Bob Maza

Robert Lewis Maza was born on Palm Island in North Queensland on 25 November 1939, to a Murray Islander (Torres Strait Islander) father and to a Yidindji (Australian Aboriginal) mother.

He was one of the first Aboriginal children in northern Queensland to complete secondary schooling, and described feelings of alienation and being caught between two cultures as a teenager. After finishing school in Cairns, he worked as a labourer and then did office work in Darwin, Northern Territory.

Acting career

Television

After moving to Melbourne in the 1960s, Maza became a musician and actor, featuring in various television dramas, becoming particularly known for his role as the articled clerk Gerry Walters in the ABC series Bellbird. He also appeared in many other television series, including Hunter, Homicide, Harry's War, Wildside, A Difficult Woman, A Country Practice, Women of the Sun and Heartland.

Theatre

In 1971 Maza started working in theatre with Jack Charles, and together they formed Nindethana, putting on a humorous piece called Jack Charles Is Up and Fighting, subtitled "It‟s tough for us Boongs in Australia today". In mid-1972 helped to establish the National Black Theatre in Sydney (with Brian Syron and Justine Saunders), and played a role in their first production, Basically Black.

After the National Black Theatre lost its funding, Maza helped to found the Black Theatre Arts and Culture Centre in Redfern, and was its first artistic director when it opened in July 1974. In January 1975, he directed his first play, Robert J. Merritt's The Cake Man, which was the first play by an Indigenous playwright to be published, televised, and tour internationally. He later directed Roger Bennett's Up the Ladder (1989), Jack Davis' No Sugar (1994) and Owen Love's No Shame (1995).

Appearing on stage for Nimrod Theatre, he acted in Eric Bentley's Are You Now, or Have You Ever Been? (1976), Thomas Keneally's Bullie's House (1980) and Michael Frayn's Clouds (1980).

He married Dutch immigrant to Australia, Vera Blankman, and the couple are parents to actor and director Rachael Maza and writer and actor Lisa Maza.

After moving to Melbourne in the late 1960s, he joined the Aborigines Advancement League (AAL) and started becoming involved in Indigenous rights activism. He was inspired by Malcolm X Speaks, and subsequently made president of the AAL.

In 1970 Maza attended the third Pan-African Conference in the United States, where he witnessed the effectiveness of Indigenous theatre. Also in 1970, he addressed the United Nations General Assembly on the subject of "the third-world status of Indigenous Australians".

In 1972, he took part in the Aboriginal Tent Embassy protest.