Warren Snowdon (Lingiari, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for External Territories) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Alec Kruger was born at Donkey Camp on the banks of the Katherine River on Christmas Day, 1924. His mother, Yrambul Nungarai, or Polly, was a Mudpurra woman from Wave Hill. She married Frank Kruger, the son of German and Irish immigrants. As a child of mixed Aboriginal descent, Alec was subject to the Aboriginal Ordinances of 1911 and at the age of three he was taken away from his family and institutionalised. He was a member of the stolen generations.

At the age of 10, Alec was sent to Loves Creek Station to work for the Bloomfield family. He was immediately put to work helping with the driving and mustering of cattle and wild horses. In 1942 he discovered, oddly, that the Bloomfields were not paying his wages into a trust for him. Kruger was legally bound to the Bloomfield's employ and could not leave them without their permission. He planned his escape from the Bloomfields, waiting patiently for them to take him into Alice Springs to sell cattle from the 1942 muster.

While they were away from their camp in Alice Springs he sneaked to the Army barracks and joined up, terminating his employment with the Bloomfields. By 1945, he was discharged from the Army. He later held various jobs working as a gardener, driver and deckhand in Darwin. In 1955, he met and married Nita Palmer. He was a great family man.

During the 1970s he became involved with politics, working for various Aboriginal organisations. He lost his case, in the High Court, as a member of the stolen generations. His great autobiography is called Alone on the Soaks. His is a life we should all remember. He was a great Australian and I am looking forward to attending his funeral next Thursday.