Garnett Ian Wilson OAM is an Ngarrindjeri elder from South Australia who grew up on a Government Reserve. His father, Eustace Garnett Wilson, was a shearer who served in the Second World War. At the age of twelve years Wilson fell from a tree dislocating a hip and fracturing a leg. He was neglected by authorities until his father returned from the army on leave and took his son to Royal Adelaide Hospital where a series of operations were performed to save his life. After leaving hospital in 1945, Wilson's father found him employment on farms. By 1947 Wilson was using a walking stick. Persevering to learn his position thoroughly, Garnett Wilson secured the admiration of his employers and became a professional wool classer and rouseabout.
On the 8th of December 1966 Garnett Wilson was one of the three founding members of the Aboriginal Lands Trust in South Australia.
