Sam Watson (political activist)
Sam Watson | |
---|---|
political activist | |
Political party | Socialist Alliance (after 2004) |
Other political affiliations | Australian Black Panther Party (1971) |
Partner | Cathy |
Children | 2, including Samuel Wagan Watson |
Samuel William Watson (16 November 1952 – 27 November 2019), also known as Sammy Watson Jnr, was an Aboriginal Australian activist from the 1970s, who in later life stood as a Socialist Alliance candidate. He is known for being a co-founder of the Australian Black Panther Party in 1971/2. Through work at the Brisbane Aboriginal Legal Service in the early 1990s, Watson was involved in implementing the findings of the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody. From 2009 was deputy director at the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies Unit at the University of Queensland.
He was also a writer and a filmmaker, and received honours for his 1990 novel The
Early life
Watson was born in 1952 in Brisbane, Queensland, the grandson of Sam Watson, who was of the Birri Gubba nation, while his grandmother was a Munaldjali woman.[1] His grandfather worked in ring-barking camps and saved enough money to hire a lawyer to release him from the Aboriginal Protection Act 1869. He was one of the first Aboriginal people to achieve this status.[citation needed]
Career
1970s activism
Watson's first foray into Indigenous rights activism started when he was just 16, handing out
Watson was involved with, and a spokesperson for, the Aboriginal Tent Embassy in Canberra in its early days in the 1970s.[4][5]
In 1971, Watson and fellow Brisbane activist
He protested the
Deaths in custody (1990s)
Through work at the Brisbane Aboriginal Legal Service in the early nineties, Watson was involved in implementing the findings of the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody. The film Black Man Down is a fictionalised exploration of the commission's findings.[10]
Socialist Alliance
Watson was the Indigenous rights spokesperson for the Socialist Alliance,[11] and ran as their candidate in the 2004 and 2007 federal election in Queensland. He was a candidate for that party at the 2009 state election for the seat of South Brisbane, running against the ALP state premier Anna Bligh. Watson received 344 votes (1.36%).[12]
He represented the Socialist Alliance again as a candidate for the Senate in the 2010 federal election, where he received 3,806 votes (0.12%).[13]
Other activities
Watson is also a writer and a filmmaker, known for his 1990 novel The Kadaitcha Sung[14] and his 1995 film Black Man Down.[15]
In December 2009, Watson was appointed a deputy director at the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies Unit at the University of Queensland and taught two courses in Black Australian Literature.[16]
In October 2009, Watson was one of several people who criticised the supermarket chain
Watson was a member of the working party involved in the creation of the First Nations Australia Writers Network (FNAWN) in 2012.[18]
Recognition and awards
In 1990, Watson won the
He won the National Indigenous Writer of the Year Award in 1991 for his 1990 novel The Kadaitcha Sung.
His essay, Blood on the Boundary, shortlisted for the 2017 Horne Prize, was highly commended by the judges who commented that it "stands out for its vigour, for its muscularity and recklessness of style. It is also very funny, in its own weird way".[19]
Death and legacy
Watson died at a hospital in Brisbane on 27 November 2019.[20]
He was remembered as "a giant of the Brisbane activist community". Queensland deputy premier Jackie Trad said that "Across more than half a century, he made an indelible contribution to the advancement of the rights of Indigenous Australians".[21]
In July 2020 memorial to Watson was created in the form of a
Personal life
His lifelong partner was Cathy.[21] Watson's son is the poet Samuel Wagan Watson,[22] and a grandson is known as Sam Watson the fifth.[2]
Works
- Black Man Down, documentary film directed by Bill McCrow, April 1996
- The Kadaitcha Sung, Australia Council
- Oodgeroo – Bloodline to Country, 2009, ISBN 978-0-908156-87-0
References
- ^ a b "Sam Watson". AustLit. 27 November 2019. Retrieved 7 November 2023.
- ^ NITV. Retrieved 9 February 2023.
- ^ a b "Black Panthers (2013) - The Screen Guide". Screen Australia. 16 March 2018. Retrieved 9 February 2023.
- ^ Australia Day under a beach umbrella, Collaborating for Indigenous Rights, National Museum of Australia Archived 17 March 2012 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ "Aboriginal Embassy". Tribune. No. 1753. New South Wales, Australia. 2 May 1972. p. 10. Retrieved 27 January 2022 – via National Library of Australia.
- ^ "Australian Black Panther Party". Black History Studies. 24 July 2018. Retrieved 9 February 2023.
- ^ "Black Panther Party Australia - Brisbane Chapter : Manifesto number one". Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies (AIATSIS). Retrieved 9 February 2023.
- ^ "Black Panther Party of Australia (Brisbane Chapter) Ephemera". Fryer Library Manuscripts. 9 February 2023. Retrieved 9 February 2023.
- ^ a b c Smee, Ben (28 November 2019). "'Someone who stood up': Indigenous leader Sam Watson dies aged 67". The Guardian. Retrieved 9 February 2023.
- ^ Alizzi, John (17 June 2014). "Making Aboriginal deaths in custody "history": On Royal Commissions". Right Now Human Rights in Australia. Retrieved 14 January 2017.
- ^ a b Bainbridge, Alex (17 July 2020). "Mural commemorates Uncle Sam Watson". Green Left. Retrieved 9 February 2023.
- ^ 2009 State General Election – South Brisbane – District Summary Archived 3 October 2009 at the Wayback Machine, Electoral Commission Queensland
- ^ Senate Results – Queensland, Australian Broadcasting Corporation
- ^ a b "Author profile: Sam Watson". Macquarie PEN Anthology – Australian Literature Project. Allen & Unwin. Retrieved 14 January 2017.
- ^ "Black Man Down". Screen Australia. Retrieved 20 May 2022.
- ^ Unit Staff Archived 26 October 2009 at the Wayback Machine, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies Unit at the University of Queensland
- ^ Hoey, Joshua (26 October 2009). "Coles backs down over 'racist ' biscuit". The Age. Retrieved 9 February 2023.
- ^ Reed-Gilbert, Kerry (13 July 2018). "A short history of the First Nations Australia Writers Network". Overland literary journal. Retrieved 21 February 2021.
- ^ "The Horne Prize – News". The Horne Prize. Retrieved 4 December 2018.
- ^ Horn, Allyson. (27 November 2019) "Queensland's Indigenous leader and trailblazer Sam Watson passes away", Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved 7 December 2019.
- ^ a b McIlroy, Jim (29 November 2019). "Sam Watson 1952-2019: A giant of the Aboriginal rights struggle". Socialist Alliance. Retrieved 9 February 2023.
- Austlit. 28 November 2019. Retrieved 20 May 2022.
Further reading
- Bryson, John (1994). Discussion Notes on Sam Watson's The Kadaitcha Sung. Melbourne: Victoria. Council of Adult Education. OCLC 38391936.
- McIlroy, Jim (8 February 2012). "Sam Watson: From the Black Panther Party to the Aboriginal Tent Embassy". Green Left.
External links
- Denis Walker and Sam Watson discuss aspects of the Black Movement from the 1960s onwards... (Video, 58 mins) Recorded 6 February 2006, for the Taking To The Streets exhibition in Brisbane Town Hall, presented by the Museum of Brisbane.
- Desperate Measures on SBS on Demand