National Network for Equitable Library Service

The inside story of one of Australia’s longest serving and most influential Ministers in Federal Parliament. Kim E Beazley threw off the shackles of a poor childhood to become a teacher, a Union Leader and the Member for Fremantle in the Federal Parliament between 1945 and 1977. During his time in Parliament he led the reform of Australian education and played a central role in the 1963 Yirrkala Bark Petition against bauxite mining on Yolngu land— a major step forward in the struggle for Indigenous land rights.