Jack Patten

John Thomas Patten (27 March 1905 – 12 October 1957) was an Aboriginal Australian civil rights activist and journalist. He was a co-founder of the Aborigines Progressive Association and led some of the first organised Aboriginal protests, including the Day of Mourning in 1938 and the Cummeragunja walk-off of 1939. He was also the founding editor of the short-lived Australian Abo Call, the first newspaper specifically for Aboriginal Australians.

Early life Patten was born on 26 March 1905 in Moama, New South Wales. He was the son of Christina Mary and John James Patten.

Patten was raised on the Cummeragunja Reserve, an Aboriginal reserve in New South Wales. He was educated at public schools in Tumbarumba and West Wyalong, and attended high school at West Wyalong. Following high school, Patten was unsuccessful in joining the Navy and worked for the Sydney Municipal Council. To make ends meet he occasionally worked as a boxer. Due to the Depression however, it folded in September 1938 after six issues due to a shortage of funds.

Cummeragunja walk-off

On 4 February 1939 Patten visited Cummeragunja at the request of his father, John Patten Snr, who was a resident on the station. Patten addressed a large gathering of the station's residents in relation to the deteriorating conditions and the intimidation to which the residents were being subjected to under the government appointed manager, Arthur McQuiggan. Patten raised the subject of New South Wales government plans for the removal of Aboriginal children and gave clarity to the station's residents regarding their rights. Patten convinced a majority of the station's residents to leave Cummeragunja, in an event which would come to be known as the Cummeragunja walk-off. Patten was then arrested for "inciting Aborigines".

Military service and later life Patten enlisted as a private in the Australian Imperial Force in December 1939. He was sent overseas with the 6th Division in February 1940 and saw active service in the Middle East. He was discharged in April 1942 after received shrapnel wounds in the knee. He subsequently joined the Civil Constructional Corps and worked for a period in Tennant Creek, Northern Territory. After the war's end he moved to Melbourne, where he supplemented his war pension with clerical jobs.