Bill Onus

William Townsend Onus Jnr (15 November 1906 – 10 January 1968) was an Aboriginal Australian political activist, designer, and showman, also known for his boomerang-throwing skills. He was father of artist Lin Onus.

Early life and education Onus was born on 15 November 1906 at the Cummeragunja Aboriginal Reserve in New South Wales, the eldest child of William Townsend Onus Snr and Maud Mary Onus, née Nelson, from Framlingham, Victoria. His father was of Wiradjuri background and his mother of the Yorta Yorta people, and he had a brother, Eric, and a sister, Maude, known as "Sissy". In 1916, in a time when many people were leaving Cummeragunja owing to land being taken and children being forcibly removed, Maude also left, moving to nearby Echuca, in Victoria. ).

Upon moving to Northern Territory for the filming of Harry Watt's classic film The Overlanders in 1945, Onus saw Aboriginal stockmen being treated violently and being chained up.

Onus became a leader of Aboriginal Victorians in the fight for the "yes" vote in the 1967 referendum for over a decade,

As a showman and entrepreneur During the 1940s and 1950s Onus became famous for his skill at boomerang-throwing, performing at various tourist sites in Victoria and NSW, and also toured New Zealand. Onus was involved in a production called White Justice about the Pilbara strike, co-produced by the AAL and Melbourne's New Theatre ). The nine and a half minute film was only rediscovered in 2021, having never been released (possibly due to pressures exerted on potential distributors by ASIO) and ended up in the National Film and Sound Archive years later. It features in his grandson Tirki Onus's film Ablaze, about his grandfather.

In 1949, Onus organised an Indigenous revue which brought together traditional ceremonies and acts with more contemporary acts and Indigenous artists. The revue was called Corroboree 1949 and was performed in Melbourne at Wirth's Olympia (the present site of the Victorian Arts Centre He said that it means "let's get together and have fun", although this meaning has been disputed. which recognised and showcased Aboriginal culture. He also contributed to the associated Alcheringa book series (1963–1969) published by Rigby Ltd in Adelaide.

He appeared with Doug Nicholls in the nine-minute-long documentary Forgotten People (1967), produced by the Aborigines Advancement League.

Onus features as the subject of the 82-minute film Ablaze, made by his grandson, opera singer Tiriki Onus, co-directed with Alec Morgan (director of the documentary Lousy Little Sixpence (1983)), premiering in the Melbourne International Film Festival in August 2021, after six years in the making. The film was released in Australian cinemas in May 2022. The film also starred Uncle Jack Charles, and won an AWGIE Award for "Documentary – Broadcast or Exhibition". The documentary suggests that the film company that produced Onus' film was put under political pressure to drop it.

Death, family and legacy Onus died in 1968 of a coronary occlusion. Lin's children are Kenneth and Biralee from his first marriage, and Tiriki Onus from his second marriage, an artist, and filmmaker. ) and Modern Times: the untold story of Modernism in Australia (Heide Museum of Modern Art, 2009 ). Other examples are held in the collections of the National Museum of Australia, Australian Museum, Powerhouse Museum, and South Australian Museum.

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