11 Facts About Lin Onus

Lin Onus, born William McLintock Onus and known as Lin Burralung McLintock Onus, was an Australian artist of Scottish-Aboriginal origins.

Lin Onus was largely a self-taught urban artist who, after being expelled from Balwyn High School for fighting, became a mechanic and spray painter, before making artefacts for the tourist market with his father's business, Aboriginal Enterprise Novelties.

The works of Lin Onus often involve symbolism from Aboriginal styles of painting, along with recontextualisation of contemporary artistic elements.

Lin Onus's most famous work, Michael and I are just slipping down to the pub for a minute, has been featured on a postcard, and is a reference to his colleague, artist Michael Eather.

Lin Onus was credited for the sound production on a 1972 film called Blackfire, directed by Bruce McGuinness, which was thought to be the first film made by an Indigenous Australian.

Lin Onus died suddenly of a heart attack on 23 October 1996 at the age of 47 in Melbourne.

Lin Onus was cremated and his ashes scattered at the Cummeragunja cemetery on the NSW-Victorian border.

On 8 December 2000, as part of Aboriginal reconciliation, Peter Bond, Principal of Balwyn High School, at the school presentation night at Dallas Brooks Hall, issued a posthumous apology to Lin Onus for being expelled from Balwyn High School in the early 1960s.

Lin Onus was married twice, first to Rosemary Smith and then to Jo Kloster.

Lin Onus had a son with Rosemary and a daughter, and with Jo he had a son, Tiriki Onus.

Lin Onus made a documentary film about his grandfather Bill Onus, released in 2021, called Ablaze, in which he describes his discovery of a 1946 short film made by him.