Interview with Ernie Bridge by Anne Rogers. Part 17

Summary

Ernie Bridge was interviewed between June and September 2004 for the Parliamentary History Project and the J.S. Battye Library of West Australian History. He was born at Halls Creek. By the age of fourteen he was head stockmen on his father's cattle station and head drover of a cattle droving plant by 1954. In 1962 Ernie became a councillor of Halls Creek Shire Council and he was President of the Shire from 1965 to 1979. In 1980 he became the first Aboriginal elected to the Western Australian Parliament. He was a member of the Western Australian Legislative Assembly from 1980 to 2001, representing the electorate of Kimberley, first as an Australian Labor Party representative (1980-1996) and then as an independent MP (1996-2001) He held a number of portfolios and he was the first Aboriginal Cabinet Minister in Australia. As Minister for Aboriginal Affairs he was involved in introducing 99-year leases for Aboriginal people around the state and as Minister for Water Resources he worked passionately for a pipeline from the Kimberley. Since his retirement from politics, Ernie has directed his energies to two organisations: he is President of the Watering Australia Foundation and founder and director of the Unity of First People of Australia. He is also a self -taught guitarist and singer of bush ballads.