Design-Led Aboriginal Entrepreneurship Is Not New
The late Lin Onus was a hero of mine. I used to be 13 when City Dingo was printed. I’d take the massive shiny guide to high school, and it grew to become my personal lesson in design, line work and expressing the layers of Nation.
Lin Onus’s father, Uncle Invoice Onus, was born in 1906 on Cummeragunja Mission. My grandmother, Lulla Morgan was born at Cummera eight years later. Uncle Invoice was a high-profile activist and profitable entrepreneur. He campaigned for our citizenship rights and for parliamentary illustration.
In 1952 Uncle Invoice Onus established Aboriginal Enterprises. He carved and bought boomerangs, woomeras and greeting playing cards. His store and manufacturing unit within the Dandenong Ranges grew to become a serious vacationer attraction, his boomerang throwing demonstrations a drawcard in themselves. For Uncle Invoice, the enterprise was extra about selling and preserving our traditions than it was about revenue. He