  2. ^ a b Dewar, Mickey. "Alngindabu (1874–1961)". Australian Dictionary of Biography. Australian National University. Retrieved 21 September 2017.
  3. ^ Taffe, Sue (11 April 2014). "Essay - The Council for Aboriginal Rights (Victoria)". Australian Dictionary of Biography. Australian National University. Retrieved 1 December 2020.
  4. ^ Mills, Kathy; Koser, Dianne; Stephen, Matthew (2019), Jungung: Jack McGinness: Plaiting the grass for family, community & the future 1902-1973 / by Kathy Mills with Dianne Koser & Matthew Stephen [NLA catalogue entry], NT History & Memory, ISBN 9780648457510
  5. ^ "Jungung - Jack McGinness: Plaiting the Grass for Family, Community". AustLit. 27 November 2019. Retrieved 30 April 2022.
  6. ^ a b c d e f "Joe McGinness". National Museum of Australia. Archived from the original on 27 July 2020. Retrieved 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
  7. ^ a b Moriarty, John (25 November 1996). "John Moriarty (1938)". National Museum of Australia (Interview). Interviewed by Sue Taffe. Archived from the original on 30 September 2009. Retrieved 22 March 2010.
  8. ^ Ware, Moilang, "Elia Ware (1911–1987)", Australian Dictionary of Biography, Canberra: National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, retrieved 25 November 2025
  9. ^ a b c Copley, Vince; McInerney, Lea (2022). The Wonder of Little Things. Harper Collins. pp. 2015–2018, 220. ISBN 978-1-4607-1483-6.

Further reading

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