Rick Farley

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Richard Andrew Farley (9 December 1952 - 13 May 2006) was a white Australian activist for the rights of Indigenous Australians.

Born in Townsville, Queensland, Farley had a career which went from actor and hippie to journalist, Whitlam government staffer, head of the Cattlemen's Union and then to his most celebrated role, with the National Farmers Federation. He was later a member of the Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation.

In 1990, he and Philip Toyne of the Australian Conservation Foundation persuaded the Australian Government to contribute a significant sum of money to the national Landcare volunteer movement.

His approach to political activism was based on the view that the future of the Australian environment depended on cooperation between indigenous Australians and settler Australians whose livelihoods depended on conservation of the rural ecology with the Green movement.

He was also Chief Executive of the National Farmers' Federation for eight years.^[1]

His partner, for the last decade or so of his life, was Linda Burney, the first indigenous member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly.

He died in Sydney.

[edit] External References

For love of the land -- obituary in The Australian, 15 May 2006

Rick Farley: a remarkable life ends in tragic accident, Sydney Morning Herald, 15 May 2006

Rick Farley addressing the National Press Club, 26 July 2000, in the National Library of Australia collection of portraits

[edit] References