Joe McGinness' mother was from the Kungarakan people, in the upper Northern Territory. McGinness lived with his family until his non-Indigenous father died. Once this happened, the Aboriginal Protection Authority took him from his family, and made him a ward in Kahlin, Darwin's Aboriginal compound.
By the time McGinness was 13, he gained the position as a travelling tradesperson with his employer, Mr Grady. For a year, McGinness worked and travelled extensively through Northern Territory and South Australia. Throughout his life, McGinness worked as a builder, rigger, truck driver, mechanic, union worker, council worker for the Cairns City Council, Aboriginal Affairs Department liaison officer and Aboriginal Hostels regional manager.
McGinness was a staunch activist for Indigenous rights, he was in part motivated by Herbert Xavier, whom he met in the 1930s. McGinness held the position of Secretary for the Cairns Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders Advancement League in 1958, and President for the Federal Council for the Advancement of Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders (FCAATSI).
(Source: McGinness, J., Son of Alyandabu, University of Queensland Press, 1991)
