Lyall Munro

Lyall Munro Snr (30 September 1931– 21 May 2020), also known as Uncle Lyall Munro Senior, was an Aboriginal Australian activist, leader, and elder, especially known for his advocacy of Indigenous land rights. He was the husband of Carmine "Maggie" Munro, and father of Lyall Munro Jnr.

Early life Lyall Munro was born on 30 September 1931 in Tingha, New South Wales. A Kamilaroi (or Komeroi; pronounced gomeroi

He had little formal education, and grew up in a world where racial segregation was practised. He led a land rights march in Sydney in the 1980s.

Munro was in Moree when the Freedom Ride led by Charlie Perkins visited the town in February 1965. The purpose of the group of Aboriginal activists and white students, who travelled around rural towns in regional New South Wales in an old bus, was to raise awareness about racial segregation in these towns. and tried to gain entry into the Moree Swimming Baths. Munro told NITV in 2017 that he and the Moree Aboriginal Advancement Committee had been fighting to change the town's segregationist by-laws for years before the Freedom Riders arrived, but not in a confrontational way. "...So we stood and watched in the crowd. It was their day and it was an ugly scene, pretty rowdy, pretty wild — a lot of violence". The event was widely covered by the media at home and internationally, and it caught the attention of the Australian public, proving to be a "seminal moment" in the history of Australia. A public meeting took place in the town afterwards, and the decision was taken to lift the colour bar on the pool.

He was a founding member of the NSW Aboriginal Legal Service in the 1970s, and later the Legal Aid Commission, which was based on the ALS model. at Baryulgil.

National He was a member of the National Aboriginal Consultative Committee (NACC, founded 1973), which later became the National Aboriginal Conference (NAC). As an executive member of the NAC, Munro undertook treaty negotiations with the Fraser government (1975–1983). ) and the AHO Regional Aboriginal Housing Committee. Their other children were: Lyall Jnr (born 1951 ), Danile ("Dan"

Lyall Munro Snr was survived by 9 children, 45 grandchildren, 122 great-grandchildren and 28 great-great grandchildren. and National Gallery of Australia in Canberra. ) There may also have been confusion with the NSW Aboriginal Housing Office, of which he was an inaugural member.

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