Lyall Munro Jnr facts for kids
Lyall Thomas Munro Jnr (born in 1951) is an Aboriginal Australian elder. He was an important activist and a member of many groups that helped Aboriginal Australians. He is known as a leader in the town of Moree, New South Wales. He is the son of Lyall Munro Snr and the husband of Jenny Munro.
Early Life and School
Lyall Thomas Munro is a Gamilaroi man. He was born in Moree, New South Wales, in 1951. He was one of 12 children born to Lyall Munro Snr and Carmine Munro. His brother, Lloyd Munro, is the vice-chair of the Moree Local Aboriginal Land Council. They lived on the New Moree Mission.
Lyall first went to the Moree Aboriginal School. Children were not allowed to leave the school. Moree was known as a town where racism was common. Munro remembered that only Lebanese Australian shopkeepers would sell things to Aboriginal people from the mission. Aboriginal people were not allowed to try on clothes in the shops in town.
When Lyall was 13, in 1965, the Freedom Ride came to Moree. This ride was led by Charles Perkins. The activists took six young Aboriginal boys, including Lyall's nine-year-old brother Dan, from Moree Mission to the town's swimming pool. The pool was segregated, meaning Aboriginal people were not allowed in. Dan was one of the first to swim in the pool. Lyall joined the bus on a trip from the mission to the town. He remembers people from the town throwing things at them.
Later, he went to De la Salle College in Armidale. This school is now called O'Connor Catholic College. When he was 14, he earned his instructor's badge in lifesaving.
First Jobs
Munro moved to Sydney in 1967 or 1968 with his cousin Sammy Munro. He stayed with relatives in Bondi Junction. There, he met other Aboriginal people at the Foundation for Aboriginal Affairs.
He worked in different places on the Central Coast, New South Wales, like Umina, Newcastle, and Wagga Wagga. He came back to Moree in 1969. Then, in 1972, he went to work on cotton farms in Wee Waa. The workers formed a group called the Wee Waa Aboriginal Cotton Chippers Caucus. They went on strike to protest against low wages. Their strike was successful. During this time, he met Ghillar Michael Anderson and Billy Craigie. These men helped start the Aboriginal Tent Embassy in January 1972. He also met Paul Coe and Sol Bellear from the new Aboriginal Legal Service (ALS).
In 1972, he met his future wife, Jenny Coe, in Sydney. She was the younger sister of Paul Coe and Isabel Coe. Billy Craigie later married Isabel.
Being an Activist
Munro helped set up the Aboriginal Tent Embassy in 1972. He also took part in protests during the 1982 Commonwealth Games. He joined the 1988 Bicentennial protests. He was also involved in actions against a leader named Bjelke-Petersen in Queensland. He helped take down the gates of the Parliament House, Sydney, and Parliament House, Brisbane. This happened after talks about Aboriginal land rights did not lead to any good results. He saw Paul Coe and Billy Craigie as heroes who fought for their rights. He thought John Newfong was a great Aboriginal journalist. His father, Lyall Munro Snr, also joined some of the protests. Other activists' parents did too.
Moree is near the Queensland border. Many Aboriginal people there have family in both states. There are strong links between Moree and Cherbourg Aboriginal communities. Munro sees himself as a Murri. He was proud to be involved in activism in Queensland. In Queensland, racism was very strong and the laws were unfair.
In 1982, a 19-year-old Aboriginal man was killed by white people in Moree. Munro spoke for the community about this event.
He later said that in the 1970s, if they disagreed with a group, they would walk into their building and take it over until they were made to leave.
In 2014, Munro, his wife Jenny Munro, and other activists started the Redfern Aboriginal Tent Embassy. They did this to protest against a plan to rebuild an area called The Block in Redfern, Sydney. This plan was called the Pemulwuy Project.
His Work
Munro helped start the NSW Aboriginal Legal Service (ALS) and the Aboriginal Housing Company. He also worked for many other Aboriginal groups. These included the Black Theatre, Redfern Aboriginal Children's Services, Redfern All Blacks, and the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Legal Services.
In 1976, Munro was one of 11 directors at the Aboriginal Housing Company in Redfern, Sydney.
In 1981, a photographer named Juno Gemes took a picture of him speaking at Parliament House, Sydney. He was there as a representative for the National Aboriginal Legal Services.
In 1984, he became the chairman of the ALS. He took over from Paul Coe. Munro had worked for the service for 10 years as a field officer and administrator. In the same year, he became the first co-ordinator of the National Aboriginal and Islander Legal Service Secretariat (NAILSS). He traveled to Geneva, Switzerland, with Paul Coe and Sugar Ray Robinson. They were delegates to the United Nations Human Rights Council in 1984 and 1985. He spent some time in Strasbourg, where he ran a program and gave talks at the International Institute of Human Rights. However, he missed Australia and felt lonely in Europe. So, he promised himself he would never leave Australia again.
Being Honored
Munro is mentioned in several articles in Dawn magazine between 1963 and 1973.
A photo of Munro taken by the famous Aboriginal photographer Mervyn Bishop is in the Sydney Elders exhibition. This exhibition is at the Australian Museum. It started in 2012. It shows a selection of Elders who have helped a lot with culture, education, health, community, or social justice.
As of 2021, he is known as a local leader in Moree.
Family Life
Munro's wife is Jenny Munro. Lyall and Jenny have six children together. He also has a daughter from a previous marriage. Their children are Donna, Jason, Mary, Raymond, Malika, Lorna, and Lyall Jnr. Jason and Lyall Jnr are in a photo taken by Juno Gemes at Erambie Mission in 1978.
Close friends call Munro by the nickname "Lyally Mo."
