Bruce McGuinness was a political activist who played a leading role both in Victoria and nationally during the late 1960s. As a young man he became secretary of the youth branch of the Australian Aborigines' League, and later president, 'which the became the Aboriginal branch of the Victorian Aborigines Advancement League.' (National Museum Australia website 2007-2014). In 1969, during which time he was the Victorian State Direction of the Federal Council for the Advancement of Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders (FCAATSI). McGuinness had invited Caribbean Black Power activist, Roosevelt Brown to visit the Victorian Aborigines Advancement League, subsequently, this encouraged him and 'other younger Indigenous activists to see the Aboriginal struggle as part of a broader struggle against colonialism and white power.' (National Museum Australia website 2007-2014).
Further in his political career, McGuinness was Director of the Victorian Aborigines Advancement League, and was involved in establishing the Victorian Aboriginal Health Service and the co-founder of the National Aboriginal and Islander Health Organisation. After his death in 2003, Tranby College in Sydney New South Wales 'awarded McGuinness an honorary doctorate in recognition of his lifelong work for Aboriginal community. ' (Source: Museum Australia website, 2007-2014)
