13 Facts About Bruce McGuinness

Bruce Brian McGuinness was an Australian Aboriginal activist.

Bruce McGuinness was active in and led the Victorian Aborigines Advancement League, and is known for founding and running The Koorier, which was the first Aboriginal-initiated national broadsheet newspaper between 1968 and 1971.

Bruce McGuinness studied law at Monash University but did not accept his degree.

Bruce McGuinness was an early member of the Aboriginal Advancement League, later becoming president, following Doug Nicholls in the role.

Bruce McGuinness's appointment led to some dissent in the organisation, as moderate VAAL members, including Nicholls, were concerned that McGuinness' more radical approach would turn people away from VAAL.

Bruce McGuinness forged connections with more radical Aboriginal activists from across Australia, such as Gary Foley and Denis Walker, and the world.

Foley wrote in an epitaph that Bruce McGuinness "was in many ways an unreconstructed Marxist-Leninist to the end".

Bruce McGuinness joined the Federal Council for the Advancement of Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders and became its Victorian state director, but in 1970 broke away to form the National Tribal Council with Foley, Walker and Naomi Mayers.

Bruce McGuinness advocated for Aboriginal people to take control of their own affairs.

Bruce McGuinness helped establish the Victorian Aboriginal Health Service, along with Alma Thorpe and others, in 1973, and was co-founder of the National Aboriginal and Islander Health Organisation.

Bruce McGuinness directed the film Black Fire, titled Blackfire, thought to be the first film directed by an Indigenous Australian person.

Bruce McGuinness's son Kelli McGuinness was a member of a 1990s band called Blackfire, with Kutcha Edwards as lead singer.

Bruce McGuinness was awarded an honorary doctorate by Tranby College shortly before his death from emphysema in Melbourne on 5 September 2003.