George Cyril Abdullah (9 August 1919 – 6 August 1984) was an Aboriginal community leader who promoted Indigenous rights by participating in a number of organisations and committees in

Perth Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth i ...

Western Australia Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to th ...

Early life life

Abdullah was born in Guildford, a suburb of Perth, and was the youngest of the five children of Joseph Benedict Abdul, a labourer from

Kolkata Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , the official name until 2001) is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal, on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary business, comme ...

, and Mary Salina, an

Indigenous Indigenous may refer to: *Indigenous peoples *Indigenous (ecology), presence in a region as the result of only natural processes, with no human intervention *Indigenous (band), an American blues-rock band *Indigenous (horse), a Hong Kong racehorse ...

woman. In 1944, Abdullah married Gladys Kelly in a Catholic ceremony at the mission in

New Norcia New is an adjective referring to something recently made, discovered, or created. New or NEW may refer to: Music * New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz Albums and EPs * ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartney, 2013 * ''New'' (EP), by Regurgitator, ...

Political activities

Abdullah started working with

South Australian Railways South Australian Railways (SAR) was the statutory corporation through which the Government of South Australia built and operated railways in South Australia from 1854 until March 1978, when its non-urban railways were incorporated into Aust ...

in 1946. While working with the railways as a labourer, truck driver, and linesman, he started promoting Aboriginal rights. He went on to become a freelance welfare worker for Aboriginal people, travelling across the country speaking about the plight of

Indigenous Australians Indigenous Australians or Australian First Nations are people with familial heritage from, and membership in, the ethnic groups that lived in Australia before British colonisation. They consist of two distinct groups: the Aboriginal peoples ...

. He was involved in the formation of a number of Indigenous rights groups, including the Coolbaroo League, the Original Australians Welfare and Progress Association, and the Western Australia Native Welfare Council (later the Aboriginal Advancement Council of Western Australia). In the 1970s he was involved in the foundation of the Aboriginal Rights Council (later the Aboriginal Rights League), the

National Tribal Council The Federal Council for the Advancement of Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders (FCAATSI), founded in Adelaide, South Australia, as the Federal Council for Aboriginal Advancement (FCAA) on 16 February 1958, was a civil rights organisation which ...

, and the Aboriginal Development and Cultural Council. He ran unsuccessfully for the Senate as an independent in 1975. He was a member of the committee of the

Aboriginal Publications Foundation The Aboriginal Publications Foundation (APF) was a national Australian Aboriginal organisation that existed from 1970 to 1982, based first in Sydney, New South Wales, and later in Perth, Western Australia. It existed to promote and fund creative ...

, which published the magazine ''

Identity Identity may refer to: * Identity document * Identity (philosophy) * Identity (social science) * Identity (mathematics) Arts and entertainment Film and television * ''Identity'' (1987 film), an Iranian film * ''Identity'' (2003 film), ...

'', in the 1970s.

Death and legacy

Abdullah died on 6 August 1984 at Nedlands, Perth, of a heart disease.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Abdullah, George Australian Roman Catholics Guildford, Western Australia Indigenous Australians from Western Australia 1919 births 1984 deaths