Jack Patten

John Thomas Patten (27 March 1905 – 12 October 1957) was an Aboriginal Australian civil rights activist and journalist. Biography John Patten was born in 1905 to John James Patten and Christina Mary Patten, née Middleton, at Cummeragunja Reserve, an Aboriginal reserve in New South Wales. Patten was educated at public schools in Tumbarumba and West Wyalong, and attended high school at West Wyalong. Following high school, Patten was unsuccessful in joining the Navy and worked for the Sydney Municipal Council. To make ends meet he occasionally worked as a boxer. While boxing at Casino in 1931, Patten married Selina Avery. During the 1930s he became an experienced organiser and public speaker, speaking regularly on Aboriginal rights at the Domain on Sunday afternoons, along with other Aboriginal activists such as Pearl Gibbs and Tom Foster. In 1937, Patten co-founded the Aborigines Progressive Association with William Ferguson. As President of the APA Patten organised the 1938 Day of Mourning protest, and led an APA delegation to meet with Joseph Lyons, the Prime Minister. The delegation presented Lyons with Patten and Ferguson's manifesto Aborigines Claim Citizenship Rights, which included Patten's 10-point plan for citizenship rights for Aboriginal people.