24 Facts About John Newfong

John Newfong was an Aboriginal Australian journalist and writer.

John Newfong's father, Ben "Archie" Archibald Nu Fong, was a Queensland champion heavyweight boxer, and his mother, Edna Crouch, played in the Australian women's cricket team which played England in 1935.

John Newfong's family moved to North Stradbroke Island but, when John Newfong was five, the family returned to Wynnum, where he attended the local school, and later, Wynnum High School.

John Newfong instead worked in Mount Isa as a miner in 1965.

John Newfong took a job in the ABC mailroom in Brisbane, worked as a proofreader, and wrote TV reviews for the Sydney Daily Mirror.

Straight after leaving school, John Newfong joined a student group and joined the Aboriginal Advancement League in Victoria.

John Newfong was the campaign secretary for the Queensland Council for the Advancement of Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders, the state affiliate of the Federal Council for the Advancement of Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders, in the lead-up to the 1967 referendum.

John Newfong had joined the Queensland council in 1961, and was promoted to the federal council.

John Newfong resigned from the FCAATSI position after a few months.

In 1972, John Newfong was made the "chief spokesperson" for the Aboriginal Tent Embassy on the lawns of Old Parliament House in Canberra, where his media contacts and experience in the Canberra press corps were crucial in establishing a public image for the embassy.

John Newfong was known to be extremely knowledgeable on African matters.

John Newfong was one of the first people in the Aboriginal movement to realise the importance of international pressure on Australia, especially from the African nations.

John Newfong was the only Aboriginal speaker at the Black Moratorium to speak specifically about the influence that multinational corporations had on the Australian government in relation to Aboriginal policy.

John Newfong's was the inaugural editor and principal writer of Identity from 1972 to 1973 and 1979 to 1980.

John Newfong published a five-point plan for land rights in the magazine.

John Newfong became involved in Koori Bina, a monthly newspaper published by Black Women's Action from 1976 to 1979, helping the inexperienced young women in its production.

John Newfong was a board member of the Aboriginal Arts Advisory Committee between 1969 and 1970 and board member of the Aboriginal Publications Foundation.

John Newfong was the public relations director of the Aboriginal Medical Service in the Sydney suburb of Redfern from 1975.

John Newfong maintained an ongoing concern for Indigenous health throughout his life.

John Newfong did public relations work for Channel Nine, the New South Wales Society for Crippled Children and National Aboriginal and Islander Health Organisation.

John Newfong became a adviser and speechwriter for the New South Wales Government, and head of public relations at the Aboriginal Development Commission.

In 1993, John Newfong was a lecturer at James Cook University in Townsville, where he taught journalism and media studies.

John Newfong served on the board of the Public Broadcasting Foundation, assisting with the expansion of Aboriginal radio.

Until his death in 1999, John Newfong lectured at various Australian universities on Indigenous health and government relations.