Neville George Perkins OAM, (born 4 January 1952), is a former

Australian Australian(s) may refer to: Australia * Australia, a country * Australians, citizens of the Commonwealth of Australia ** European Australians ** Anglo-Celtic Australians, Australians descended principally from British colonists ** Aboriginal Au ...

politician and public servant.

Early life

Perkins is the grandson of

Hetty Perkins Hetty Perkins ( – 8 December 1979) was an elder of the Eastern Arrernte people, an Aboriginal group from Central Australia. Several of her descendants have had prominent careers in various fields, both in the Northern Territory and in other s ...

, an

Eastern Arrernte Arrernte or Aranda (; ) or sometimes referred to as Upper Arrernte (Upper Aranda), is a dialect cluster in the Arandic language group spoken in parts of the Northern Territory, Australia, by the Arrernte people. Other spelling variations are ...

elder, and a nephew of Charlie Perkins. He is a descendant of both the Eastern and Central Arrernte peoples, and was born in Mbantua,

Alice Springs Alice Springs ( aer, Mparntwe) is the third-largest town in the Northern Territory of Australia. Known as Stuart until 31 August 1933, the name Alice Springs was given by surveyor William Whitfield Mills after Alice, Lady Todd (''née'' Al ...

. He attended

Newington College , motto_translation = To Faith Add Knowledge , location = Inner West and Lower North Shore of Sydney, New South Wales , country = Australia , coordinates = , pushpin_map = A ...

(1963–1969), commencing in the preparatory school,

Wyvern House , motto_translation = To Our Faith Add Knowledge , established = , type = Independent single-sex primary day school , denomination = Uniting Church in Australia , gender = Boys , educational_authority = NSW Department of Educat ...

. He is a graduate of the

University of Sydney The University of Sydney (USYD), also known as Sydney University, or informally Sydney Uni, is a public research university located in Sydney, Australia. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in Australia and is one of the country's si ...

Career

Perkins was a Labor Party member of the

Northern Territory Legislative Assembly The Legislative Assembly of the Northern Territory is the unicameral legislature of the Northern Territory of Australia. The Legislative Assembly has 25 members, each elected in single-member electorates for four-year terms. The voting method fo ...

from 1977 to 1981, representing the electorate of MacDonnell. He was the first

Indigenous Australian 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 ...

to hold a shadow ministry in an Australian parliament, and subsequently became the party's deputy leader. Perkins resigned in 1981, not long into his second term. He later served as Secretary of the New South Wales Department of Aboriginal Affairs from 1987 to 1988. In 1973 he founded and was the first general secretary of the

Central Australian Aboriginal Congress Central is an adjective In linguistics, an adjective (abbreviated ) is a word that generally modifies a noun or noun phrase or describes its referent. Its semantic role is to change information given by the noun. Traditionally, adjectives wer ...

(CAAC). Around the same time, he and a group of others set up the Central Australian Aboriginal Legal Aid Service (CAALAS; later amalgamated with other services to form the North Australian Aboriginal Justice Agency). He was also the first Aboriginal general manager of

Aboriginal Hostels Limited Aborigine, aborigine or aboriginal may refer to: *Aborigines (mythology), in Roman mythology * Indigenous peoples, general term for ethnic groups who are the earliest known inhabitants of an area *One of several groups of indigenous peoples, see ...

, and the first Aboriginal general manager of

Imparja Television Pty Ltd {{Use dmy dates, date=January 2021 Imparja Television Pty Ltd is a commercial television company servicing remote eastern and central Australia that began broadcasting on 2 January 1988. It is based in Alice Springs, where it has a studio and satel ...

. He is a Fellow of the

Australian Institute of Management The Australian Institute of Management Education and Training Pty Ltd, commonly known as AIM or AIMET, is an Australian education provider. Its courses include business, management and leadership. AIM offers short courses, nationally accredited qu ...

. Following Imparja, he was director of the

University of New South Wales The University of New South Wales (UNSW), also known as UNSW Sydney, is a public research university based in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It is one of the founding members of Group of Eight, a coalition of Australian research-intensive ...

' Aboriginal Education Program. He has since worked at

National Indigenous Television National Indigenous Television (NITV) is an Australian free-to-air television channel that broadcasts programming produced and presented largely by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. It includes the half-hourly nightly ''NITV News'' ...

(NITV).

Honours

* Medal of the

Order of Australia The Order of Australia is an honour that recognises Australian citizens and other persons for outstanding achievement and service. It was established on 14 February 1975 by Elizabeth II, Queen of Australia, on the advice of the Australian Gove ...

(OAM) for service to Aboriginal welfare, 26 January 1984.It's an Honour
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References

1952 births Australian Labor Party members of the Northern Territory Legislative Assembly Indigenous Australian politicians Members of the Northern Territory Legislative Assembly People educated at Newington College Recipients of the Medal of the Order of Australia Living people Fellows of the Australian Institute of Management University of Sydney alumni {{Australia-Labor-NorthernTerritory-MLA-stub