John Newfong

Who was John Newfong?

John Newfong, Aboriginal Australian journalist, a descendant of the Ngugi people of Moreton Island and writer, was the first Aboriginal person to be employed as a journalist in the mainstream print media.

Newfong was born in Wynnum, a suburb of Brisbane, Queensland, in 1943. His 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. Newfong's family soon moved to North Stradbroke Island, but when Newfong was five, the family returned to Wynnum where he attended the local school, and later, Wynnum High School. After graduating, he wanted to study Law however entrance to university at the time would only allow Aborigines to undertake education degrees to become teachers; and only if they choose to teach in a community. He instead worked in Mount Isa as a miner in 1965 before returning to Brisbane to campaign for the 1967 Referendum. Later, he trained as a journalist at The Sydney Morning Herald newspaper in Sydney.

Newfong was 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 leadup to the 1967 Aboriginal referendum. He had joined the Queensland council in 1961, and was soon promoted to the federal council. Soon after the referendum, he was offered a job at The Sydney Morning Herald newspaper, and later worked at The Australian. In 1970, he was elected as the general secretary of FCAATSI.