Gayle Kennedy: Lester Bostock AM is a Bundjalung Elder. His portrait is called 'The Statesman' and Lester Says:
Lester Bostock AM: ‘I got into filmmaking and video making. I was one of the founders of Metro Screen way back, 30, 40 years ago. There was nothing around at that time for Aboriginal people to be involved in in the arts. I was able to set up the Aboriginal Disability Network. I got the SBS Aboriginal Radio program up and running, the Aboriginal Radio Network, SBS Aboriginal Unit. Well I set that one up. I have done so many things. My whole life has been reacting to needs. That was what it was all about: helping other people and creating change.’
Wayne Blair: Lester Bostock is a Bundjalung man with a disability who has been at the forefront of promoting and protecting the human rights of Aboriginal people with disability in Australia over several decades. Lester publicly introduced the concept of double disadvantage and how it relates to Aboriginal people with disability as long ago as 1991, when in the Meares Oration he raised the issue in a paper entitled ‘Access and equity for people with a double disadvantage’. As well as the leadership Lester has shown in consolidating the further development of the Aboriginal Disability Network NSW, in 2003 Uncle Lester was awarded life membership of People with Disability Australia, a leading non-government disability rights and advocacy organisation. In addition to his disability advocacy work, Uncle Lester is widely recognised with a Member of the Order of Australia one of the pioneers of Aboriginal media in Australia, and in recognition of this a scholarship for Aboriginal filmmakers has been named in his honour. Aboriginal filmmakers Wayne Blair and Warwick Thornton were both mentored by Lester. He has received numerous other awards for community service over the years, including a Centenary Medal and the NSW Law and Justice Foundation Award for Aboriginal justice, and he is the 2010 NAIDOC Elder of the Year.
Gayle Kennedy: Thank you to Wayne Blair, Batjala Mununjali Wakkawakka man, who is an acclaimed actor, writer and director.