George Abdullah
{{use dmy dates|date=December 2020}}
{{use Australian English|date=December 2020}}
{{short description|Aboriginal community leader}}
{{Infobox person
|name = George Abdullah
|birth_date = {{birth date|df=yes|1919|8|9}}
|birth_place = Guildford, Western Australia
|death_date = {{death date and age|df=yes|1984|8|6|1919|8|9}}
|death_place = Nedlands, Western Australia
|occupation = Community worker, Indigenous rights activist, soldier
}}
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, Western Australia.{{Australian Dictionary of Biography |last= Abdullah |first= Yasmin Jill |year= 2007 |volume= 17 |id2=abdullah-george-cyril-12117 |title= Abdullah, George Cyril (1919–1984)
|accessdate= 26 February 2015 }}
Early 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, and Mary Salina, an Indigenous woman.
In 1944, Abdullah married Gladys Kelly in a Catholic ceremony at the mission in New Norcia.{{cite web |last1=Abdullah |first1=Yasmin |title=Abdullah, George Cyril (1919–1984) |url=https://ia.anu.edu.au/biography/abdullah-george-cyril-12117 |website=Indigenous Australia |access-date=26 December 2020}}
Political activities
Abdullah started working with South Australian Railways 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.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article48269047 |title="Natives Have Been Let Down". |newspaper=The Advertiser |location=Adelaide |date=11 July 1953 |access-date=27 February 2015 |page=4 |via=National Library of Australia}}{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article110718556 |title=Doubts on cottage as child centre. |newspaper=The Canberra Times |date=9 July 1974 |accessdate=27 February 2015 |page=11 |via=National Library of Australia}}
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, 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, which published the magazine Identity, in the 1970s.{{cite web| url=https://aiatsis.gov.au/sites/default/files/catalogue_resources/ms_3781_aboriginal_pubs.pdf| publisher= AIATSIS Library| title= Records of the Aboriginal Publications Foundation: MS3781 | access-date=29 September 2022}}
Death and legacy
Abdullah died on 6 August 1984 at Nedlands, Perth, of a heart disease.
References
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Category:Australian Roman Catholics
Category:Australian people of Indian descent
Category:Guildford, Western Australia